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Elective English–II

Notes Ghisu stood up and spoke as though he were swimming in a vast sea of pleasure, ‘Yes, son,
she’ll certainly go to heaven. She never hurt a fly, never bothered a soul all her life. Even in
her death, she managed to fulfil our dearest wish. If she won’t go to heaven, who will? These
rich, fat slobs who fleece the poor and then, to wash away their sins, take a dip in the Ganga
river or offer its holy water in the temples?’
The mood of complacency shattered. Flux is a quality peculiar to the state of inebriety. Now
started a phase of sorrow and despair.

Madhav said, ‘But, Father, the poor woman suffered all her life. She faced such hardships
before death took her!’
Saying this he put his hand over his eyes and began to cry and sob.

Ghisu tried to console him, “What is the good of crying, my son? You should be happy that
she is free of this world of maya, that she has escaped this web of illusion. She was indeed
fortunate to break free from the mortal ties of this life.’
With this both stood up and began singing an old ballad:
‘Enchantress! dazzle us not with your eyes
Enchantress!...’

The other revellers in the room looked at them, but these two, lost in a pleasurable world of
their own, went on singing. Then they started dancing. They hopped, skipped and jumped.
They stumbled, then got up and gyrated and gesticulated. This lively song and dance ensemble
went on for quite some time. Till, finally, they fell down in a druken stupor.

Self Assessment

1. Premchand, whose original name was Dhanpat Rai Srivastava, was born on 31 July
...........
(a) 1890 (b) 1875
(c) 1880 (d) None of these
2. Prem Chand was born in village ...........
(a) Lamahi (b) Varanasi

(c) Jonpur (d) None of these.
3. Ghisu had collected the healthy sum of ...........
(a) 8 rupees (b) 5 rupees
(c) 9 rupees (d) None of these
4. “Her body was covered with dust, the child had died in her womb”.

(a) Ghisu (b) Dhania
(c) Madhav’s Wife (d) None of these

9.3 Summary

• “The Shroud” (1935) is the last story by Dhanpat Rai Shrivastav “Premchand” (1880-
1936), father of the Urdu and Hindi short-story tradition(s). I think Kafan is the best
South Asian short story, in any language, that I’ve ever read. The harshness and bleakness
of the story, the utter awfulness of the two characters, balanced against the sporadic,

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