Swami and Friends

This chapter starts with a description of Swaminathan’s pregnant mother, who has been bed-ridden the past two days. She is “pale and disheveled” and looks like a “different Mother” to Swaminathan. As a result of her strange state, Swaminathan becomes emotionally distant; he flees her presence. Later, his grandmother reveals that he will soon have a little brother.

That night, Swaminathan slept on his grandmother’s bed, and the house was full of activity into the early morning hours. A female doctor was present in the house delivering the child, and decisively ordering the occupants of the house to complete the essential tasks in preparation for the child-birth. Swaminathan sees his father scurrying towards the doctor with a bottle of medicine in his hand, and murmurs, moans, and whispers fill the hallways of the house.

The next day arrives, and Swaminathan is sitting restlessly in his Tamil class. He whispers to the Pea that he has a new brother. When asked whether he likes the new arrival, Swaminathan admits that he does, but explains that the baby is quite strange looking and bears an awful red face. A few moments of silence pass, and then the Pea mentions that he once knew a baby like Swaminathan’s brother. The chapter closes with the Pea stating that the next time he saw that baby it had grown so much that he could barely recognize it.

It is April, two weeks before the compulsory annual examinations. Swaminathan describes how his father has been bothering him to study more than usual lately. His father claims that if Swaminathan fails his examination, he will be held back in school while his friends Mani and Rajam will move on without him, a thought that instantly motivates Swaminathan.

The looming examination breeds stress and anxiety amongst the schoolboys. Mani is so stressed that he attempts to bribe a school clerk for the exam questions. While the clerk does not know what will be on the test, he reassures Mani, telling him that he will do fine as long as he knows his arithmetic, English, and geography.

Swaminathan returns home for the day, visiting his little baby brother in his cradle, whom he loves more and more with each passing day. Once the baby is asleep, he begins his studies, drawing the map of Europe, and musing how its many countries achieved their shapes.

Two days later, Swaminathan draws up a list of items that he will need for his examination: 20 unruled sheets of paper, 6 nibs, 2 ink bottles, clips, and pins. After briefly revising the list, he seeks his father’s advice, but he finds his father in a foul mood. He responds to Swaminathan’s list by asking the boy if he thinks “rupees, annas, and paise drop from the sky?”

Swaminathan’s father takes a red pen and forcefully crosses out the items on the list, almost ripping the paper in half. He tells Swaminathan that he can use the supplies already in the house, and as Swaminathan leaves, his father demands that he remove the baby from the hallway because he cannot stand “his idiotic cry.” 

It is the final day of school, and Swaminathan has just finished his examination. He is certain he made a critical mistake given the fact he finished his test with 20 minutes remaining. He agonizes over what he could have done better on the test, and to areas of the exam that he struggled with. The final bell rings, and all of his peers begin to file out of the school.

Swaminathan begins questioning his friends about their answers for the final question of the test, the question he found most challenging. His answer was a single sentence, so he becomes very concerned when he learns that some of his peers answered the question with a page-long explanation. He lies to Rajam and Sankar by telling them that he wrote a half-page answer.

The mood lightens when they start discussing what they are going to do with their free-time over school break. Swaminathan claims that he is going to burn all of his textbooks, while Sankar says that his father has bought several books for him to read over the vacation. Mr. Ebenezar approaches Mani and asks how he will “waste [his] vacation,” to which Mani replies that he intends to be asleep the entire time.

The headmaster appeared outside and implored the boys to continue their readings over the break, and he ended the school day with a prayer. After the prayer, the entire schoolyard burst with excitement. Boys screamed and yelped with joy, and Mani stood at the gate of the schoolyard and began destroying ink bottles and other school supplies. Swaminathan pours his own ink bottle over his head, and Mani threatens to dye the turban of the headmaster’s assistant. The chapter closes with the same assistant dispersing the crowd of boys with a large stick. 

The chapter opens with a description of Swaminathan’s fervent desire to own a hoop. He imagines tossing the hoop into the sky and dreams about crossing the River Sarayu atop a hoop that morphs into a horse.

Swaminathan tells a local coachman how badly he desires a hoop, earning the man’s sympathy. He explains that he can get a hoop for Swaminathan, but that he will need an initial sum of 6 paise in order to “convert” it into 6 rupees for a hoop. Swaminathan is excited at this prospect, so he returns to his house to lobby for the funds.

He first asks his grandmother for the paise, but she almost tearfully claims that she has no money. Swaminathan searches through her bed to determine if she is hiding any coins, but he finds nothing. Swaminathan’s mother and father both quickly deny his request as well. He puts several pebbles in a box and then says a prayer to Sri Rama that he may turn them into coins. He returns to the box ten minutes later to find only pebbles. This infuriates Swaminathan, and he becomes angered at the gods. He destroys the box, but then buries it after becoming worried that he might have angered the heavens.

Later, Swaminathan goes to Mani’s house to ask for the paise, though Mani and his family have no money to give. Swaminathan proceeds to Rajam’s house and asks if he can borrow a policeman. He is in fact scheming, but falsely claiming that a local rascal has robbed him.

The next day, Rajam devises a plan for the group to kidnap the coachman’s son; however, Swaminathan, fearing the plot was spiraling out of control, loses his nerve and begs the boys to turn. This angers Mani, who begins to choke Swaminathan and the fight draws a crowd. Mani begins to tell the crowd that Swaminathan owes him two annas.

The coachman’s son appears, and Mani asks for his help in dragging Swaminathan to the police station asks him if he will help drag Swaminathan down to the police station, but the boy refuses. In response, Mani offers him a top if he agrees to come with the group. Coyly, the boy demands to see the top first, and when Mani obliges this request, he steals the top and scrambles away, disappearing into a nearby hovel. When Mani and the boys attempt to chase him, they are threatened by the neighbors, chased by dogs, and are forced to flee under a hail of hurled stones.