He charged three paise8 per question, never opened his mouth till the other had spoken for at least ten minutes, which provided him enough stuff for a dozen answers and advices. How can you be otherwise with Saturn where he is? You have an impetuous nature and a rough exterior. The nuts vendor blew out his flare and rose to go home. This was a signal for the astrologer to bundle up too, since it left him in darkness except for a little shaft of green light which strayed in from somewhere and touched the ground before him.
He picked up his cowrie shells and paraphernalia and was putting them back into his bag when the green shaft of light was blotted out; he looked up and saw a man standing before him. It will do you good to sit down for a while and chat with me. If I prove you are bluffing, you must return that anna to me with interest.
This pact was accepted after a little further argument. The astrologer sent up a prayer to heaven as the other lit a cheroot. The astrologer caught a glimpse of his face by the match light. There was a pause as cars hooted on the road, jutka drivers swore at their horses, and the babble of the crowd agitated the semidarkness of the park. The astrologer felt very uncomfortable.
I am not used to such challenges. It is late for me today You dragged me in while I was passing. I will speak to you tomorrow. Go on. Shall I succeed in my present search or not? Answer this and go. Otherwise I will not let you go till you disgorge all your coins.
I will speak. But will you give me a rupee if what I say is convincing? Otherwise I will not open my mouth, and you may do what you like. Am I right? You were left for dead. You will never see any more of him. Guru Nayak, listen carefully to what I have to say. Take the next train and be gone. I see once again great danger to your life if you go from home.
Never travel southward again, and you will live to be a hundred. I hope at least he died as he deserved. The place was deserted by the time the astrologer picked up his articles and put them into his bag. The green shaft was also gone, leaving the place in darkness and silence. The stranger had gone off into the night, after giving the astrologer a handful of coins.
It was nearly midnight when the astrologer reached home. His wife was waiting for him at the door and demanded an explanation. One man gave all that. She was overjoyed. The child has been asking for sweets for so many days now. I will prepare some nice stuff for her. She looked up at him. What is wrong? I thought I had the blood of a man on my hands all these years. That was the reason why I ran away from home, settled here, and married you. He is alive. We drank, gambled, and quarreled badly one day—why think of it now?
He allowed himself to get mixed up with the fortunes of the persons to whom he was carrying letters. At No. Thanappa had seen him as a youngster, and had watched him day by day greying on the pial, sitting there and hoping for a big prize to come his way through solving crossword puzzles. How many children has he now? It doesn't matter. When I bring you your appointment order you must feed me with coconut payasam" And at each of these places he stopped for nearly half an hour.
Especially if anyone received money orders, he just settled down quite nicely, with his bags and bundles spread about him, and would not rise till he gathered an idea of how and where every rupee was going. If it was a hot day he sometimes asked for a tumbler of buttermilk and sat down to enjoy it.
Everybody liked him on his beat. He was a part and parcel of their existence, their hopes, aspirations, and activities. Of all his contacts, the one with which he was most intimately bound up was No. Rumanujam was a senior clerk in the Revenue Division Office, and Thanappa had carried letters to that address for over a generation now. His earliest association with Ramanujam was years and years ago. Ramanujam's wife was away in the village.
A card arrived for Ramanujam. Thanappa, as was his custom, glanced through it at the sorting table itself ; and, the moment they were ready to start out, went straight to Vinayak Mudali Street, though in the ordinary course over addresses preceded it.
He went straight to Ramanujam's house, knocked on the door and shouted : " Postman, sir, postman. Happy father! After all these years of prayers! Don't complain that it is a daughter. Daughters are God's gift, you know.
Kamakshi lovely name! Ah, so shy! Here is your grandfather's card asking for your photo. Why should he want it, unless it be. Ramanujam looked worried after reading it. The postman asked : " I hope it's good news?
Ramanujam said : " My father-in-law thinks I am not sufficiently active in finding a husband for my daughter. He has tried one or two places and failed. He thinks I am very indifferent. But money is not everything. Horoscopes do not agree. They are demanding too much.
