Narayanpur Incident Summary

Author: Shashi Deshpande

Type: Story

Subject: 8 August 1942: As Gandiji and prominent leaders are put in jail, Babu and Manju suddenly find themselves a part of the larger protests–their schools close down and their father is put behind bars.Their daring brother Mohan goes underground and the rest of the family moves to Narayanpur, a sleepy little village seemingly untouched by the turbulence in the country.But Narayanpur is seething within and it all comes to a head when a group of children dare to confront the police.

Characters : Mohan , Manju , Suman, Appa ,Mr. Patil

Summary

The background of the story is set in 1942 at the time of the Quit India Movement.At the beginning of the chapter, we come to know about a teacher who gets arrested because he had been a follower of Gandhiji.The teacher had two sons and a daughter, the name of his sons were Mohan and Babu and Manju was the name of his daughter.We also find another character called Suman who was the friend of Mohan.

When Babu and Manju were waiting for the procession of freedom fighters. They noticed that there was another procession of college students going on who led and marched silently. Manju and Babu were disappointed because the march they had come to ended peacefully. There was no slogan on that march, there was no violence or hooliganism, while Manju and Babu came on that march to have a thrilling experience.They reached the barred gates holding the photograph of Gandhiji. Mohan was stopped by the DSP who had a conversation with him later.Babu and Manju were sad because they didn’t hear any slogans and the march continued peacefully.The police expected a sort of serious revolt but that didn’t happen.The protestors served a notice informing the British to Quit India or to face further consequences.

Mohan and Suman led the revolt secretly

During their conversation, Suman and another boy had come in with a newspaper-covered parcel.The mother suggested they take to the puja room and Mohan assigned different duties to others to safeguard them.There was, a cyclostyling machine in the parcel.The boys who gathered there would take away the copies of the speech of Mahatma Gandhiji and distribute them to the people so that everyone would stand against the British and send them out.

Mr. Patil, the Sub-Inspector of Police happened to be the friend of the teacher who was arrested but he was a good man.So, he came to their house to help them. He explained the situation and the police people searching for the machine. He told them to give the machine to him so that they wouldn’t be arrested.The mother believed him and she wanted Mohan to hand over the machine.As instructed, Mohan handed over the machine.Later they heard a knocking sound and when they opened it, they saw some police people who wanted to search their house for the machine.Through this incident, we come to know how the boys and girls led different forms of resistance to the British.

The writer of the Narayanapur incident tries to impress upon the readers how different people fought against the British in different ways. Leaders like the Mahatma fought selflessly and inspired thousands of Indians like the teacher, his family, and other young college students like Suman.More significantly, there were people like Patil, who belonged to the system but had their hearts in the freedom struggle.Their situation was pitiable.For the sake of their livelihood, they would have taken up the job of the police.But secretly they were with the freedom fighters and tried to do their bit risking their safety.