खेल

Summary

A beggar child sits beside his sleeping father under a peepal tree on a hot afternoon. The father, exhausted and having received more alms than usual, sleeps deeply, appearing like a heap of rubbish. The child, about five or six years old, watches a bulbul on a branch. When the bird flies away, the boy, thirsty, crosses the empty road to a public tap. He drinks water, then plays by splashing it, laughing at the cool sensation. He then notices an iron gate to a bungalow and enters the garden. He is captivated by the colorful flowers, gently touching them and pressing his face against a vine. He tries to reach a hibiscus flower but cannot. Hearing a ball bouncing, he finds another boy, the bungalow owner's son, playing under a tamarind tree. They begin playing together. The beggar boy asks the other to be a horse so he can stand on his back to pick the hibiscus, but the bungalow boy cannot bear the weight. The beggar boy then offers to be the horse, but the other boy is too scared to climb. Undeterred, the beggar boy brings bricks to build a platform. Still unable to reach, he pulls a lower branch, bending it until he can pluck the flower. He celebrates joyfully. The bungalow boy tells him the flower is called "gudahal" and names other flowers, which amazes the beggar boy, who thought all flowers were just "phool." They then go to the tamarind tree where the bungalow boy has toys: a motor car, a doll, a musical instrument, and a book. The beggar boy examines each with great interest. He criticizes the toy car for not making a "pon-pon" sound like real cars he has seen. The bungalow boy explains that his father's big car does make that sound and asks if the beggar boy's father also has a car. The beggar boy sadly shakes his head.