Evidently they, do not approve of her appearance. She looks like a queen. Unless one is totally blind. The season would be closing, with only three more auspicious dates, the last being May 2Oth. The girl would be seventeen in a few days. The reminders from her grandfather were becoming fiercer. Ramanujam had exhausted all the possibilities and had drawn a blank everywhere.
He looked helpless and miserable. Makunda of Temple Street was after him. Makunda and you are of the same sub- caste, I believe. Over a hundred letters have passed between them already. But I know they are definitely breaking off. It is over some money question. They have written their last message on a postcard and it has infuriated these people all the more.
As if post- cards were an instrument of insult! I have known most important communications being written even on picture postcards ; when Rajappa went to America two years ago he used to write to his sons every week on picture postcards. Let us see. No time to waste now. Open it and tell me what they have written," said Thanappa.
He trembled with suspense. So they approve of the photo! Who wouldn't? I might as well apply for leave till Kamakshi's marriage is over. God knows how many hurdles we have to cross now. Liking a photo does not prove anything. The family was divided over the question. Ramanujam, his mother, and his wife none of them had defined views on the question, but yet they opposed each other vehemently. If you stand on all these absurd antiquated formalities, we shall never get any- where near a marriage.
It is our duty to take the girl over even to Delhi if necessary. Time was marching. The postman had got into the habit of dropping in at the end of his day's work, and joining in the council. Listen to me," he said. What you cannot achieve by a year's correspondence you can do in an hour's meeting.
I am sure it is from your husband. What is the news? He said : " I have some registered letters for those last houses. I will finish my round, and come back. I will offer a coconut to our Vinayaka tonight. We had an idea of doing it during next Thai month. It will be so difficult to hurry through the arrangements now. But they say that if the marriage is done it must be done on the twentieth of May. If it is postponed the boy can't many for three years.
He is being sent away for some training. You can't complain of lack of funds now. Go ahead. I'm so happy you have his approval. More than their money, we need their blessings, sir. I hope he has sent his heartiest blessings. Ramanujam, with so short a time before him, and none to share the task of arrangements, became distraught. As far as it could go, Thanappa placed himself at his service during all his off hours. He cut short his eloquence, advices, and exchanges in other houses.
He never waited for anyone to come up and receive the letters. He just tossed them through a window or an open door with a stentorian " Letter, sir. In such a hurry! I will come and squat in your house after that " and he was off. Ramanujam was in great tension. He trembled with anxiety as the day approached nearer. Nothing should prove a hindrance.
You have given them everything they wanted in cash, presents, and style. They are good people. It is the very last date for the year. If for some reason some obstruction comes up, it is all finished for ever. The boy goes away for three years. I don't think either of us would be prepared to bind ourselves to wait for three years.
A quiet had descended on the gathering. The young smart bridegroom from Delhi was seated in a chair under the pandal. Fragrance of sandal, and flowers, and holy smoke, hung about the air. People were sitting around the bridegroom talking. Thanappa appeared at the gate loaded with letters. Some young men ran up to him demanding : " Postman! I know to whom to deliver. The bridegroom looked up at him with an amused smile and muttered : " Thanks.
I have known that child, Kamakshi, ever since she was a day old, and I knew she would always get a distinguished husband," added the postman, and brought his palms together in a salute, and moved into the house to deliver other letters and to refresh himself in the kitchen with tiffin and coffee. Ten days later he knocked on the door and, with a grin, handed Kamakshi her first letter : " Ah, scented envelope!
I knew it was coming when the mail van was three stations away. I have seen hundreds like this. Take it from me. Before he has written the tenth letter he will command you to pack up and join him, and you will grow a couple of wings and fly away that very day, and forget for ever Thanappa and this street, isn't it so? He said, turning away : " I don't think there is any use waiting for you to finish the letter and tell me its contents.
My uncle, my father's brother, is very ill in Salem, and they want me to start immediately. Thanappa looked equally miserable. Ramanujam rallied, gathered himself up, and turned to go in. Thanappa said : " One moment, sir. I have a confession to make. See the date on the card. I was unhappy to see it.
