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Unit 12: The Big Brother by Munshi Premchand

day, but I don’t go anywhere near them. I’m studying all the time. Even then I spend two or three Notes
years in each class. How then can you hope to pass when you spend all your time fooling
around? I take two or three years, you will spend your entire life rotting in the same class. If you
are bent upon wasting your life in this manner, better go home and enjoy yourself playing gulli-
danda. Why waste your father’s hard-earned money?”
On being thus rebuked I always burst into tears. What could I say in reply? I was guilty, but who
can stand reproof? He would make such caustic remarks that I would be heart-broken and lose
all confidence in myself. I did not feel equal to a strenuous activity like studying and would
begin to think despondently, “Why don’t I go home? Why should I ruin my life by attempting
something that is beyond my capacity?” I was not content to remain a fool but could not
possibly work so hard. Such thoughts would make me dizzy, but after an hour or two the clouds
would lift and I would resolve to put my heart and soul into my studies. A time-table was made
in a flash. Without advance planning and a proper scheme, how could I start? The time-table did
not allow for any respite in the shape of games. It ran, “Get up early morning. After a wash and
breakfast, sit down to study at six. From six to eight — English. Eight to nine — Arithmetic. Nine
to nine-thirty — History, followed by lunch and school. After return from school at three-
thirty — half an hour’s rest, From four to five — Geography, five to six — Grammar, followed
by a half-hour stroll in front of the hostel. From six-thirty to seven — English composition. After
dinner, from eight to nine — translation, nine to ten — Hindi. Ten to eleven — other subjects,
thereafter sleep.”
But it is one thing to make a time-table and quite another to follow it. From the very first day I
would begin to transgress it. So many things drew me quite unawares and irresistibly — the
peaceful green of the fields, gentle puffs of breeze, the bounce of a game of football, the swiftness
and agility of volley-ball and the dodges of kabaddi. Once there I forgot everything else. I forgot
that killer time-table and those books that all but destroyed the eyesight. I remembered neither
and once again Bhai Sahib got a chance to preach to me.
I ran from his very shadow and tried my best to avoid him, entering a room softly so that he
would not become aware of my presence. The moment he raised his eyes and saw me, I nearly
died of fright. I always felt as if there was a naked sword poised over my head. Yet, in spite of all
the scolding, I could not give up games and sports just as, caught between death and disaster;
man is still bound by attachment and desire.
The annual examination was held, Bhai Sahib failed; I not only passed but stood first in my class.
Now the gap between us was reduced to two years. I felt like taking Bhai Sahib to task and
asking him, “Where did your penance get you? Look at me. I played around happily and still
managed to stand first in my class.” But he was so depressed and unhappy that my heart went
out to him and the very idea of rubbing things in appeared contemptible. I became a little proud
and self-assured. Bhai Sahib no longer had the old influence over me. I freely joined in sports
and games. If he preached to me again, I would bluntly say, “What have you achieved by killing
yourself? Look at me. I kept playing and still stood first.” Although I did not have the guts to
give voice to this boast, it was clear from my conduct that Bhai Sahib had lost his hold on me.
Bhai Sahib understood this. He had a very robust common sense and one morning when I came
back after a session of gulli-danda he set upon me, armed with a sword, as it were: “I can see that
you have grown conceited because you passed and stood first in class. But the pride of even the
greatest has been humbled. What is your standing? You must have read in history what happened
to Ravana. What lesson have you learnt from his character? Or did you read through it casually?
Simply passing an examination is nothing; the main thing is the development of your brains.
You must understand the significance of what you read. Ravana was the lord of the earth. An
empire such as his is called chakravarty. These days the British have a vast empire. But we
cannot call it chakravarty. Several nations of the world refuse to acknowledge the supremacy of
the British. They are absolutely independent. But Ravana was a chakravarty raja. All the kings of

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