Something new had come to the village Some of Indora in India. The people sat in front of Totaram's house and talked about it until the moon rose and touched the tips of the bamboo branches with silver shine.
Totaram and his friend, Bals, who should have gone to bed, crept behind the circle of grown-up people and listened to them.
They heard that, for the first time, a school teacher had come from the city and she was going to start a school in the village. That day, she had gone from house to house asking the village people to send their children t school
Totaram was afraid of that strange place called 'school". Then be beard his father say, "I need soy son in the Selds." Totaram felt
relieved
But the next morning, the village-crier beat the big drum down all the seven roads of Indors to tell the people about the school. Totaram watched the other boys and girls go into the new house just outside the village. He wished he knew what it was all about.
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Later in the day, when he went to take the cattle into the fields, he looked through the walls of the school house. The walls were made of bamboo sticks, loosely woven together and Totaram could peep through the holes.
Inside he saw a strange sight. The boys and girls were sitting in rows, and the teacher was making strange marks on a big blackboard with a small white stick. Totaram saw Bala
and made faces at him, but Bala
was interested in the marks and did not see him.
recei ecret 'School, thought Totaram, it it,
'must be better than staying at home or looking after cows, else Bala would not like it so much. So one day when his mother was busy, he slipped away and crept into the school.
At first, he could not understand anything. The other children were ahead of him, and even Bala could write his own name in big letters. Totaram was ashamed that others were so much wiser than he, so he decided to work hard and catch up with them.
The next day he went again, and the next and the next. His mother thought he was out with the cows in the fields as usual and she asked no questions. His father was always at work at this time.
It took him a long time to learn to write. The teacher often called Totaram's letters the tracks of birds and made him do them again and again. After several months, he could read and write a little.
One day when Totaram returned home after school, he found his mother turning a letter over and over in her hand.The man who read and wrote all the letters for the people of Indora was away. So Totaram's mother sat looking at the letter.
Before Totaram thought of what he was doing, he said, "Give me your letter. Mother
I'll try to read it to you."
His mother was surprised.
"Since when have you learnt to rend?" she asked.
Totaram looked this way and that. He knew that the time had come to tell the truth
He looked into her eyes and said, "I've been going every day to the school. While you thought I was out with the cows, I have been learning how to read and write."
His mother asked, "And what did the cows do?"
He said, "We took turns, and while half of us went to school, the others watched the co Then, we watched the cows while the others took their turn at school."
His mother said sadly, "You've become a great sorrow to us, and your father will be very angry.
Then she remembered her letter and gave it to Totaram to read to her. And as he read, she wondered more and more. She said, "For years, the letter-writer has written and read my letters for me. Here my own son sits like a scholar and reads to his mother! The times are strange."She was pleased. with the news in the letter. It said her sister had a son. But she did not tell Totaram's father that the boy had disobeyed him and had gone to school.
Some days later, Totaram realised that his father was in trouble. He knew it because his father sat silent and still for many hours.
Totaram's little sister, Jaya, knew it too. When she ran to show him how her brass plate shone in the sunlight after she had polished it with ash, he said, "Go away, child."
Totaram remembered that he had seen a stranger talking to his father. He had not likeer the look of him.
He called Jaya, and they ran away to the big banyan tree to talk about it. The banyan tree had long roots that hung down till the ground, The brother and sister began to swing on the roots and forgot to talk about their father's troubles.
As they were swinging, Jaya looked up and said. "Here comes our father and that strange man. Let's hide."
They climbed up the roots and lay hiding on the branches above.
The two men came and stood under the tree. Totaram held his breath.
The strange man showed a sheet of paper to Totaram's father and said, "All that you have to do is to make a thumb mark here and I will lend you the fifty rupees you need."
"What does the paper say? asked Totaram's father.
The strange man replied, "It says that in return for the fifty rupees I am lending you, you will pay me two rupees a month until you pay back all the money I lend you."
Totaram could see what was written on the paper from where he lay. He jumped down from the tree excitedly and cried out, "Father, father, it's not true!
Both men looked at him, startled.
The moneylender said angrily, "Your son shouldn't interfere with our business!"
Father turned to Totaram, "Tota, run nome! This is the talk of grown-up people."
But Totaram said, "I've been to school, and ve learnt to read. And this paper says that return for one hundred rupees, you agree pay an interest of five rupees a month ntil you pay back all the money he ends you, I have heard the teacher alk to the older boys about 'interest' ad this is ten times too much!"
taram's father was very angry, for could see by the look on the moneylender's face that Totaram's words ere true. He was about to be cheated!
me moneylender slunk away. Totaram's father pulled Jaya down and they walked me together.His father said, "I feel sorry as you've deceived me, Tota, because I want you to be hones But you've helped me and saved me many months' earnings. I've decided that you and Jaya must go to school. Perhaps school's not such a bad thing after all."
The end chapter—2