१५. खरा नागरिक Khara Nagrik (The True Citizen) - a story

निरंजनचे आई-वडील लहानपणीच वारले, मामाने काही दिवस सांभाळ केला आणि पुढे चिपळूणजवळ मावशीकडे सोडले. मावशीचे घर गरीब असल्याने निरंजन वार लावून जेवत असे, तरीही तो प्रामाणिकपणे अभ्यास करी. त्याची हुशारी पाहून भडसावळे गुरुजींनी त्याच्यावर विशेष माया केली आणि त्याच्या शिक्षणाचा खर्च व वारही स्वतः लावून दिला.

Niranjan lost both his parents while still very young, after which his maternal uncle looked after him for a while, but soon left him with a distant aunt near Chiplun for the sake of work and moved to Mumbai, never to return. Since his aunt's household had little to spare, Niranjan ate his meals by rotation at different homes and spent the rest of his time diligently doing all the housework and cattle-shed chores at his aunt's place. Seeing his progress in studies within the very first year, his teacher Bhadsawale Guruji arranged for him to have meals at well-off households and began paying for his notebooks and books out of his own pocket, though on one condition, that this help would continue only as long as Niranjan kept ranking first in his class.

आज नागरिकशास्त्राचा शेवटचा पेपर होता, त्यासाठी निरंजन पहाटेच उठून अभ्यासाला बसला. गुरुजींच्या सल्ल्याप्रमाणे पहाटेचे प्रसन्न वातावरण अभ्यासासाठी उत्तम असते हे त्याला पटले होते. नागरिकांची कर्तव्ये, लोकसभा, ग्रामपंचायत असे सगळे प्रश्न त्याला पाठ होते, आणि मनातल्या मनात उजळणी करत तो देशमुखांकडे जेवायला व नंतर परीक्षेला जाण्यासाठी घराबाहेर पडला.

Since today was the last exam, the civics paper, Niranjan had woken earlier than usual and sat down to study. He had personally found true the advice his teacher, Bhadsawale Guruji, always gave him, that the calm, pleasant hours of dawn and early morning are the best time for study, because in such a peaceful, refreshing atmosphere even otherwise difficult subjects stick easily in the mind. What are a citizen's duties, who may be called a model citizen, what is the Lok Sabha, who heads a gram panchayat, he had fluent answers ready for every such question. All his earlier papers had gone well, so he felt pleased inside. Glancing at the clock and seeing it was already past nine, he sprang up at once, since the exam was at half past ten and, as usual, he first had to go eat at the Deshmukhs' house, so he got ready quickly and set off.

मावशीचे घर डोंगरपायथ्याशी, वाटेत नदीवरचा रेल्वे पूल लागे. वाटेत पडलेला मोठा दगड निरंजनने उचलून बाजूला केला, कारण असे अडथळे इतरांना धोकादायक ठरू शकतात असे त्याला वाटे. पुलावर पोहोचल्यावर त्याला रुळांखाली मोठे भगदाड दिसले, जवळ जाऊन पाहताच लक्षात आले की कुणीतरी मुद्दाम काँक्रीट फोडून रूळ वेडेवाकडे केले होते.

His aunt's house stood outside the village at the foot of a hill, and the path in between crossed a river, in earlier days one had to wade straight across it, but once the Konkan Railway arrived, a railway bridge was built there, with a separate footpath running along one side for pedestrians. As Niranjan hurried along, mentally revising his lessons, he came across a large stone lying in his path, someone must have brought it there for some work and left it lying about, and realising this, he picked it up and moved it to the side, because carelessness like this made him furious, since someone else might easily get hurt by it. By the time he reached the bridge it was already past half past nine, and thinking that the 9:50 Konkan train would soon be along, he walked on, when his eye caught a large hole beneath the rails on the left. Going closer out of curiosity, he realised with a shock that someone had deliberately broken the concrete and twisted the rails out of shape.

रात्री दोनची शेवटची गाडी गेल्यानंतर कुणीतरी हे कृत्य केले असावे हे निरंजनच्या लक्षात आले, आणि आता नऊ पन्नासची प्रवाशांनी भरलेली गाडी आली तर भीषण अपघात होईल हे समजून तो परीक्षा, जेवण सगळे विसरून स्टेशनकडे धावला. स्टेशनमास्तरांना त्याने घडलेला प्रकार सांगितला, पण त्यांचा विश्वास बसेना, तेव्हा निरंजनने स्वतःला पोलिसांच्या स्वाधीन करण्याची तयारी दाखवत विनवणी केली, आणि अखेर स्टेशनमास्तरांनी गाडी थांबवून पुलाकडे धाव घेतली.

Since the last train on this line ran at two in the morning, Niranjan realised someone must have deliberately done this sometime in the small hours before dawn, and the thought that the 9:50 train, packed with passengers, was about to come through here at once put him on high alert. Realising a terrible accident was now unavoidable if the train arrived, Niranjan forgot all about his civics paper and the lunch waiting at the Deshmukhs', and after a moment's thought he ran straight for the station. The station lay three or four kilometres away, and by the time he got there the train was on the verge of departing, he rushed to the stationmaster and told him about the broken rails on the bridge, but at first the man simply did not believe him. Finally Niranjan pleaded earnestly, at least don't let the train leave without someone going to check, and if I'm lying, hand me over to the police, hearing this the stationmaster began to sense there might be some truth in the boy's words, and not wanting to take any chances, he held the train back and set off for the bridge himself, where Niranjan showed him the exact spot.

पुलावरची जागा पाहून सर्वांना कल्पनाही करता येणार नाही असा भीषण अपघात टळल्याची जाणीव झाली, आणि जिल्हाधिकाऱ्यांपासून सगळे अधिकारी तिथे जमले. निरंजनचे कौतुक झाले, पण त्याचा नागरिकशास्त्राचा पेपर बुडाल्याने तो उदास होता. दुसऱ्या दिवशी वर्तमानपत्रात त्याचे कौतुक छापून आले, आणि भडसावळे गुरुजींनी त्याला मिठीत घेत सांगितले की खऱ्याखुऱ्या नागरिकशास्त्राच्या परीक्षेत तो पास झाला आहे, त्याची वेगळी परीक्षा घेतली जाईल आणि सरकारी वसतिगृहात प्रवेश व शिष्यवृत्तीही मिळेल.

The moment the damage on the bridge was actually seen, everyone understood that an unimaginable, unprecedented disaster had been narrowly avoided, and given the gravity of the matter the district collector, the superintendent of police, and every senior official rushed to the spot without delay. As the first person to report the danger, Niranjan too had to stay behind, and he was praised for the alertness that had averted a major accident, yet he sat alone under a tree looking downcast, because his civics paper had been missed and the thought that he would fail, and lose every privilege his teacher had arranged for him, weighed heavily on him. The next day's newspaper carried, with his photograph, glowing praise for Niranjan's courage, and that very day the district collector, the headmaster and Bhadsawale Guruji, all these important people arrived at his aunt's home. Niranjan ran forward and touched his teacher's feet, and told him through tears that he had missed his exam, at which the teacher drew him close with affection and told him that he had passed the real examination of citizenship by saving hundreds of lives, that his year would not be wasted, that a special exam would be arranged for him, and that the district collector had decided to give him a place in a government hostel along with a scholarship, hearing this everyone's eyes filled with tears.