But what has happened has happened,' I said to myself, and kept it away, fearing that it might interfere with the wedding. They will dismiss me. It is a serious offence. Ramanujam watched him dully for a while and shouted : " Postman! I am only sorry you have done this.
Raman often burst out, " Why couldn't you have come a day earlier? Raman ; for them there was something ominous in the very association.
As a result when the big man came on the scene it was always a quick decision one way or another. There was no scope or time for any kind of wavering or whitewashing. Long years of practice of this kind had bred in the doctor a certain curt truthfulness ; for that very reason his opinion was valued ; he was not a mere doctor expressing an opinion but a judge pronouncing a verdict.
The patient's life hung on his words. This never unduly worried Dr. He never believed that agreeable words ever saved lives. He did not think it was any of his business to provide unnecessary dope when as a matter of course Nature would tell them the truth in a few hours. However, when he glimpsed the faintest sign of hope, he rolled up his sleeve and stepped into the arena : it might be hours or days, but he never withdrew till he wrested the prize from Tama's hands.
Today, standing over a bed, the doctor felt that he himself needed someone to tell him soothing lies. He mopped his brow with his kerchief and sat down in the chair beside the bed. On the bed lay his dearest friend in the world : Gopal.
They had known each other for forty years now, starting with their Kinder- garten days. They could not, of course, meet as much as they wanted, each being wrapped in his own family and profession. Occasionally, on a Sunday, Gopal would walk into the consulting room, and wait patiently in a corner till the doctor was free. And then they would dine together, see a picture, and talk of each other's life and activities.
It was a classic friendship standing over, untouched by changing times, circumstances, and activities. In his busy round of work, Dr. Raman had not noticed that Gopal had not called in for over three months now. He just remembered it when he saw GopaPs son sitting on a bench in the consulting hall, one crowded morning. Raman could not talk to him for over an hour. When he got up and was about to pass on to the operation room, he called up the young man and asked, " What brings you here, sir?
He rushed off straight from the clinic to his friend's house, in Lawley Extension. Gopal lay in bed as if in sleep. The doctor stood over him and asked Gopal's wife, " How long has he been in bed? He comes down once in three days and gives him medicine.
Why, why, couldn't you have sent me word earlier? There was hardly any time to be lost. He took off his coat and opened his bag. He took out an injection tube, the needle sizzled over the stove. The sick man's wife whimpered in a corner and essayed to ask questions.
He looked at the children who were watching the sterilizer, and said, " Send them all away somewhere, except the eldest. The patient still remained motionless. The doctor's face gleamed with perspiration, and his eyelids drooped with fatigue. The sick man's wife stood in a corner and watched silently. She asked timidly, " Doctor, shall I make some coffee for you?
He got up and said, " I will be back in a few minutes. Don't disturb him on any account. In a quarter of an hour he was back, followed by an assistant and a nurse. The doctor told the lady of the house, " I have to perform an operation. Will you leave your son here to help us, and go over to the next house and stay there till I call you? The nurse attended to her and led her out. At about eight in the evening the patient opened his eyes and stirred slightly in bed. The assistant was overjoyed.
He exclaimed enthusiastically, " Sir, he will pull through. It is only a false flash-up, very common in these cases. At about eleven the patient opened his eyes and smiled at his friend. He showed a slight improvement, he was able to take in a little food. A great feeling of relief and joy went through the household.
They swarmed around the doctor and poured out their gratitude. He sat in his seat beside the bed, gazing sternly at the patient's face, hardly showing any signs of hearing what they were saying to him. The sick man's wife asked, " Is he now out of danger?
She felt restless. She felt she must know the truth whatever it was. Why was the great man so evasive? The suspense was unbearable. Perhaps he could not speak so near the patient's bed.
She beckoned to him from the kitchen doorway. The doctor rose and went over. She asked, " What about him now? How is he? Unless you must know about it, don't ask now. She clasped her hands together and implored : " Tell me the truth. A terrible wailing shot through the still house ; the patient stirred and looked about in bewilderment. The doctor got up again, went over to the kitchen door, drew it in securely and shut off the wail.
