Part 2 (1/2)

I could not have been long at the Oriental See when I joined the Normal School The only one of its features which I rean all the boys had to sit in a row in the gallery and go through so of verses--evidently an atte an element of cheerfulness into the daily routine

Unfortunately the words were English and the tune quite as foreign, so that we had not the faintest notion what sort of incantation ere practising; neither did the less monotony of the performance tend to make us cheerful This failed to disturb the serene self-satisfaction of the school authorities at having provided such a treat; they deemed it superfluous to inquire into the practical effect of their bounty; they would probably have counted it a crime for the boys not to be dutifully happy Anyhow they rested content with taking the song as they found it, words and all, frolish book which had furnished the theory

The language into which this English resolved itself in our ists I can recall only one line:

_Kallokee pullokee singill ht I have been able to guess at the original of a part of it Of ords _kallokee_ is the transformation still baffles ing merrily, merrily, e from haziness and become clearer they are not the least sweet in any particular Had I been able to associate with the other boys, the woes of learning ht not have seemed so intolerable But that turned out to be impossible--so nasty were most of the boys in their manners and habits So, in the intervals of the classes, I would go up to the second storey and while away the ti the street I would count: one year--two years--three years--; wondering how h like this

Of the teachers I ree was so foul that, out of sheer contempt for him, I steadily refused to answer any one of his questions Thus I sat silent throughout the year at the bottom of his class, and while the rest of the class was busy I would be left alone to attempt the solution of many an intricate probleitate profoundly, was how to defeat an ene arms My preoccupation with this question, a their lessons, comes back to s, tigers and other ferocious beasts, and put a few lines of these on the field of battle, that, I thought, would serve very well as an inspiriting prelude With our personal prowess let loose thereafter, victory should by no means be out of reach And, as the picture of this wonderfully siination, the victory of my side became assured beyond doubt

While work had not yet come into my life I always found it easy to devise short cuts to achieve I find that what is hard is hard indeed, and what is difficult re; but nowhere near so bad as the discoth a year of that class had passed, ere exaot the largest number of marks of all the boys The teacher complained to the school authorities that there had been favouritism in my case So I was examined a second time, with the superintendent of the school seated beside the exaot a top place

(6) _Versification_

I could not have been ht years old at the time Jyoti, a son of a niece of ained an entrance into English literature, and would recite Hausto Why he should have taken it into his head to get a child, as I was, to write poetry I cannot tell One afternoon he sent for me to his room, and asked me to try and make up a verse; after which he explained to me the construction of the _payar_ metre of fourteen syllables

I had up to then only seen poen to the eye of doubt or trouble or any huine that any effort of mine could produce such poetry

One day a thief had been caught in our house Overpowered by curiosity, yet in fear and tre, I ventured to the spot to take a peep at him

I found he was just an ordinary hly handled by our door-keeper I felt a great pity I had a siether a feords at my oill, I found them turned into a _payar_ verse I felt I had no illusions left about the glories of poetising So when poor Poetry is mishandled, even now I feel as unhappy as I did about the thief Many a time have I been moved to pity and yet been unable to restrain i for the assault Thieves have scarcely suffered soof awe once overcoet hold of a blue-paper manuscript book by the favour of one of the officers of our estate With ular intervals, and thereon I began to write verses in a large childish scrawl

Like a young deer which butts here, there and everywhere with its newly sprouting horns, Ipoetry More so my elder[10] brother, whose pride in my performance impelled him to hunt about the house for an audience

I recollect how, as the pair of us, one day, were coround floor, after a conquering expedition against the officers, we caopal Mitter, who had just stepped into the house My brother tackled hiopal Babu! won't you listen to a poe forthwith followed

My works had not as yet become voluminous The poet could carry all his effusions about in his pockets I riter, printer and publisher, all in one; ue I had coopal Babu then and there, at the foot of the stairs, in a voice pitched as high as my enthusiasm ”Well done!” said he with a sot hold of this word I do not remember The ordinary name would have fitted the metre quite as well But this was the one word in the whole poem on which I had pinned my hopes It had doubtless duly iopal Babu did not succumb to it--on the contrary he s ain I have since added e but have not been able to improve uponin ht smile, the word _dwirepha_, like a bee drunk with honey, stuck to its place, un_

One of the teachers of the Norave us private lessons at home His body was lean, his features dry, his voice sharp He looked like a cane incarnate His hours were fro ranged froali to the epic of Meghnadvadha