Thus, Lal Bahadur went to Benaras to live on the magnanimity of his boastful uncle. Once there, Lal Bahadur realised how cold the outside world was. In this uncle’s house there was no warmth or love like what he was used to at his maternal grand parent’s house. The uncle was well off. The family suffered no shortages. But the kindness and compassion were alien things here.
The rich uncle behaved as if he had recruited a domestic servant in Nanhe. Lal Bahadur was shocked naturally.
So far he had been a pampered child. He was told that he should not play with the kids of the family as he was of lower order.
So much so that he was not allowed even to sit, drink and eat with other members of the family. He was to be a kind of an outcast.
On festive occasions the rest of the family rejoiced and celebrated but Lal Bahadur was left out. Sitting in the neglected isolation, Lal Bahadur would remember his loving mother and other doting members of the family of the house of his grand parents.
In silence he shed tears on his tragic situation.
Meanwhile, Ramdulari always worried for her son. The way her cousin behaved and talked had naturally raised doubts in her mind about his sincerity. There was something very artificial about that character.
Her mind was so disturbed that ever since her Nanhe went away with that cousin she had been doing household chores mechanically. Her mind would always be imagining things about poor Nanhe and his fate. Sometimes she would be filled with an irresistible wish to run to Benaras and see for herself the state of her son. Other members of the family sympathises with her.
On the other side, the cousin’s family was exploiting the helpless situation of Nanhe as it was becoming more and more demanding. Lal Bahadur was asked to do all household duties.
Once a boy of some distant relative of the family who was sick was brought to their home for treatment in the city. The task of attending to him was thrust on little Lal Bahadur. Lal Bahadur did his duty as well as a small boy could do. For want of the proper medication the condition of the boy deteriorated fast. Lal Bahadur had the misfortune of watching that boy die. It was a horrible experience for a tender mind.
Unable to bear it he wept bitterly.
He remained in a shocked state of mind for a long time. The very next day when he still was stunned he was ordered to take the clothes of the deceased boy to the well and wash them clean without delay. He mechanically collected the clothes and went to the well to wash them. He was not sure what was happening with him. He washed the clothes weeping at the same time at his misery. He could not understand what wrong he had done.
Then, he heard the familiar call ‘Nanhe’. He raised his head and saw his mother watching him from a distance perplexed. Lal Bahadur ran to his mother and clung to her for comfort. Ramdulari was unaware of what her son had gone through.
The son told her the entire story.
All the fears of Ramdulari had come true. She understood the pain of her son. She hugged him. Lal Bahadur clung to her and both wept together to wash away the sorrows of each other.
After a long time Lal Bahadur felt at peace and secure in the arms of his mother. The very touch of her was healing the wounds his heart was inflicted upon. But there was no way out of the present situation.
Ramdulari made her Nanhe understand that for his education he must go through the current torture taking it as a sacrifice. His education was most important thing because only it could end their miseries and they would no more be dependent on the relatives.
Lal Bahadur got the message.
With a new determination Lal Bahadur made up his mind to take on the coming days with gritted teeth and march on, on the road of mission education.
A new self-respect was getting built up within him. Now the people he was living with did not look so menacing. They infact appeared to be accommodating. It is very surprising how positive attitude changes things.
There is a lesson for all of us. Negative attitude evokes negative reaction. Dogs bark and chase a person who fears dogs. The dogs seem to smell a person’s fear. But the same dogs don’t trouble a person who is not afraid of dogs. They might even wag their tails for him.
Once Lal Bahadur and his new friends decided to attend a fair that was being held across the river Ganga. The positive attitude was gaining him friends. All the boys paid their fairs to get ferried across.
After going through the fair the boys returned to ghat for boat journey back.
Lal Bahadur was left with no money for the return fare. Whatever little money he had lasted for one way journey and some eats at the fair. He didn’t ask for money from his pals as he didn’t want to lose self-respect.
He had detached himself from the group unnoticed to save himself from embarrassment.
The boys were too busy in chattering among themselves to realise that they were one short. The boat departed as Lal Bahadur sadly watched from a distance.
After the departure of the boat he jumped into the river and began his swim to the other side. Lal Bahadur although small in size was a good swimmer with a big heart. And then, he was swimming for his self-respect. Only his determination had made him a good swimmer. In the course of his learning he had been saved from drowning several times. But he didn’t give up and continued to learn.
Lal Bahadur read several books during school days. He showed interest in books other than what was taught in school. Some of them were religious books. He liked the verses of Guru Nanak particularly because there were teachings that suited his character most.
One of the verses became the motto of his life.
“O Nanak, be close to the ground like grass,
the taller plants will wither away,
but the grass will survive as green mass.”
The message became part of his character. He always remained soft spoken and humble. He could not afford to be pushy or overbearing during his early years because of his small size. The same qualities later became his strong points and they carried him to the zenith of his carrier.
During the period Lal Bahadur studied in Mogul Sarai he learnt Urdu as it was then second official language and was widely read and written. Even Hindi writers used to write their manuscripts in Urdu script.
A very learned Maulvi was Urdu teacher. Lal Bahadur took keen interest in Urdu, the language of poetry. He kept up his Urdu learning upto 8th standard. Then, his interest suddenly shifted to Hindi.
Perhaps it happened due to the political developments in the country. Bitterness between Hindus and Muslims was increasing. The British were fanning communal hatred in India to serve their own interests. The Congress leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak were advising the countrymen to accept Hindi as the future National language. There were many organisations who were propagating the cause of Hindi.