When the doctor resumed his seat the patient asked in the faintest whisper possible, " Is that someone crying? You mustn't talk. It was already agitated by the exertion. The patient asked, " Am I going? Don't hide it from me. He had never faced a situation like this. It was not in his nature to whitewash. People attached great value to his word because of that. He stole a look at the other. The patient motioned a finger to draw him nearer and whispered, " I must know how long I am going to last.
I must sign the will. It is all ready. Ask my wife for the despatch box. You must sign as a witness. You must be quieter. I can trust your word. I can't leave my property unsettled. That will mean endless misery for my wife and children. You know all about Subbiah and his gang. Let me sign before it is too late. Tell me. He walked off to his car, sat in the back seat and reflected. He looked at his watch. If the will was to be signed, it must be done within the next two hours, or never.
He could not be responsible for a mess there ; he knew too well the family affairs and about those wolves, Subbiah and his gang. But what could he do? If he asked him to sign the Will, it would virtually mean a death sentence and destroy the thousandth part of a chance that the patient had of survival. He got down from the car and went in. He resumed his seat in the chair. The patient was staring at him appealingly. The doctor said to him- self, " If my word can save his life, he shall not die.
The will be damned. He stooped over the patient and said with deliberate emphasis, " Don't worry about the will now. You are going to live. Your heart is absolutely sound. He asked in a tone of relief, " Do you say so? If it comes from your lips it must be true.
You are improving every second. Sleep in peace. You must not exert yourself on any account. You must sleep very soundly. I will sec you in the morning. The doctor picked up his bag and went out shutting the door softly behind him. On his way home he stopped for a moment at his hospital, called out his assistant, and said, " That Lawley Extension case.
You might expect the collapse any second now. Go there with a tube of Next morning he was back at Lawley Extension at ten. From his car he made a dash for the sick bed. The patient was awake and looked very well. The assistant reported satisfactory pulse. The doctor put his tube at his heart, listened for a while, and told the sick man's wife, " Don't look so unhappy, lady. Your husband will live to be ninety.
He will live to be ninety. He has turned the corner. How he has survived this attack will be a puzzle to me all my life," replied the doctor. This is what happened to ex-gateman Govind Singh. And you could not blame the public either. What could you do with a man who carried about in his hand a registered postal cover and asked : " Please tell me what there is inside? Everywhere the suggestion was the same till he thought everyone had turned mad.
And then somebody said : " If you don't like to open it and yet want to know what is inside you must take it to the X-ray Institute. It was explained to him. But before saying anything further about his pro- gress, it would be usefiil to go back to an earlier chapter in his history.
After war service in , he came to be recommended for a gatekeeper's post at Engladia's. He liked the job very much. He was given a khaki uniform, a resplendent band across his shoulder and a short stick.
He gripped the stick and sat down on a stool at the entrance to the office. And when his chief's car pulled up at the gate he stood at attention and gave a military salute.
The office consisted of a staff numbering over a hundred and as they trooped in and out every day he kept an eye on them. At the end of the day he awaited the footsteps of the General Manager coining down the stairs and rose stiffly and stood at attention, and after he left the hundreds of staff poured out.
The doors were shut ; Singh carried his stool in, placed it under the staircase, and placed his stick across it. Then he came out and the main door was locked and sealed. In this way he had spent twenty-five years of service, and then he begged to be pensioned off. He would not have thought of retirement yet, but for the fact that he found his sight and hearing playing tricks on him ; he could not catch the Manager's footsteps on the stairs, and it was hard to recognize him even at ten yards.
He was ushered into the presence of the chief, who looked up for a moment from his papers and muttered : " We are very pleased with your work for us, and company will give you a pension of twelve rupees for your life. This was the second occasion when the great man had spoken to him, the first being on the first day of his service. As he had stood at his post, the chief, entering the office just then, looked up for a moment and asked " Who are you? And he spoke again only on this day.
Though so little was said, Singh felt electrified on both occasions by the words of his master. In Singh's eyes the chief had acquired a sort of Godhood, and it would be quite adequate if a god spoke to one only once or twice in a lifetime.
