Question

What are Hari Singh’s reactions to the prospect of receiving an education? Do they change over time? (Hint: compare, for example, the thought: “I knew that once I could write like an educated man there would be no limit to what I could achieve” with these later thoughts: ‘Whole sentences, I knew, cloud one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees. It was a simple matter to steal − and sometimes just as simple to be caught. But to be a really big man, a clever and respected man, was something else.”) What makes him return to Anil?

Answer 1

Initially, when Anil offered to educate him, he thought of it as a bright prospect for himself. He knew that once he could write such as an educated man, there would be no limit to what he could achieve in his field. For him, the motivation behind getting educated was robbing people. However, later, when he had stolen Anil’s money and then missed his train in which he would have escaped, he realized that he had completely forgotten about the whole sentences that Anil had promised to teach him to write. He thought about getting educated in a different light. He thought that it was a simple matter to steal and be caught, but to be a really big, clever and respected man was something else. He was inspired by the trusting and simple nature of Anil. This motivation to earn someone’s trust and be respectable made him return to Anil.