Lal Bahadur had been enrolled in Harish Chandra High School. Here he came in close contact with Nishkameshwar Prasad Misra, the English teacher of his class. That was the time when freedom movements of different kinds were sweeping the country. The educational institutions were getting injected with freedom politics. The most of the teachers of Indian origin were staunch freedom supporters and patriots. They hated British rule and were planting patriotic thoughts in the minds of their students. Misra was one of them.
Misra liked Lal Bahadur for his simplicity and the honest nature. It was a practice of Misra to teach his students curriculum for half the duration of the period of his class. The other half he devoted to tell students about the great Indian culture, its rich heritage, modern times and contemporary political leaders of freedom politics. He was consciously sowing the seeds of nationalism and patriotism in the minds of his devoted students.
Lal Bahadur had grown deep respect for Misra. For him Mr. Misra was not only a teacher but moral and the political guide. The situation in the country was so politicalised that no one escaped uneffected if one were not completely ignorant.
Misra was a man of many talents. Besides being the English teacher he was Scout Master as well. As Scout Master he taught the value of discipline in life and the social service.
He was a kind soul and very compassionate person. Once the class made a programme to go picnicking across the river. Each student was to contribute one anna (six paise) to the picnic kitty.
It posed problems for Lal Bahadur. He could not ask for one anna from his mother’s cousin who acted as his guardian out of pride.
Next morning, the boys gathered to go to the picnic. Each one produced one anna except Lal Bahadur. He stood aside with a sullen face. Misra easily noticed it.
He asked, “Lal Bahadur, Don’t you want to go to the picnic?”
“No sir. I don’t like picnics. I think I will stay back or go home as you order,’’ Lal Bahadur revealed.
His eyes were moist.
“As you like, dear boy.” But the teacher knew something was wrong. He didn’t want to make Lal Bahadur explain in the presence of the other boys.
So, he left the matter at that.
The next day, he called Lal Bahadur to one side and asked him why he did not take part in the picnic. Misra acted like his father to take Lal Bahadur in his confidence to make him confide the matter.
Lal Bahadur opened up.
He revealed the entire situation he was in and his pathetic position. Misra heard the little boy’s tragic tale with utmost sympathy and the curiosity. How sad! Misra’s heart echoed.
Misraji invited Lal Bahadur to his home.
He said to his wife, “See, who I have brought for you?”
His wife, Bhabbo gave a look over to the boy wondering if her husband had brought a domestic help for her benefit.
As she looked at her husband in confusion Misraji announced, “Dear woman, it is Lal Bahadur, your fourth child.”
And he pushed Lal Bahadur towards her.
Bhabbo instinctively embraced Lal Bahadur and patted his head. Bhabbo was a religiously faithful wife and a very emotional person. Compassion was her natural virtue. She liked the honest face of Lal Bahadur.
Lal Bahadur had to tell his story again to his new found mother. He could feel the same warmth and love his mother used to ooze with in his case. She fed him with her own hands as if he were her long lost son come home.
From then on Bhabbo would call Lal Bahadur on one excuse or other to feed him all the good foods she could cook. She made all the bitterness of Lal Bahadur’s life at Benaras get washed away with her loving kindness.
Her three sons also treated Lal Bahadur as their own real elder brother.
All this kindness was embarrassing the sensitive Lal Bahadur. Sometimes he would wonder if they were doing it out of pity to him. He needed no pity in whatever shape. The other times he suspected himself of taking undue advantage of the kindness of Misraji family.
His mind was confused and he stopped going to Misraji household on one excuse or other. His visits became very rare.
One day Bhabbo spoke to her husband, “Lal Bahadur seems to be avoiding us. What is the matter?”
Misraji knew the reason and how self respecting his pupil Lal Bahadur was. He needed no one’s pity. He revealed to his wife the reason of the reluctance of her fourth son. She understood. They could not buy little Lal Bahadur with pity.
So, Misraji went to the guardian of Lal Bahadur and proposed that Lal Bahadur be allowed to tutor his three children one hour a day on a fee as he himself could spare little time to teach them.
The guardian had no objection.
Lal Bahadur again started going to Misraji’s house to teach his three sons. Bhabbo again got chance to shower her love on Lal Bahadur. She made it a point to see that he never left her house without eating a hearty meal. On holidays Mishras made Lal Bahadur stay at theirs the whole day and made sure that he had a nice time.
After a month Bhabbo tried to give Lal Bahadur some money as his tuition fee.
Lal Bahadur looked horrified. He protested, “You said that your sons were like my real brothers when I came to your house first time. Didn’t you?”
“That’s true of course,’’ Bhabbo said.
“Do you expect me to charge fees for teaching my own brothers? That’s impossible,’’ Lal Bahadur argued.
That left Bhabbo speechless.
She could not press Lal Bahadur to accept the money so as not to hurt his feelings. But nonetheless she kept the money aside in a box.
Months went by.
Then, Lal Bahadur’s sister got married. On that occasion Bhabbo gave Ramdulari a sum of nine hundred rupees as contribution on behalf of Lal Bahadur. She explained that the money was the earnings of Lal Bahadur which she had been setting aside without his knowledge.
These bonds of pure love and mutual sympathy grew as the time went by and the two families came closer and closer. Nishkameshwer Prasad Misra taught Lal Bahadur with great personal interest helping the latter to gain good command over English. And needless to say that Lal Bahadur had become favourite pupil of Misraji.
Lal Bahadur was not an exceptionally brilliant student. He accepted the fact that he was mediocre. In some subjects he was even below average. But his qualities of honesty, politeness and truthful behaviour made up for all his shortcomings.
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