In moments of contemplation Singh's mind dwelt on the words of his master, and on his personality. His life moved on smoothly. The pension together with what his wife earned by washing and sweeping in a couple of houses was quite sufficient for him. He ate his food, went out and met a few friends, slept, and spent some evenings sitting at a cigarette shop which his cousin owned. This tenor of life was disturbed on the first of every month when he donned his old khaki suit, walked to his old office, and salaamed the Accountant at the counter and received his pension.
Sometimes if it was closing he waited on the roadside for the General Manager to come down, and saluted him as he got into his car. There was a lot of time all around him, an immense sea of leisure. In this state he made a new discovery about himself, that he could make fascinating models out of clay and wood dust. The discovery came suddenly, when one day a child in the neighbourhood brought to him its little doll for repair. He not only repaired it but made a new thing of it.
This discovery pleased him so much that he very soon became absorbed in it. His backyard gave him a plentiful supply of pliant clay, and the carpenter's shop next to his cousin's cigarette shop sawdust. He purchased paint for a few annas. And lo! He sat there in the front part of his home, bent over his clay, and brought into existence a miniature universe ; all the colours of life were there, all the forms and creatures, but of the size of his middle finger ; whole villages and towns were there, all the persons he had seen passing before his office when he was sentry there that beggar woman coming at midday, and that cucumber vendor ; he had the eye of a cartoonist for human faces.
Everything went down into clay. It was a wonderful miniature re- flection of the world ; and he mounted them neatly on thin wooden slices, which enhanced their attractive- ness. He kept these in his cousin's shop and they attracted huge crowds every day and sold very briskly. More than the sales Singh felt an ecstasy when he saw admiring crowds clustering around his handiwork. On his next pension day he carried to his office a street scene which he ranked as his best , and handed it over the counter to the Accountant with the request : " Give this to the Sahib, please!
It created a sensation in the office and disturbed the routine of office working for nearly half an hour. On the next pension day he carried another model children at play and handed it over the counter.
He made it a convention to carry on every pension day an offering for his master, and each time his greatest reward was the Accountant's stock reply to his question : " What did the Sahib say? A model of his office frontage with himself at his post, a car at the entrance, and the chief getting down : this composite model was so realistic that while he sat looking at it, he seemed to be carried back to his office days.
He passed it over the counter on his pension day and it created a very great sensation in the office. A sudden fear seized Singh and he asked : " The master won't be angry, I hope? A week later when he was sitting on the fyol kneading clay, the postman came and said : " A registered letter for you. Now a registered letter! This was his first registered letter.
Please take it back. I don't want it," said Singh. Shall I say 'Refused'? Singh seemed to have no option but to scrawl his signature and receive the packet. He sat gloomily gazing at the floor. His wife who had gone out and just returned saw him in this condition and asked : "What is it? He said: "How should I know. Perhaps our ruin. His wife watched him for a moment, went in to attend to some domestic duty and returned, still found him in the same condition, and asked : " Why not open it and see, ask someone to read it?
It cannot be opened. They have perhaps written that my pension is stopped, and God knows what else the Sahib has said. I will never show my face there again. That must also have reached the Sahib's ears.
He lost taste for food, wandered about unkempt, with his hair standing up like a halo an unaccustomed sight, his years in military service having given him a habitual tidiness. His wife lost all peace of mind and became miserable about him. He stood at the cross-roads, clutching the letter in his hand. He kept asking everyone he came across : " Tell me, what there is in this? As he entered the gate he observed dozens of cars parked along the drive, and a Gurkha watchman at the gate.
Some people were sitting on sofas reading books and journals. They turned and threw a brief look at him and resumed their studies. As Singh stood uncertainly at the doorway, an assistant came up and asked : " What do you want? But Singh replied : " They said you could tell me what's inside without opening it " The assistant asked : " Where do you come from?
I knew trouble was coming " There were tears on his cheeks. The assistant looked at him curiously as scores of others had done before, smiled, and said : " Go home and rest. You are not all right. Go, go home. The assistant took it in his hand, examined it and said : " Shall I open it?
