Duty by Mulk
Raj Anand is a short story which underlines the value of duty even in the worst
of worst circumstances, like extremely hot and cold climate. The story is about
a policeman, Mangal Singh, who is posted at a point where a road from the
village meets the city road. His duty started at the early hours of the
morning. He has already spent around five and half hours at the duty. The
season is of scorching summer and the sun overhead is just unbearable.
Soon, a sepoy
called Rahmat-Ullah will relieve him but even after that he needs to hike for
three kilometers to reach the barracks where he can rest. So, he decides to
rest under a Kikar (acacia) tree for
some time. Under it, he feels relaxed and comparatively cool. Now he begins cursing
the rich Hindu merchants who while away their summer time either in the gardens
drinking milk-water or in the coolness of the electric fan when they are at
shops.
He doesn’t
like the service of the police: it’s for poor men. He always wished to join the
army as a sepoy, where he would have been entitled to many privileges like
ration, clothes, and value in civil. He now repents his decision of joining
this deplorable police service. He shifts to the darker shade of the tree. The
coolness begins instilling a trance-like drowsiness in his eyes. He longs to be
asleep for longer time. But now he rests his body weight on the stave (lathi)
and dozes off. Under the soporific condition, he is partially erect. Sleep is
indeed a respite for him from such terrible heat, which is cracking even the barren
face of the soil.
No sooner had
he fallen sleep than a slosh…slosh sound (like of a serpentine snake) stirs
him. It is the Thanedhar Abdul Kerim. Abdul begins beating him with a cane
while abusing him for the negligence of duty. Abdul says what if DSP Sahib
passes off this road…you son of swine!
Mangal Singh
writhing in pain stands up to balance his turban and asks for mercy. When the
Thanedhar is gone, Mangal Singh goes back to the post with tears in his eyes.
He is at least happy that no one has seen him being beaten.
Soon, a herd
of donkey is passing by the road and the owner is abusing the asses. Mangal
Singh already down and angry vents his anger and frustration on that man. He
beats him with the lathi mercilessly.
Moral of the
story is that superior ones try to beat down the inferior ones, be it any place
or institution. Also, the call of the duty should not be deterred by weather
conditions like heat, rain, cold, etc.
Good observetiojm!BBC
ReplyDeleteYeah yeah.
DeleteNice one!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhere is the summary of the text duty
ReplyDeleteGood summeriging
ReplyDeleteAwesome article, it was exceptionally helpful!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the Sub Genre of This Short story?
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