Once again, father was transferred. This time to the sleepy town of Palai in Kerala.<\/p>\n
On arrival at Palai, we moved into a house, surrounded by banana trees, beds of tapioca<\/strong>, roses and chrysanthemums<\/strong>. Bordering them were a dozen coconut palms, reaching out to the stars in the sky.<\/p>\n I pranced<\/strong> around the house, exploring every nook and corner<\/strong>.<\/p>\n My mother was busy unpacking the cartons and arranging the various articles in the proper places.<\/p>\n I was bored. I picked up a rubber ball and went into the garden.<\/p>\n I ran round the garden chasing the ball or watching squirrels scramble <\/strong>up the trees or observing the humming<\/strong> bees.<\/p>\n The ball which I kept bouncing up and down went over the parapet<\/strong> into the compound of the neighbouring house. I saw a little boy, almost my age, rushing out<\/strong> and collecting the ball. He rolled his eyes, put out his tongue and teased <\/strong>me. I did not like his attitude. I too rolled my eyes and stuck out <\/strong>my tongue at him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did you throw the ball into my house?\u201d<\/p>\n He asked loudly.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not throw it. It came by itself,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n \u201cThen let it come back by itself. I won\u2019t give it to you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will snatch<\/strong> it from you.\u201d<\/p>\n Try.<\/p>\n I climbed up the parapet, jumped over it and chased<\/strong> the boy. He ran off, turning and twisting, weaving<\/strong> his way through the thick vegetation. I raced round the garden after him. At last, after ten minutes of running around, we sank<\/strong> down, panting <\/strong>for breath.<\/p>\n \u201cI am Raman,\u201d I broke the ice<\/strong>. \u201cThomas,\u201d he offered his hand. \u201cGlad to meet you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet us be friends.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll right. I need a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n That was the beginning of an association that soon developed into a close and intimate<\/strong> friendship.<\/p>\n We spent all our time together, eating from the same plate, playing hide and seek, chasing <\/strong>butterflies, climbing<\/strong> trees, plucking<\/strong> unripe mangoes and sinking our teeth into the slightly sour pulp. Occasionally we fought like cats and dogs, clawing and tearing at each other, only to forget our differences soon, swearing never to fight again. Nights were the hardest for us. Then we were pulled apart. We had to be carried away by force by our parents, while we raved <\/strong>and kicked and cried to be left to ourselves.<\/p>\n Thomas told me all about Christmas. I listened to him, fascinated. He told me that Christmas came in the last week of December. He invited me to spend Christmas Eve with him.<\/p>\n I looked forward eagerly for Christmas to come. I associated it with new clothes, sweet dishes, happiness and celebration.<\/p>\n Thomas suddenly became docile<\/strong>. I did not like this change. I threw dust on his clothes. Still, he kept on smiling. I threw a stone at him. He winced with pain. But, he did not retaliate. He only said, \u201cI wish I could hit you back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy don\u2019t you do it, then?\u201d I teased him.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I must be good and obedient. Only then will I get a gift from Father Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n I too wanted a gift from Father Christmas, whoever he was. I meekly<\/strong> asked, \u201cThomas, will he give me a gift too?\u201d<\/p>\n Only if you are good,\u201d Thomas said in a superior tone.<\/p>\n Thomas and I waited eagerly for Christmas to come. We did not misbehave. We obeyed our parents. We gave up chasing squirrels. We gave up <\/strong>fighting.<\/p>\n It was a long wait for us.<\/p>\n At last, Christmas Eve came.<\/p>\n Dressed in my best, I ran over to my friend\u2019s house. His father, Mr. Jacob, took me by the arm. He led me round the house. Thomas accompanied me. I saw the gaily<\/strong> decorated Christmas tree. Tiny flames at the tips of the candles danced with the mild breeze that wafted<\/strong> along.<\/p>\n Myriad<\/strong> candles threw gentle shadows and changed shapes with the flickering of the flame. Paper bunting<\/strong> and ornate<\/strong> cardboard lamps peered at us from every corner. Star-shaped lamps hung from the branches of the trees too.<\/p>\n A jackfruit tree, further away from the house, stood in the hazy glow<\/strong> cast by a star-shaped light.<\/p>\n We waited for Father Christmas to come. \u201cWhen will he come?\u201d Thomas asked his father. \u201cWait. He is due any moment now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat will he bring for me?\u201d Thomas asked. \u201cNew clothes and sweets.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor me too?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, for you too, my dear.