There was a look of terror in his eyes. The assembly looked up from their pages and watched him with mild amusement in their eyes.
The assistant kindly put his arms on his shoulder and led him out. I tell you are not all right. That's it, is that it? He now understood the looks that people threw at him. He laughed. He felt a curious relief at this realization.
Every little action of his for the last so many days seemed mad ; particularly the doll- making. He wanted to fly. He swung his arms up and down and ran on with a whoop. He ran through the Market Road. When people stood about and watched he cried : " Hey, don't laugh at a mad man, for who knows, you will also be mad when you come to make clay dolls," and charged into their midst with a war cry. When he saw children coming out of a school, he felt it would be nice to amuse their young hearts by behaving like a tiger.
So he fell on his hands and kneels and crawled up to them with a growl. He went home in a terrifying condition. His wife who was grinding chilly in the backyard looked up and asked : " What is this? He could not answer because he choked with mirth as he said : " Fancy what has happened! Ranged on the floor was his latest handiwork.
After his last visit to the office he had been engaged in making a model village. It was a resplendent group ; a dun road, red tiles, green coconut trees swaying, and the colour of the sarees of the village women carrying water pots. He derived the inspiration for it from a memory of his own village days.
It was the most enjoyable piece of work that he had so far undertaken. He lived in a kind of ecstasy while doing it. A memento of my father's village," he declared.
He raised his foot and stamped everything down into a multi-coloured jam. They were still half wet. He saw a donkey grazing in the street. It is a nice village. This was a quieter outing. He strode on at an even pace, breathing deeply, with the clay helmet on, out of which peeped his grey hair, his arms locked behind, his fingers clutching the fateful letter, his face tilted towards the sky.
He walked down the Market Road, with a feeling that he was the sole occupant of this globe : his madness had given him a sense of limitless freedom, strength and buoyancy.
The remarks and jeers of the crowds gaping at him did not in the least touch him. While he walked thus, his eye fell on the bulb of a tall street lamp : " Bulb of the size of a Papaya fruit! It had been a long cherished desire in him to fling a stone at it ; now he felt, in his joyous and free condition, that he was free from the trammels of convention and need not push back any inclination. He picked up a pebble and threw it with good aim.
The shattering noise of glass was as music to his ears. A policeman put his hand on his shoulder : " Why did you do it? The constable said : " Come to the station. He paused, tilted his head to the side and remarked : " This road is not straight He found that everything was wrong about them. They seemed to need some advice in the matter.
He stopped in the middle of the road, stretched out his arms and shouted : " Halt! One of the cyclists who resumed, jumped off the saddle again and came towards him with : " Why! It is Singh, Singh, what fancy dress is this? What is the matter? Singh clicked his heels and gave a salute : " Excuse me sir, didn't intend to stop you. You may pass. He recognized it although it was mud-stained and crumpled.
Do not speak of it. A big crowd gathered to watch this scene. Singh pressed the letter to his eyes. He beat his brow, and wailed : " Tell me, sir, am I mad or not? Singh fell at his feet and said with tears choking his voice : " You are a god, sir, to say that I am not mad.
I am so happy to hear it. As they handed him the envelope they asked : " What toys are you making now? Never again. It is no occupation for a sane man. I wandered up and down the country probing, exploring, and digging, in search of antiquities, a most interesting occupation, although cynics sometimes called us " grave-diggers.
I had a master who was a famous archaeologist called Doctor something or other. He was a superb, timeless being, who lived a thousand years behind the times, and who wanted neither food nor roof nor riches if only he was allowed to gaze on undisturbed at an old coin or chip of a burial urn. He had torn up the earth in almost all parts of India and had brought to light very valuable information concerning the history and outlook of people of remote centuries.
His monographs on each of his excavations filled several shelves in all the important libraries. And then, as our good fortune would have it, he received an inspiration that Malgudi district was eminently diggable. I am not competent to explain how he got this idea, but there it was. Word was brought to me that the great man was staying in the dak bungalow and was in need of an assistant.
