ইংরাজি – একাদশ শ্রেনি – Karma (part 2)
আমরা আগের পর্বে Karma গল্পের বাংলায় সারসংক্ষেপ নিয়ে আলোচনা করেছিলাম। আগের পর্ব পড়া না থাকলে তা এই লিঙ্ক থেকে → Karma গল্পের বাংলায় সারসংক্ষেপ পড়ে নেয়া যেতে পারে। এই পর্বে রইল Karma গল্পের Summary।
Summary of Karma
Sir Mohan looked at a broken mirror of a first-class waiting room at the railway station. Assuming by it’s deplorable (শোচনীয়) state that it’s made in India, he laughed and thought to himself how the mirror is just as insignificant and dirty as everything else in that country.
“…You are so very much like everything else in this country, inefficient, dirty, indifferent,” he murmured.
The mirror however, sang praises of Sir Mohan Lal. As of how sophisticated and good looking Sir Lal is with his nicely trimmed (ছাঁটা) mustache, expensive imported suit, eau de cologne and talcum powder. When his thirst for validation was over, Sir Mohan threw out his chest, fixed his Balliol tie and left. He glanced at his watch and realized that he had enough time for a small peg of alcohol. His bearer appeared through the door as soon as he called out to him. Ordering him to make a small peg , Sir Mohan sank into a large chair to drink and ruminate (অনুধ্যায় করা).
Outside the waiting room where all the baggage lay, lady Lal was sitting on a small steel trunk, chewing beetle leaf (পান) and fanning herself with a newspaper. Lachmi looked like how any middle-aged wife from an aristocrat family would look like. Obese, clad (পরিহিত) in a dirty white Sari, rings, bangles, jewellery dazzled all over her body.
একাদশ শ্রেণি থেকে → Physics | Chemistry | Biology | Computer
She called out a coolie to help her reach her zenana (মহিলাদের জন্য সংরক্ষিত) compartment. The coolie hoisted the steel trunk on his head and went ahead, lady Lal following him. After reaching the right end of the platform, she sat on her steel trunk and started talking to the coolie. Upon hearing that the train would be crowded she decided to eat her meal beforehand (পূর্বেই). The coolie sat on hunches and watches her gobble up (ঝটপট খাওয়া) cramped chapattis with mango pickle. He asked her if she was travelling alone to which she replied in negative and said that her “master” is in the waiting room. Then she happily went on explaining how her snobbish (উন্নাসিক) husband is an overachiever (উচ্চাকাঙ্ক্ষী), a vizier (উজির) and a barrister who only traveled first class.
He would meet many officers and Englishmen on trains. Because of Lachmi’s inferiority complex (হীনমন্যতা) as a native woman who could not understand English and did not know their ways, she did not travel in the first class with him and kept her zenana inter-class. Since she had none to talk to at home she was delighted to talk to the coolie. Her anglicized (ইংরাজিকৃত) husband had practically shunned (এড়িয়ে চলা) her in their own house and kept her upstairs only.
He considered her wife to be a lowlife because of her upbringing and prohibited her relatives from visiting them. He would only make time for her on certain nights but they had no children. He would only use her to satisfy himself and she also followed him blindly like a passive wife.
“….He just ordered her about in anglicised Hindustani, and she obeyed passively. These nocturnal visits had, however, borne no fruit.
একাদশ শ্রেনি থেকে → অর্থনীতি | ভূগোল
With one signal from the station, Lady Lal hurriedly finished her meal and got up to catch the train. She heaved (তোলা) her bulky frame through the door and sat by a window-seat of her almost empty compartment. She thrashed (নিঃশেষ) paan in her mouth until her cheeks were full and sat there gazing at the crowd idly.
Sir Mohan seemed unfazed (অত্যাধিক) by the train’s arrival as he continued to sip from his cup and ordered his bearer to let him know when he had moved his luggage. In Lal’s eyes, excitement, bustle and all those humanly emotions were indications of bad upbringing and he did not want to associated with people like that. In his five years abroad, Sir Mohan had adopted English upper-class mannerism and attitude to the point that he almost “forgot” his mother tongue. He spoke very little Hindustani and that too, properly anglicized. He took great pride when British people complimented that he spoke like a proper Englishman. In a way he had deserted everything Indian about him.
Knowing that it was a cantonment he became overjoyed thinking about the prospect of an interesting conversation with some Englishman. He was not over-enthusiastic like Indians, neither was he brash and abrasive like them. He considered himself as a no-nonsense person.
To be one with the British he would pay a lot of emphasis in some habits
He was ‘showing’ The Times magazine. A reputed British newspaper in a native’s hand always gathered attention. He would fold it in such a way that the name of the magazine could easily be seen in case any Englishman wanted to borrow it. His Billiol tie, imported English cigar were all tools to attract the attention of the British. If everything failed to impress them, he would call his bearer to pour him some English Scotch as a form of ice-breaker.
“…when he put it aside with a gesture signifying “I’ have finished with it.”
He valued his five years of razzle-dazzle (আমোদ- প্রমোদেপূর্ণ) in England much more than forty five years in his homeland with it’s dirty filthy countrymen and his obese illiterate wife, smelling of sweat and raw onions.
His thoughts were interrupted when the bearer announced installation of the saheb’s luggage in a first class coupe next to the engine. Being curious, Lal walked in his usual majestic gait (রাজকীয় চলনভঙ্গি) to check but was disappointed to see the empty coupe. So he decided to sit there and wait. His face lit up (উজ্বল হওয়া) when he saw two Englishman walking unsteadily with haversacks (ঝোলা) slung across their backs, looking for room in those compartments.
একাদশ শ্রেণি থেকে → বাংলা | ইংরাজি
Sir Mohan went to welcome them even though they were only entitled to travel second class. One of them came to survey the compartment and noticing the unoccupied berth called out his companion. As his friend came and glanced at Sir Mohan, he muttered (নীচু স্বরে) a slang and ordered Sir Mohan Lal to get out of the compartment. When he politely protested, they thrashed him and yelled at him saying that the compartment was reserved for army fauji like them. They threw away Lal’s suitcase, briefcase, flusk and everything he was carrying including his precious (মূল্যবান) The Times.
When Mohan shouted out in livid rage (প্রচণ্ড ক্রুদ্ধ) in his almost British accent, the soldiers could not believe that such prolific (নিখুঁত) English was coming out of an Indian’s mouth. But they dismissed it and blamed it on their intoxicated (উন্মত্ত) state. As the engine began to move, the soldiers caught Sir Mohan and flung (ধাক্কা দেওয়া) him outside the train. In absolute shock and disbelief, Sir Mohan watched the train leave, lying on the station floor. His eyes fell on the inter zenana compartment. Lachmi with her dirty clothes and dazzling (উজ্বল) jewellery, chewing on her beetle leaves. As the train sped fast, Lady Lal spat, sending a jet of red dribble(পানের উচ্ছিষ্ট লালারস) flying across like dirt (নোংরা).
পর্ব সমাপ্ত। আরো পড়ো → Summary of Jimmy Valentine
এই লেখাটির সর্বস্বত্ব সংরক্ষিত। বিনা অনুমতিতে এই লেখা, অডিও, ভিডিও বা অন্য ভাবে কোন মাধ্যমে প্রকাশ করলে তার বিরুদ্ধে আইনানুগ ব্যবস্থা নেওয়া হবে।
লেখিকা পরিচিতি
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