Two Neighbours
( A Short Story by M. Menonimus)
Two Neighbours
The characters of my present story are two neighbours. The name of the first character is Suman. He is about forty-five in age, and melancholic in nature. He comes from a poor peasant family. Like other few boys in his locality he also trod the floor of the school and had read up to the ninth standard but because of his extreme poverty, he had to stop there pathetically. He seems to have a good interest in poetry as he on occasion utters lines from Rabindranath, Shakespeare, Dante and Donne. He has no fixed course of work as a means of earning his livelihood. He chiefly depends upon the generosity of his old parents and young brothers. He likes to wear loose trousers and a half-shirt and he always wears a dog-like cap on his head. People often mock him behind his back calling him a philosopher. He is accustomed to talking little but likes to think more. He often seems to wander about in the public road and lonely boulevard.
Raman is the second character of the story. He is about forty, a naive poor peasant. He also went to school but withdrew himself after he passed the seventh standard. He is now leading a life with scanty income earned by means of plowing land as a sharecropper.
One summer evening Suman was roaming about in the street leading to the market. The day was so bright and hot. The trees along the street were standing silent without shaking their leaves at the least. The pedestrians were going and returning from the market. Suman was walking ahead without the least sense of where he is going. In the meantime Raman, a neighbour of Suman suddenly met with him and looking at the melancholic face of Suman asked, “Friend how are you?”
Suman lifting up his head from the ground retorted, “Why have you asked me? “How are you?”
Raman being embarrassed replied, “Because you are one of my neighbours. Besides this, you are an honourable man of our locality.”
“Why? I know that one of your brothers have been suffering from typhoid, your mother is suffering from gait pain, your father has been lying on a bed, being suffering from headache, and your younger son has been suffering from back pain. Have you asked them how they are?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“They are so for a long time.”
“What have you done for them?”
“I did something. But now I am unable to take treatment of them.”
Looking at the swelling pocket of Raman, he asked, “I have seen some hundred rupee notes in your pocket, give one of the notes with the promise of not paying back.”
“No, I cannot give you as they are counted for a purpose.”
“Then what is the gain of asking me: How are you?”
“Please Pardon me, I am sorry for asking you about how you are.”
“Why pardon?”
Raman said, “Please leave me for the day. I will never ask you the same question in the days to come.”
“What does it mean?”
It means that if you simply replied, “I am well or I am not well. Then …..”
“Listen to me,” says Suman, “No one must say that he is well or bad as long as he does not know the conditions that well or bad.”
“Do you know the conditions?”
“No.”
“Then never ask anyone: how he is.
“Please let me go. I have to do marketing. The sun is heading towards the horizon.” Raman entreats.
“Wait for some time more. You would get enough time for marketing. But I think I would be able to make you think: what is good, well, happiness or bad.”
“Please, we will talk about some other day. Let me scot-free today.”
“You may go but I say that never ask anyone as long as you do not know the conditions that keep one well or bad.”
“Well, thank you.” Saying so, Raman walked on with a long stride toward the market.
Then the sun looked like a deep red ball on the west horizon. 0 0 0
Two Neighbours
N.B. The short story ‘Two Neighbours Menonim Menonimus’ originally belongs to the book ‘Neha’s Confession and Other Stories’ by Menonim Menonimus.
Two Neighbours
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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