Within an hour of hearing it I stood before the great man. He was sitting on the floor with the most crazy collection of articles in front of him pots and beads and useless coins and palm leaves, all of them rusty and decaying. He had a lens by his side, through which he looked at these articles and made notes. He asked me : " What do you know of the archaeological factors of your district?
Honestly I didn't know there was any archaeology in our place. He looked at me through his old spectacles, and I realized that my living depended upon my answer. I mustered up all the knowledge of elementary history I had acquired in my boyhood, and replied : " Well, nothing has so far been done in any methodical manner, although now and then we come across some ignorant villagers ploughing up old unusual bits of pottery and metal.
He engaged me on the spot at fifty rupees a month, and my main business was to follow him about and help him. I had my wits alive, and within a month I was in a position to lead him by the hand. Not the slightest object escaped my notice. I picked up everything I saw, cleaned and polished it, and held it up for his opinion.
Most times, I am sorry to confess, they were useless bits of stuff of known origin namely, our own times. But I am glad to say that once I scored a hit. We camped one week-end at Siral a village sixty miles from the town. It is a lovely ancient place, consisting of a hundred houses. Sarayu River winds its way along the northern boundary of the village. The river here is broader than it is anywhere else in the district.
On the other bank of the river we have the beginnings of a magnificent jungle of bamboo and teak. The most modern structure in the place was a small two- roomed inspection lodge. The doctor occupied one room and I the other. We were scouting the surroundings for a mound under which was supposed to be a buried city. This discovery was going to push the earliest known civilization three centuries farther back and rival Mohenjadaro in antiquity.
We might be pardoned if we set about our business with some intensity. Our doctor some- how seemed to possess an inexplicable feeling of rivalry with the discoverers of Mohenjadaro and such other places.
His greatest desire was to have a monopoly of the earliest known civilization and place it where he chose. This seemed to me a slight weak- ness in his nature, but pardonable in a great man, who had done so much else in life.
This is all beside the point. Let me get on with the story. One day I had gone to the river for a bathe. It was an exhilarating evening ; I had done a good day's work, assisting the doctor to clean up and study a piece of stained glass picked up in a field outside the village.
The doctor kept gazing at this glass all day. He constantly shook his head and said : " This is easily the most important piece of work which has come under my notice. This bit of glass you see is not ordinary archaeological stuff, but a very important link. This piece of glass is really Florentian, which went out of vogue in A. How did this come here? It is not found anywhere else in the world.
If the identity of this is established properly we may ultimately have a great deal to say about the early Roman Empire and this part of India. This will revolutionize our whole knowledge of history.
He trembled with excitement and lost all taste for food. He kept on muttering : " We must tread warily and not overlook the slightest evidence. Keep your eyes open. We are on the eve of great discoveries. I was in this state when I plunged into the waters of Sarayu that evening. I am a good diver. As I went down my hand struck against a hard object in the sandy bed. Feeling with my fingers, I found it to be a stone image.
When I came to the surface again I came up bearing that image with me. Dripping with water, I sat on the river step, without even drying myself, and examined the image. He keenly examined it by our tin lantern. It was a stone image a foot high, which had acquired a glass- like smoothness, having been under water for years.
It had an arm, an eye, the nose, and the mouth missing. There were a few details of ornament and drapery which the doctor examined with special care. It was 3 a. An hour later the doctor peeped in at my doorway and announced : " This is a Roman statue. How it came to be found in these parts is an historical fact we have to wrest from evidence.
It is going to give an entirely new turn to Indian history. Papers were read before historical associations and conferences. I came to be looked upon as a sort of saviour of Indian history.
For the doctor insisted upon giving me my due share of fame. University honours came my way. I was offered lucrative positions here and there. It would be out' of place to go into the details that led to this conclusion : but you need have no doubt that the doctor had excellent reasons for it. Every time you catch a ball, ride a bike, or lift a bag, you are using physics to make predictions without realizing it. Astronomy 24 cards 4. Q Why do we need to measure extremely small intervals of time?
