It will bear your name, after all—that’s enough.

Exit

Enter Madhabdatta

Madhabdatta:What sort of mess have the two of you created, I ask you!

Thakurda:Why, what’s the matter?

Madhabdatta:I hear you’ve spread word that the king has set up this post office only to write letters to you.

Thakurda:What’s wrong with that?

Madhabdatta:Our Panchanan Morol has disclosed the matter to the king in an anonymous letter.

Thakurda:Everything reaches the king’s ears. Don’t we know that?

Madhabdatta:Then why don’t you act with caution? Why make such nonsensical statements in the name of kings and emperors? The two of you will land me in trouble as well.

Amal:Fakir, will the king be angry?

Thakurda:How can anyone say such things! Angry! We’ll see how angry he can be! Would he display his royal authority by getting angry with a fakir like me and a boy like you? We’ll see about that!

Amal:Look, fakir, since this morning, my vision has been growing dim, every now and then. Everything seems like a dream. I feel like remaining absolutely quiet. I no longer feel like saying anything. Will the king’s letter never arrive? What if this room, everything, should fade away . . . if . . .

Thakurda(fanning him): It will come; the letter will come today.

Enter Kobiraj

Kobiraj:How do you feel today?

Amal:Kobirajmoshai, I feel very good today—as if all my pain has gone away.

Kobiraj(aside to Madhabdatta): I don’t like the look of that smile. When he says he feels very good, that is itself a bad sign. Our Chakradharadatta says . . .

Madhabdatta:I beg you Kobirajmoshai, forget about Chakradharadatta. Now tell me how things stand.

Kobiraj:It seems we can’t hang on to him any longer. I had forbidden it of course, but he seems to have received a touch of the outside air.

Madhabdatta:No, Kobirajmoshai, I have kept him secure and protected in every aspect, with great care. I don’t let him go out—I generally keep the door closed.

Kobiraj:There’s a strange, sudden breeze blowing today—I saw the wind gushing in through your main entrance. That’s not good at all. Lock that door very securely. Never mind if visitors stop coming for a few days. If anyone turns up, there’s always the back door. The rays of the setting sun are coming in through that window: close it as well, for those rays keep the patient awake too long.

Madhabdatta:Amal’s eyes are closed: he may be asleep. His face looks as if . . . Kobirajmoshai, I brought home someone who does not belong to me; I grew to love him, and now it seems I cannot keep him.

Kobiraj:What’s this? The Morol is heading for your house! What a nuisance! I’ll be off, bhai! But go and secure that door, at once. As soon as I get home I’ll send a poison pill. Give it to him and see what happens. If he is to be kept alive then that’s what will hold him here.

Exit Madhabdatta and Kobiraj

Enter Morol

Morol:So how goes it, young lad!

Thakurda(hastily rising to his feet): Arre, arre, hush, be quiet!

Amal:No fakir, do you think I am asleep? I’m not sleeping. I can hear everything. I seem to be able to hear even very distant words from far away. I feel as if my parents are talking to each other by my bed, close to my pillow.

Enter Madhabdatta

Morol:Listen Madhabdatta, you seem to be hobnobbing with very eminent people nowadays!

Madhabdatta:How can you say that, Morolmoshai! Don’t make such jokes. I am an utterly ordinary person.

Morol:But this boy of yours is awaiting a letter from the king.

Madhabdatta:He’s young, and crazy. We shouldn’t take his words seriously, should we!

Morol:No, no, what’s so surprising about it? Where would the king find a worthy household such as yours? That’s why, don’t you see, the king’s new post office is situated directly in front of your window? Here, you young lad, here’s a letter for you from the king!

Amal(starting up): Truly?

Morol:Can it be anything but true! Your friendship with the king! (Handing him a blank sheet) Hahahaha, here’s his letter!

Amal:Please don’t laugh at me . . . Fakir, fakir, do tell me, is this really his letter?

Thakurda:Yes baba, as I am the fakir I assure you, this is indeed his letter.

Amal:But I can’t see anything written here—everything has gone blank today! Morolmoshai, please tell me, what does this letter say?

Morol:The king writes: I am going to visit your house within the next couple of days; keep your feast of muri and murki, puffed and sugar-coated rice, ready for me—I can’t tolerate my royal palace even another hour. Hahahaha!

Madhabdatta(with folded hands): Morolmoshai, I beseech you, please don’t make a joke of such things.

Thakurda:Joke? What joke? Would he dare joke about this?

Madhabdatta:Arre! Thakurda, have you lost your senses as well!

Thakurda:Yes, I have taken leave of my senses. That is why I can see the writing on this blank sheet of paper.