The End of a Police Commissioner
(A Short Story by M. Menonimus)
The Police Commissioner
The End of a Police Commissioner
The End of a Police Commissioner: Ashif is one of my best friends. We met each other on the first day of my college life and since then we have been friends for the last twenty-five years. Their home lies on the outskirt of Barpeta Road town. He was a smart and intelligent student and we had been classmates until the end of our educational careers. They are four brothers without having a sister. Ashif is the youngest. I am also well acquainted with his two senior brothers: Aqil and Bablu. But I have not met their elder brother, Arshad. About him, I have only heard that he is an I. C. S. officer and he is at his job somewhere in India. Ashif after taking a post-graduate in History takes to business and now he has a large establishment in the town.
One day Ashif said to me, “Friend would please like to accompany me to Khenmung, Shillong?”
I asked, “Why?”
He replied, “Our elder brother Arshad has been staying there. Last night we received a message that he is seriously ill.”
I have a weakness for the hilly area and instantly accepted his offer.”
The very evening at 7.30 p.m. we got into a night super. We took our seats comfortably and our journey began. It was my third-time journey to the hilly state of Meghalaya. The scenery of endless lines of pine trees with attractive natural charm revives in my mind’s eye. I thought there was not a single state in India except Meghalaya which was given shape not by Nature but by God Himself.
There were not enough passengers on the bus. But most of them were dealers in vegetables. Suddenly, being curious, I asked Ashif, “Friend, if your brother is ill then why he does not come home on a leave?”
Ashif replied, “He retired about three years ago and since then he has been there in a rented house?”
Being something surprised, I asked, “Why is he in a rented house? Why does he not get a piece of land in a city like Guwahati or any other places of Assam?”
He replied, “He likes to stay in Shillong.”
I asked, “How many children does he have?”
He replied, “He does have neither wife nor children.”
I being surprised asked again, “Why? Is he a eunuch?”
Ashif laughed a little and replied, “No, he is as masculine as we are and even stronger.”
“Then why he is a bachelor?”
Ashif then said, “There is a story.”
I being curious, asked him, “Is the story a tragic one?”
He said, “Perhaps something like so.”
“Then tell me.”
Ashif began to tell:
You know that he was the first I.C.S. holder Police Commissioner from the Bengali Community of our district. He got his employment in Rajasthan. After five years of his job he came home on a leave of two months and desired to get married. We began to search for a worthy bride for him. First, we saw a first-class M. A. holder Bengali girl of charming beauty and we choose her for Arshad. But our mother said, “I must see my daughter-in-law.”
Then we sent our mother to see her. She, with a critic’s eyes, began to scrutinize the girl and found out a fault of being short in height and said, “I can’t allow a girl like her to be my daughter-in-law.”
Then we found another girl who was as charming and virtuous as the Sita of the Ramayana. We almost came to the final decision that she would match our brother well and in the meantime, our mother seemed to be grumbled and said, “I must see my would-be daughter-in-law with my own eyes.”
Then we sent our mother and she observed with a researcher’s eye and commented, “No, she is not worthy of being my son’s match. Her heel is high and the cheeks are flat.”
For the third time, we found a clue of a very intelligent girl who was a first-class Master’s degree holder in English with a job in a college. This time we sent our mother only to have an interview with her. Our mother went to see her and commented, “She is a good girl in structure but her nose is like that of an owl. It would be a disgrace upon our dynasty to have a girl like hers as our daughter-in-law.”
Then our hearts broke down. We could not get our brother married. Already the period of our brother’s leave was expired and he returned to his appointment.
After a year, he again came home on a leave of two months and expressed his strong desire to get married within a month. Again we began to look for a bride for him. We choose a graduate girl as charming as a water nymph. But our mother could not be satisfied with her hair as her hair was cut short. Then we interviewed as many as four girls for him but our mother did choose none of them.
Then my brother, enraged, left home and since then he has not come back home. Now he is about sixty-five and all the hopes of getting married have vanished from his heart.
Already it was seven a. m. and the bus reached its destination and we got off the bus and taking a Maruti car went to the hospital where Arshad was admitted by some of his friends for treatment.
Going there, we saw that Arshad was lying senseless on his bed. The nurse came in and said, “His heart is weak. When he gets his heart totally failed is uncertain. But it is true that his end is imminent. After half an hour he came to sense.
Ashif sat near him and called, “Brother, I am Ashif, your dear younger brother.”
Arshad looked at him and uttered in a broken voice, “Why have you come here? Let me die unknown, unwept, unsung, unremembered.”
Ashif said, “Brother I have come to take you home.”
Arshad replied, “No, never. Let me be buried here under the yellow sands of Meghalaya.” Saying so, he became silent.
Ashis called him aloud, “Brother!”
But there was no response.
Coming out of the hospital chamber I saw that the sun had stopped shining. The black clouds heaped upon clouds and heavy rain followed. 0 0 0 The End of a Police Commissioner
The End of a Police Commissioner
N.B. The short story ‘The End of a Police Commissioner’ originally belongs to the book ‘The Prostitute and Other Stories‘ by Menonim Menonimus.
The End of a Police Commissioner
Books of Composition by M. Menonimus:
- Advertisement Writing
- Amplification Writing
- Note Making
- Paragraph Writing
- Notice Writing
- Passage Comprehension
- The Art of Poster Writing
- The Art of Letter Writing
- Report Writing
- Story Writing
- Substance Writing
- School Essays Part-I
- School Essays Part-II
- School English Grammar Part-I
- School English Grammar Part-II..
Books of S. Story by M. Menonimus:
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