\u201d<\/p>\n Suddenly, Mr. Jacob shouted, \u201cLook, there\u2019s Father Christmas, your own Santa Claus.\u201d<\/p>\n We did a double turn and stared in the direction of the jackfruit tree. What we saw was remarkable. We saw a bearded man, wearing a dhoti* and a full sleeved shirt, flashing a bright smile, descending from heaven! Over his shoulder hung a heavy sack. We watched him float down. Then, we ran towards him, our hearts bursting with delight.<\/p>\n \u201cMerry Christmas to you, children,\u201d Santa Claus spoke in a gruff<\/strong> but affectionate<\/strong> voice.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you have a cold, Santa?\u201d Thomas queried<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou must consult our doctor. He will give you an injection, and you will feel better very soon,\u201d said Thomas.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are our gifts, Santa?\u201d Thomas and I asked almost together. We could not conceal our curiosity any longer.<\/p>\n Santa Claus smiled, released his hold, and allowed the sack that hung on his shoulder to slip down to the floor. He heaved a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is too heavy, boys,\u201d he muttered.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you engage a coolie? Thomas asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I wanted to bring the gifts for my dear children myself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, come on, Santa, let us have the gifts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWait,\u201d Santa untied the string that bound the sack. He pushed his hand into it and pulled out a big fat packet and handed it to me.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, Santa,\u201d I replied happily.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s your gift, Thomas,\u201d Santa took out another packet from the sack and gave it to Thomas.<\/p>\n Thomas accepted the gift. But he seemed to have lost interest in it. He suddenly dropped the packet he had in his hand and tugged <\/strong>at my shirt.<\/p>\n Puzzled, I raised my eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cLook. There\u2019s a mole on Santa\u2019s nose.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo what?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cMammen Ammavan too has a mole on the nose.\u201d<\/p>\n Thomas did not waste words. He bounded up to Santa Claus and shouted, \u201cAmmavan, when did you become an agent of God?\u201d<\/p>\n Santa laughed aloud. He took off his flowing beard. And there he was, our Mammen Ammavan.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen did you learn to fly?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t fly,\u201d Mammen Ammavan replied. \u201cBut you flew down from heaven,\u201d Thomas remarked.<\/p>\n \u201cI did. Come I\u2019ll show you how I did it.\u201d Mammen Ammavan led us to the foot of the jackfruit tree. He asked us to look closely at the branches.<\/p>\n We saw two sturdy men sitting on one of the branches.<\/p>\n They held in their hands a long rope that reached down to the ground.<\/p>\n We were baffled.<\/p>\n We looked at Ammavan.<\/p>\n He smiled. Then, he said, \u201cI climbed up the tree, along with those two men. I had a rope round my waist. I put the sack full of presents on my shoulder. Then I asked them to let me down, slowly, releasing the rope so that it would appear to you as if Father Christmas were coming down from heaven. I arranged it in such a way that my arrival would be sensational.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, it was a grand sight! We\u2019ll never forget this evening when a dhoti clad Santa came down from heaven, bringing us gifts,\u201d Thomas and I shouted happily and moved back to the house, trailing behind<\/strong> Mammen Ammavan.<\/p>\n Once again, father was transferred. This time to the sleepy town of Palai in Kerala. On arrival at Palai, we moved into a house, surrounded by banana trees, beds of tapioca, roses and chrysanthemums. Bordering them were a dozen coconut palms, reaching out to the stars in the sky. I pranced around the house, exploring … Continue reading Spoken English: Comprehension (D1)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[601],"tags":[612],"class_list":["post-8653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spoken-english","tag-spoken-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyonlineoffer.in\/sarv-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyonlineoffer.in\/sarv-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyonlineoffer.in\/sarv-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyonlineoffer.in\/sarv-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyonlineoffer.in\/sarv-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyonlineoffer.in\/sarv-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyonlineoffer.in\/sarv-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyonlineoffer.in\/sarv-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyonlineoffer.in\/sarv-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Questions<\/h3>\n
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