i) How long did the search for the treasure continue in 'Tales of Bhola Grandpa'?
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Answer:
Manoj Dos (1934] is an Indian award-winning bilingual writer who writes in Oriya and English. He has written many novels, shortstories, poems, travelogues and articles on history and culture.
This text is an edited version of Das’s short story which narrates Bhola Grandpa 's hilarious adventures seen through the eyes of a young man who had known him closely. The simplicity and forgetfulness of Bhola Grandpa provides an element ofhumour on which the story hinges.
Bhola Grandpa and his wife lived at the western end of our village. A large bokal tree overshadowed their hut. In the bokal tree lived a small troop of monkeys. Bhola Grandpa and his wife did not mind it.
One moonlit night, we were returning from a festival. The road was long and foggy. l was riding on the village chowkidar's shoulders. Suddenly, Bhola Grandpa let out a loud wail. Everyone in our party was surprised. We halted. Enquiry revealed that Bhola Grandpa had taken his grandson to the festival. He had tightly held on to the two fingers of the boy. He did not realize when those fingers slipped out. Bhola Grandpa was continuing as before. Then someone asked Bhola Grandpa what he was gripping. He remembered his grandson and let out a loud wail.
My father chose two sharp-eyed men from our party to go back with Bhola Grandpa to the festival. The grandson was found before long. He had taken a cosy shelter under a cow’s belly. '
l remember another funny incident about Bhola Grandpa related by my father. It had been a rainy afternoon. Bhola Grandpa, wild with excitement, told my father and his friends that he had seen a gang of pirates. They were burying a large box under one of the sand dunes on the seashore by our village. At once father and his friends started looking for the hidden treasure. Evening passed on to night. Moonlight came in through the clouds. A pack ofjackals were howling. It was past midnight. At this point of time, Bhola Grandpa confessed that there was no real treasure. It was all a dream which he had during his midday nap.
Once Bhola Grandpa had a great adventure in the Sunderbans. in those days Royal Bengal tigers freely roamed the dense jungles of the Sunderbans. People took care to move about only in groups, particularly after sundown.
One evening, Bhola Grandpa was returning from the weekly market. Suddenly at a distance of about five yards behind him, he heard the growl of a Royal Bengal tiger. Bhola Grandpa turned and found the bright gaze of the tiger on his face.
Bhola Grandpa instantly climbed up a nearby banyan tree. The tiger roared and circled the tree about a hundred times. Then it settled down under a bush without talking its eyes off him. With nightfall, the forest grew dark and silent. Bhola Grandpa could hear the tiger beating its tail on the dry leaves. Hours passed.
Dawn broke with the cooing of doves. Bhola Grandpa came down. There was a group of men on a mound a little away. Bhola Grandpa climbed the mound and requested the first man he saw for some water to drink. The man had seen the tiger waiting. He was much bewildered. ”What is your secret that you simply walked past the hungry beast and it did nothing?” he asked Bhola Grandpa.
The tiger was stretching its limbs and yawning. Then, Bhola Grandpa remembered the tiger and looked at it. Bhola Grandpa almost lost his senses in fear. He ran back home.
Half a Century later, BhoIa Grandpa left us forever one morning at the age at ninety-five. His eighty-year oId w'Ife Iamented much.
She said with a sigh, “TheOld man must have forgotten to breathe "