Ans: In nature and also in Physics, there are so many phenomenon which vary with respect to the extremely small interval of time and for their experimental measurement we need very precise time measuring instrument. Scientists use the concept of the order of magnitude of a number to track which phenomena occur on which scales. AP Physics 1 Practice Exams. Fermi is equal to. See if you can determine solutions to the following problems that geologists face when working with maps.
From the Law of Conservation of Momentum, the ball bounces back for box 1. Subscribe now. How much will 5J measure in this new system? Sol: For solving this problem, dimensions of physical quantity will remain same whatever be the system of units of its Lecture Notes - Free Response Question 3 - AP Physics 1 - Exam Solutions.
Fundamental quantities of measurement. Speed into kinematics in unit 1 of AP Physics 1. Physics is about an applied mathematics. For help with the topics in this unit check out the web links and youTube clips below. Single-select questions are each followed by four possible responses, only one of which is correct. Long Answer Type Questions. After you complete these questions, you may check your answers at the end of the unit.
Gravitational force 4. Click here for the Answers to Physics Forces questions. The KS3 Physics Questions are selected at random from big databases. Explain why. Answer: a always zero. The Young Modulus.
Physics is actually the study of the Entire Physical World. The chapter comprises 12 diagrammatic questions and 1 exercise with 9 modules and additional problems with a total of 86 questions. If an object is heavier the force of gravity is greater, but since it has greater mass the acceleration is the same, so it moves at the same speed if we neglect air resistance.
The branch of physics which deals with atomic nuclei is called. UNIT 1. The number of electron-taken out from a body to produce 1 coulomb of charge will be : a 6. The collision is inelastic. Ask your interesting physics related questions for free. Download free-response questions from past exams along with scoring guidelines, sample responses from exam takers, and scoring distributions.
We review position, velocity, and acceleration along with explaining how to interpret key motion graphs. Solution For Problem 1. Each question is worth one point. Murugesan - English Medium Download Here. Physics is about trying to find the simple laws that describe all natural phenomena.
Question 1. Ch 8 vocab - 14 cards. Heat 2. Test 01 - Constant Velocity. Physics operates on a vast range of scales of length, mass, and time. If a positive charge Q is added at x, 0 shown in figure b , the force on q 1. The sum multiple vectors is equal to a 1 vector which called. The amount of matter in an object. Admin February 21, Website not working properly.
Ben buys an oven. Created by. The AP Physics 1 Exam consists of two sections: a multiple-choice section and a free-response section. Choose the correct option. Define the fundamental quantity of measure that is described by each of the following statements: 1. The magnitude of the force of friction on its tires is 9,N. Answers have been provided.
We then cover how to calculate free fall, projectile motiom, and angled launches. Here you need to rank magnitudes of acceleration by examining the graph. Physics MCQs. Question 2. Magnetic 1. The magnitude of any physical quantity: 1 depends on the method of measurement.
The base unit of mass is the kilogram kg. You estimate how much force it will take to move an object. All percentages are expressed as the decimal. Search for: Search. Exam Date s: may 5, Unit Electrostatics.
Practice Science Questions on the subject of Physics Forces. For example, you predict where obstacles will be at later ti mes. In this area of study students investigate the thermodynamic principles related to heating processes, including concepts of temperature, energy and work. Show your work for each part in the space provided after that part. Equal to B. AP Physics 1 Section. Electric Charges; charging by induction, basic properties of electric charge addition of charges, quantisation of charges and their Conservation Coulomb's law-force between two point charges, forces between multiple charges; superposition principle and cotineous charge distribution.
Stress and Strain in Metals. AP Physics uses the metric system SI for all measurements. Refraction of light at plane surface 3. The plank is in equilibrium and the magnitudes of the reactions at A and B are equal. Welcome to Physics! The AP Physics 1 exam is three hours long and consists of two sections: a multiple-choice section and a free-response section.
Physics multiple choice answers unit 1. The distance between two points. Impulse 2. Essential Fundamentals of Measurement. Physics Paper 2 Year K. A new unit of length is chosen such that the speed of light in vaccum is unity. In this chapter, the importance of physics and measurement of the quantities are illustrated.
Ch 7 Linear Momentum - 22 cards.
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