Question

Write the above summary making Meena the narrator. Begin with ‘I worked in Bangalore in LIC. Sudha was my friend.__________________

Answer 1

I worked in Bangalore as an officer in LIC. Sudha was my friend. She would always try to tell me something good about the people we knew. Sometimes, it was about how someone topped in their school and sometimes it was about how beautiful someone is. I always told her the fact about the situation. In my view, every good thing eventually led to something bad. People thought of me as a cynic and a pessimist, but I believed that my perspective of the world was right. I lived alone in an apartment as my parents lived in Delhi. I never really had any visitors. I was later transferred to Bombay and started a new life.

After a few years, I was standing near Akbarallys at Bombay’s Flora Fountain, waiting for the rain to subside. That’s where I spotted Sudha, who was there on an official visit. I invited her over for a night-stay, but she refused as she had to attend a dinner.

I then insisted that she have tea with me, so that we could talk. She started making excuses about not getting a taxi in the rain. So, I told her that we could walk to the hotel. I could see that she was surprised with my attitude and curious to know what turned me from a pessimist to an optimist. By the time we reached the hotel, we were drenched. She asked me if a Prince Charming was the reason for the change in me. I was surprised at her question and I told her that wasn’t the case. I told her how a beggar changed my life. I could see that she was confused and amazed. I told her about the incident with the old beggar. I used to give my leftovers to a beggar and his granddaughter who used to sit outside my house. One day, it was raining heavily and I looked outside my bedroom window getting angry about the rain for no reason, when I saw the beggar playing on the road with his granddaughter. They were so carefree and happy as if they were in paradise. That’s when I realised that even though I had everything, I still lacked one important advantage. I found that I had more to be grateful for than most people. That’s when I decided to change my attitude towards life, making the beggar my role model. When Sudha asked me whether I gave my guru his ‘gurudakshina’, I told her that by the time I made the changes, the beggar had already died. But I did send his granddaughter to a boarding school as a mark of respect to him. That was my way of giving him ‘gurudakshina’.