Saturday, Sep 13, 2003
Saturday, Sep 13, 2003 |
| Art and Culture | ||||
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Art and Culture
Excerpts from R.K.Narayan's short stories published by The Hindu
Leela's Friend (Nov. 17, 1940) "Sidda, come and play!" Leela would cry, and Sidda had to drop any work he might be doing, and run to her, as she stood in the front garden with a red ball in her hand. His company made her supremely happy. She flung the ball at him and he flung it back. And then she said, "Now throw the ball into the sky." Sidda clutched the ball, closed his eyes for a second, and threw the ball up. When the ball came down again he said, "Now this has touched the moon and come. You see here a little bit of the moon sticking." Leela keenly examined the ball for traces of the moon and said, "I don't see it." "You must be very quick about it," said Sidda, "because it will all evaporate and go back to the moon. Now hurry up... " He covered the ball tightly with his fingers and allowed her to peep through a little gap. "Ah, yes," said Leela. "I see the moon, but is the moon very wet?" "Certainly. It is," Sidda said.
"What is in the sky, Sidda?" "God," he said. "If we stand on the roof and stretch our arm, can we touch the sky?" "Not if we stand on the roof here," he said. "But if you stand on a coconut tree you can touch the sky." "Have you done it?" asked Leela. "Yes, many times," said Sidda. "Whenever there is a big moon, I climb a coconut tree and touch it." "Does the moon know you?" "Yes, very well. Now come with me. I will show you something nice." They were standing near the rose plant. He said pointing, "You see the moon there, don't you?" "Yes." "Now come with me," he said and took her to the backyard. He stopped near the well, pointed up. The moon was there too. Leela clapped her hands and screamed in wonder, "The moon here. It was there. How is it?" "I have asked it to follow us about."
An Old Song (July 16, 1939)
He hectored his old wife about and picked out his ornaments and dress — diamond, ruby and emerald rings for almost all the fingers, a good chain around his neck; and a resplendent long coat with a lace bordered upper cloth to match; the last given him by a royal patron ages ago; and he wrapped himself in a glittering red shawl given him by he couldn't remember whom. In his hand he held a silver-knobbed staff. His silver betel-and-nut box and tambura were carried to the car by his nephew, who was a kind of disciple to him, and who was also going with him. He held the silver-knobbed stick and tried to stand very erect when he took leave of his wife. "Such a fop at your age!" she said laughing. "Be very careful and come back safely", she added seriously, as he strutted towards the car trailing behind him a fragrance of moth-balls... At 4-25 he commenced the performance in a dazed condition; he didn't feel quite at home in the hall - it was too vast; too much electrified, and people in his days sat on carpets. He had a feeling that he was singing to an alien generation; he could not spot out a single familiar face in the audience... His old colleagues who used to accompany him on the drum and the violin were no more; and here were two fellows whom he had never known. Though they showed him excessive regard, he disliked them - these fashionable fellows with their cropped heads and silk shirts; he suspected that they might even smoke cigarettes.
The Comedian (Jan. 4, 1942)
In his tattered coat and frayed turban, with a mild black paint on his face, Vijaya came on the stage in his most famous role — the miser... And then came the last scene — the climax. The gangsters had broken into the miser's house. He tried to befriend and mislead them. But they bound him up hand and foot and walked away with all his gold. The miser ran after them but was knocked down and later he tramped the streets roaring for his money. This portion for years was done with such deliberate buffoonery that people were kept in a continuous roar of laughter, and created so great a din that it drowned for full half an hour all the words uttered on the stage. This was the most uproarious scene of the whole play... (But) today they watched the scene grimly; in silence. When the thieves knocked down the miser and he cried, some woman sobbed; and later, when the miser raved in the streets, his great voice rang through the hall and many hands went up to eyes with kerchieves. Vijaya was surprised to see it... Matters became clear to him as the President of the occasion made a speech at the end of the show: "This great actor how cleverly he concealed this side of his talent all these years! We had taken him to be a comedian all these years; but today we have seen him as a great tragedian. Was there an eye in the hall this evening which was not damp?"
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