English Project : Malgudi Days , Rajam and Mani .
Malgudi Days : R.K. Narayan.
Rajam and Mani : Summary of the story .
English Project : Malgudi Days , Rajam and Mani .
Summary of the story Rajam and Mani .
The river Sarayu ten minutes walk from Ellaman Street , was the pride of Malgudi . It was a tourist spot , particularly in moonlight . It's sandbanks were the evening resort of the people of the town .
A little after sunset , Swaminathan and Mani set on the river - step away from the crowds of men . A gentle breeze was blowing and birds ware twittering in the sky . A herd of cattle was crossing the river near Nallappa's mango Grove . A bullock cart passed by with the carter humming a tune . Mani expressed his desire to throw Rajam into the deep water there .
Rajam , a newcomer , join first A in the second term and set on the last bench beside Mani . He was neatly dressed in a coat , tie , knickers , cap , shoes and socks and came to school by car . He impressed everybody by his fluent English . He was a good student . None but Sankar from the class ventured to speak to him in English .
Rajan was a rival to Mani in all respects . He paid Mani back in his own coin . Besides , after Sankar , he was the next best student in the class . So , out of jealousy , Mani decided to throw Rajam into the river . Swaminathan warned Mani that he would be punished as Rajam's father was the superintendent of police . Swaminathan feared policeman . Mani called his friend a coward and cautioned him not to associate with Rajam .
Swaminathan denied the charge brought against him by his friend . He insisted that he had never come very close to Rajam . During the drawing period Rajam had come to him for a pencil sharpener , but Swaminathan had directed him to go to a shop and buy it . He considered Mani as his best friend and guide . Mani was satisfied and pulled Swaminathan's ear so hard that he cried out in pain . Mani asked Swaminathan why he had not brought lime pickles with him which would have made that evening enjoyable . Swaminathan begged forgiveness of his friend .
Swaminathan sat between Rajam and Mani on the last bench and acted as their medium . Mani would write things on slips of paper and pass them on through Swaminathan to Rajam. On the first occasion Mani asked Rajam , through such a slip , if he was a man . On the note being ignored by Rajam , Mani wrote another slip saying that if Rajam did not reply to his question as to whether he was a man , then he would prove himself to be the son of a dog .
The teacher asked Swaminathan why Lisbon was famous . Swaminathan answered that Lisbon was famous for being the capital of Spain . The teacher asked him to say what he knew about the Indian climate . Swaminathan answered that it was hot in summer cold in winter . The teacher asked him to stand up on the bench , as a punishment for giving the wrong answer . Swaminathan obeyed without protest . He was glad that he was not canned .
The teacher spoke about Africa as a land of forest with the Nile as its most important river . He asked a student to repeat what he had said . As he got the right answer , he was satisfied . But , he was angry with another student who answered the question although he was not asked to answer . As the boys were making a noise , the teacher threatened to give them zero in their examination .
Swaminathan was not listening to the lessons . Standing on the bench , he was classifying the students according to their caps . There were four red caps , twenty-five Gandhi caps , ten fur caps and so on . After the school was over , Swaminathan , Mani and Rajam met at a lonely spot . Swaminathan acted as a middleman . He reported Mani's words to Rajam and Rajam's words to Mani . It was customary for enemies to communicate through a medium . Mani repeated his question whether Rajam was a man and asked if the latter could prove that . When Rajam asked how he could prove that , Mani said that Rajam could do so by meeting him near Nallappa's Grove and trying to break his head . The two now began to south at each other . It was decided that the next day , the two would meet at the fixed spot . Mani wanted an assurance from Rajam that he would not come with guards and that he would report nothing to his father if anything happened to him . Rajam gave the assurance .
It was past six when Swaminathan and Mani were found sitting on the sands near Nallappa's Grove . Mani had a wooden club under his arm . He was thinking of hitting Rajam on the head with the club and throwing his body into the river . But the thought of Rajam's ghost pulling his hair at night made him change his mind . He thought that he would rather break Rajam's limbs . But he feared that Swaminathan might inform the police .
Rajam came there a bit late with an air gun . He was dressed in Khaki . He challenged Mani to fight and fired a shot in the air . Mani was frightened as he had no gun . He reminded Rajam of a hand to hand fight . Rajam asked Mani why he had brought a club with him then . He also wanted to know the cause of Mani's anger . Mani said that Rajam had called him a snake . Rajam denied the charge . He asked Mani to forget everything and be friends . Mani agreed and Swaminathan , who admired Rajam and wanted to be his friend , danced in joy . Both threw down their weapons . Rajam offered biscuits as a mark of goodwill . The three of them enjoyed the new friendship as the river flowed with a rumbling sound , the leaves of peepul tree rustled and the fading light of the late evening fell on them .
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