Saturday, 5 March 2022

Summaries of Short Stories (B.C.A.-I)

 

                                         RANJI'S WONDERFUL BAT

                                                            (Summary)

            Ranji's wonderful bat is the story of a cricket-focused teenager Ranji who loves to play cricket. He plays very well but suddenly due to some circumstances he is out of form and loses motivation. As his team starts to lose matches in his absence, a friend of Ranji, Mr. Kapoor gifts him a bat. In order to boost his confidence, he also tells that the bat is his lucky charm as he himself had scored a lot of runs with it. Ranji believes and scores lot if run and gives credit to the bat. One day he loses the bat and becomes sad then Mr Kapoor reveals the actual truth that it’s just his superstition and in reality, his morale was boosted by his own self-confidence.

            Ranji was eleven years old, schoolboy. A cricket match was going on between two teams. Suraj was the captain of his team. His team scored fifty-three for four wickets. His team needed another sixty runs to win. Suraj, the captain of the school team was out. After the captain was out, it was Ranji’s turn to bat. He was ready to face the ball. The red ball came speeding towards him. The ball struck Ranji’s pad. The umpire raised his finger and said ‘out’. Ranji walked back slowly. The visiting team won the match. He felt sad on his way back to home, Kumar, the owner of sports materials shops called him and asked him why he looked sad. Ranji told him of his failure in batting. He consoled him for his failure and assured him that he would play well in the next matches. He gave him a bat that he had used to bat. He was the player of the state team and scored a century with the bat that he gave to Ranji. Ranji felt happy. It was on Saturday the match was going to start. Suraj won the toss and decided to bat first. The visiting team’s bowler bowled well. Two wickets of the school team fell in one over. Now it was Ranji’s turn to bat. He played well and scored 58 runs. His school team won the match. In the other two matches, he scored forty and forty-five runs respectively. The coach and the captain of the school team and also Mr. Kumar pleased with his batting. From the ground after winning the match Ranji caught the bus to go to his home when he was in the room, the bat was not there. He had left it on the bus. He felt very sad. He went to Kumar’s shop and told him that he lost his bat. Kumar consoled him not to worry about it. He had no other bats in his shop to give him, but he told him that he had the confidence to play with any bat. Ranji’s school team was playing the last and the most important match of the cricket season on Saturday a public school team from Delhi. The day Saturday came. The Match began. His school team lost the first wicket with only two runs. It was Ranji’s turn. He borrowed Suraja’s bat and went to the wicket. The first ball was very speed, Ranji stepped back and pulled it very hard on them to the boundary. It was six. Everyone stood up and cheered. He hit the ball all over the field and scored. Seventy-five runs. But. the match was a draw. Ranji was the talk of the school.

 

 

 

The Verger

Summary

 

This short story is about a verger, who is illiterate.  This story shows how an illiterate man can earn more money and wealth, because of his smart thinking.

Introduction of the Verger

Albert Edward is a verger of a small church.  A verger is someone who takes care of the church.  Albert has been working in the church for a long time.  He takes care of the church very well.  He takes great care of his uniform.  The story opens with the end of the christening ceremony in the church.  The verger waits for the vicar to move, but the vicar is staying there.

The Past and the Present Vicar

The vicar of the church has taken his position in the recent past.  He is new to the church and to the position.  The verger is not comfortable with the new vicar.  He considers the old vicar as someone better than the new one.  The old vicar had never complained to him and had always been good to him.  Though the new vicar is good at controlling the child who has come to a christening, the verger is not comfortable with him and his manners.

Happenings between the Vicar and the Verger

The vicar calls the verger to his office.  Two wardens of the church also come to the vicar’s office.  The vicar says that he and the church management are not comfortable with the performance of the verger.  They consider him an illiterate, who cannot read and write.  The two wardens support the vicar.  The verger is helpless.

Verger’s Illiteracy

The verger accepts the fact that he is illiterate.  He had joined the church when he was twelve and had not attempted to educate himself since then.  The previous vicar did not mind about his education.  The verger is also able to execute his job in the best way possible, even without proper education.  He assures the new vicar that he can continue to do his job well.

Verger Coming out of the Church

The vicar and the wardens do not accept his plea.  They almost threaten the verger.  Out of compulsion and repulsion, the verger moves out of the church.  He resigns his job as a verger.  He is confused about the future.  He does not know how to earn his living thereafter.  In utter confusion, he takes an unusual road to his house.  He is hopeless.

Verger a Wealthy Man

After sometime, he finds that he has taken the wrong route.  He is frustrated and he wants to ease himself.  He approaches a few shops and asks for a cigarette.  No shop sells him a cigarette.  It is then he strikes with an idea of opening cigar shops.  He opens a shop where there are no shops.  His business throngs well.  He sells more cigars and he becomes wealthy.  Later he approaches a few other places where they do not sell cigars and he puts up a new shop there.  He becomes a prospective business man.  He becomes very wealthy.  He hoards more money in the bank.

Conclusion

The verger deposits all his money in the bank.  One day the bank’s manager invites him for a meeting.  He informs the verger that he has save more than 10 thousand pounds in the bank.  This is a huge money.  The manger asks him to sign a few documents and the verger says that he is uneducated.  This surprises the manager and others.  They question him what he would have done if had not started this business.  The verger says that he would have remained a verger till the end of his life.

 

 

                                                                 Old Bapu

https://youtu.be/TjYvRhnjmSs

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