Colors of Life-1. Whose shawl is
this?
My friend Professor Verma is a book lover. He was travelling
from Satana to Jabalpur by a passenger train that stops at every station en
route. It had only general class. The train was not crowded. It was December and winter had set in and Prof
Verma was suitably dressed for winter but still carried a shawl. He had a
little suit case which he pushed under the seat and made himself comfortable at
the window seat, opened his book and got engrossed in it, the shawl placed in his lap.
Sitting opposite to Prof Verma was an elderly lady
accompanied by a kid of some 6/7 years old. Being a passenger train, there were
passengers boarding and getting down at every station. The kid probably was
feeling a bit of cold and the lady asked Prof Verma if she could use his shawl
for a while, to which he readily agreed and went back to his book.
A few stations later, Prof. Verma heard people talking about
some shawl. He paid some attention. Someone
was holding his shawl . It was obvious that the lady had got down at the
previous station and had put the shawl on the vacant seat next to him neatly
folded. She must have spoken a few words of thanks while returning the shawl
but Prof Verma being Prof Verma had not enough room for such mundane affairs of
life so as to distract himself from his book. People were making their own
comments. Someone was saying the some passenger might have left it behind.
Realizing the situation Prof Verma tried to explain the situation and claim the
shawl as a rightful owner but people started making a fun of him. “Mr. for half
an hour now we have been asking whose shawl was this and nobody claimed it. Now
that since no one is claiming you have come forward to take advantage of the
situation and own it?” There were as many comments as many people in the
cubicle but there was no one to believe Prof. Verma’s story.
Fortunately there was a ‘Sherlock Holmes’ present there. “Mr.
if you say it is yours can you tell us what make is it. If you say it
correctly, it is yours.”
“Oswal, Ludhiana” said Prof. Verma and it tallied with the
label on the shawl. Prof Verma had a great sigh of relief when the shawl was
returned to him. Things calmed down and people now were eager to listen and
laugh at his expanse.
Such is the love of books!!!
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