CRIME AND PUNISHMENT By R K Narayan

It is a humorous short story. This story really proves the old saying, “spare the rod
and spoil the child”. It highlights the truth that over caring and over parenting spoil
the child. This story brings out a comical situation between a teacher and his naughty
student.

The boy was preparing a test in arithmetic. The test was scheduled and the teacher
was preparing the naughty student for the test. The student provokes the angry
teacher by repeating the wrong answer. At last, the teacher bit the little boy. When
the boy started crying, the teacher became very upset.

The boy’s parents were very rich and they were against giving punishments. He was
afraid that the boy’s parents would know that. The boy was their only child and they
did not like anybody beating him. The teacher knew this truth and tried to console
the boy.

The boy put forward a condition before the teacher. If he allowed him to play, he
would not disclose the truth. At last, the teacher obeyed and the boy wanted him to
play with him.

The teacher became very tired and the engine of the toy train was also damaged.
Then the boy wanted him to repair it. When the teacher was not ready to repair it, he
demanded a story from him. The teacher became very tired after repeating many
stories. Then the boy again threatened the teacher and ran to his parents. The
teacher too ran after him. But he could not reach him.

The teacher then stumbled to the portico step. At that time, the parents reached
there. The teacher became very afraid and wanted to confess everything. By that
time, the boy’s father enquired about the test and the boy became very afraid and hid
behind his parents. He looked at the teacher desperately.

The teacher felt sympathy for the boy and replied that he has won the test. The boy
became very happy and thankful to the teacher. The teacher also told them about the
game they were playing to make him happy. Thus, this story brings so much laughter
for the readers.

Dangers of Drug Abuse by Hardin B. Jones

Hardin B. Jones, Professor of Medical Physics in “Dangers of Drug Abuse” describes

the evils of drug abuse and gives a warning against it.

Nowadays people believe that any illness can be relieved by taking a pill.

This has led to wide spread drug abuse. At the first sign of nervousness people use
stimulant drugs. They use drugs not only when they are depressed but when they
feel great already. They depend on drugs not to solve their problems but to forget
them.

But medicine should be distinguished from sensual drugs. As said by Hippocrates,

the father of medicine, a remedy must take into account not only the disease but also
the constitution of the patient. He adds that persons in good health quickly lose their
strength by taking purgative medicines.

The sensual drugs give the users a strong sense of pleasure. These drugs stimulate
the brain’s pleasure centers. The brain governs the sensations, moods, thoughts and
actions. These are easily upset by drugs. But only naturally attained pleasure can
give total satisfaction.

Drug-related health disorders are many and varied. Dirty needles and solution used
for injecting drugs can cause liver disease, venereal disease and infection of the
kidneys and brain. The chemistry of the brain cells is complex. Toxic drugs can
easily destroy this complex system.

Finally drug addition ends in physical discomfort. The addict feels depressed and
‘dead inside’. He fails to respond either to his environment or other people. The
dangers of drug abuse lie between the degeneration of health and the depletion of
brain function. But the damage to the brain is the most subtle but the lease
understood consequence of drug abuse.

The Panorama of India’s Past by Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru is India’s first Prime Minister. He is educated in England

Cambridge University. He spent most of his life for India’s freedom struggle. This
short prose piece is an excerpt from his famous book, The Discovery of India. This
book is written by Jawaharlal Nehru, when he was imprisoned in Ahmadnagar Fort.

Nehru begins the essay by saying that his mind is full of India and his attempts to
understand and analyse her. To do this he goes back to his childhood days, when he
experienced the country. At present Nehru is proud of the nation and at the same he
is ashamed of the nation. He is ashamed because of the superstitious practices,
outworn ideas and the poverty of Indian people.

As he grew up he became busy with India’s freedom. He considers the British power
over India as monstrous. He asks a basic question – “What is India?”. He thinks of
India in geographical terms, her past, the present condition, the future and her role
in the modern world. To talk about the future of India, Nehru needs the present. To
talk about the present, Nehru needs to study about the past India. He decides to
approach India’s past as an alien, through the West, so that he will not be prejudiced
and partial.
He thinks of the days, when he stood in Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley, where he
saw houses all around him with streets, which was laid before 5000 years. The Indus
Valley civilization, according to Professor Childe, is a representation of a perfect
adjustment of human life to a specific environment. During those days, India was in
touch with the Persians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Chinese, the Arabs and the
people of central Mediterranean. India changed those countries and it was changed
by those countries.

Jawaharlal Nehru remembers his readings about India’s past, through the books of
wanderers from China and other countries. Nehru has been to the Himalayas, which
say about India’s past and rich culture. The mighty rivers of India talk about the
history of India. The Indus or Sindhu, from which India got its name; the
Brahmanputra and the Ganges talk about the story of India’s civilization and culture
and about the rise of fall of great empires and cities.

Nehru’s visits to old monuments like Ajanta, Ellora, the Elephanta Caves and other
places like Agra and Delhi has made him learn more about India. He talks about the
festival Kumbh Mela, which takes place in his hometown, Allahabad. The festival has
a history of thirteen thousand years. The place called Saranath, near Benaras, makes
him visualize Buddha. The Ashoka pillars of stone speak a different language to him.

These visits and places has taught a lot about India to Nehru. His pride about the
country becomes sad, when he thinks of the present reality. According to Nehru, no
other country in the world has such a long history and tradition. The vast panorama
of India talks about the great past, but the 180 years of rule by the British has
changed everything in India and we are unhappy slaves today. Nehru promises to
bring out the hidden past of India and make the Indians feel proud of their nation.