Page 83 - English Expedition Class 6

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Bhola Grandpa

Manoj Das

What makes some people in our lives especially memorable? Sometimes it is simply their eccentric 1
way of saying and doing things, rather than any great achievements, which we remember with
fondness. The narrator in this story recounts some incidents from the life of Bhola Grandpa, one such
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person from his childhood. Do you happen to know a quaint , endearing grandpa or grandma too?
Ask them about all the little adventures they have had and share with the class.

hola Grandpa and his wife lived at the western end of our village. Th eir hut was overshadowed
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by a large bokul tree which, with the advent of spring, grew luxuriant and continuously
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Bshowered its tiny red fruit on their courtyard. Th e tree had become the permanent abode 6
of a small troop of monkeys. Bhola Grandpa and his wife did not mind that.
I vividly remember the moonlit night when we were returning from the festival in honour of
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Lord Shiva. Still considered a child, I had chances galore to travel perched on the shoulders of
able-bodied villagers. Th e road was long, and far above the fog the moon looked like suff ering from
a bad cold. I nodded off on the village chowkidar’s shoulders.
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Father was looked upon with awe and reverence , and the villagers considered it a privilege to
walk in his company. Bhola Grandpa, senior to him by a few years, was always more prompt than
the others in expressing his agreement with whatever Father uttered.
But suddenly Bhola Grandpa gave out a loud wail.
Taken aback, our party came to a halt. Anxious enquiry revealed, by and by , that Bhola
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Grandpa had led his daughter’s son, who was of my age, to the festival. He piloted the grandson
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through the jostling throngs with two of the boy’s fi ngers held tightly in his grip. He did not
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realize when those fi ngers slipped out. His grip, however, continued intact.
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It was when someone queried about the content of his grip that he remembered the grandson
and gave out the wail.

1 eccentric: strange or unusual (in a person) 8 galore: aplenty
2 quaint: old-fashioned and unusual in an interesting way 9 chowkidar: watchman
3 bokul: a medium-sized evergreen tree with fragrant 10 reverence: great respect
cream-coloured fl owers and edible fruits 11 by and by: gradually
4 advent: arrival 12 piloted: (here) guided
5 luxuriant: thick with vegetation 13 jostling: pushing and shoving
6 abode: dwelling 14 throng: crowd
7 vividly: clearly 15 queried: asked; enquired
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