Ashvini: Ohhh, where do I find it ??
Dr Dubey: It's not possible to find anywhere here, because it's pretty expensive as well as not very popular in common society.
Ashvini: Oh, but I want to wear it at least once in my life!!
Listening to this, Officer Whitney laughed for a while, but
Dr. Dubey didn't reply and got back to the suturing of the wound.
Lowering his head, he leaves, still wondering about the watch, thinking
If it's that difficult to find as well as very expensive, then how did Mr. Shantanu get it for himself?.
At home, sitting on the floor, Ashvini was trying to go through all the illustrations in the physics book by which he was pretty fascinated by, then he got his eyes on an old rusty pocket watch of his grandfather, which was out of use and just lying around as a piece of scrap metal.
(The grandfather has been dead for years now.)
Grabbed up the watch and ran towards a barren ground near his school, he was desperately searching for something.
It was a sandstone he found at the closed entrance of his school, where he caught a glimpse of the campus inside. It was Mr. Shantanu standing there, talking to a man who seemed almost twice his age, with a white turban and a coat over his kurta, wearing a white dhoti with a golden border. Ashvini near the classroom from behind which was much closer to them, he peeked through an half open window and tried to listen them, " Shantanu, the time has come, to choose those ambitious people who can submit themselves for this!!, have you got some strategy for who they are gonna be ?" in a dead serious, low tone he said,
" I think we need a few more young members as they'll have the fire for it," he replied in a bold voice
Suddenly, a gust of wind caught that open window and closed it with
Flapping sound. Hear this, Mr. Shantanu enters the class, seeing this, Ashvini couldn't grasp his breath, lifted up the sandstone and ran into the bush nearby, hiding there.
A few minutes later, he lifted his head out bush to take a look around, it was a clear ground for him to escape from there. Without a second thought, he got himself uphill near the well behind the 'Jageshwari Devi Temple', his lips were dry, he was breathing on top of his lungs, thirst and the pain in his legs kept him motivated to wear a wristwatch. Use the bucket and a pulley, he took some water out of the well, quenching his thirst, and
He furiously started rubbing the watch on the sandstone, making it shine again, then he used that stone to get rid of the chain attached to the top of it.
His hands and the clothes were all in red dirt, but he just wanted to wear a wristwatch, for which now he needs a leather belt to wrap it around his thin, soft wrist. But how he'll get the leather now ??
As he got to the front of the temple, he saw the Maharaja's convoy standing his the temple's mukhya duar ( main entrance ),
Ohh, so Maharaja is doing the pooja in the temple today, he thought.
He stood afar from the temple, praying for the wristwatch from the goddess,
And went for the leather, he went on searching the main streets of Chanderi, hoping if not a shop but maybe something on the roads he could find.
A cobbler in the end caught his eye, who was ripping off the extra leather from a shoe, impetuously, he went to the shoemaker asking for the leather he just ripped off and an adhesive, to which the cobbler asked him, "Why do you want it ???" in an unpleasant tone.
"For making a watch!!" he relentlessly replied and showed him the watch. Suddenly, he heard someone speaking in a British accent in the bazaar. Upon looking, it was Mr. Whitney walking towards the cobbler, and in the very next moment, even before the cobbler could say something, Ashvini ran away, being afraid that Officer Whitney would see him in this very untidy condition, and what he would think of him and his father.
The sun was setting, it was getting dark, and Ashvini couldn't make a wristwatch for himself. With a quiet sadness on his face, he went home where his father was lighting up the lamps.
He asked, "Why are you so messy and dusty in appearance, and where have you been since you left the clinic?"
" I was playing with my friends i" he lied, and it was pretty clear from his looks, but the father didn't ask or inquire much by saying " go clean yourself!!" in a strict tone.
"Pita ji, what does Mr. Whitney do?" he asked
" he is the head of police in our town," his father replied.
The night couldn't be content with itself, leaping through different new things it experienced
The wristwatch, Maharaja, Mr.Shantanu, and the man in royal attire.
A few months later, near the end of the academic session
Mr. Shantanu announced
"If any of you could achieve more than 70% marks in the upcoming science exam, I'll reward you with a surprise gift."
Hearing this, Ashvini was pretty curious to know what the reward would be, and if he got these scores, he'll also be getting respect and love from his schoolmates and family!
(In those days, even getting fifty percent marks was a good deal. )
He saw it as a chance to prove himself, that he desperately wanted to do so, as it would boost his confidence in the science as well.
He couldn't contain his excitement and curiously asked,
"Is it the wristwatch like the one in your hand?"
"It's a surprise, but you have asked about the watch, so let me tell you the story of how I got this in my hands." Mr. Shantanu replied in a keen tone