दादू Dadu (An Old Servant's Fatherly Love)

दादू लेखकाचा सेवक असून, त्याच्या रूक्ष दिसण्याआड एक वेगळे सौंदर्य आहे असे लेखकाला जाणवते. दादू लेखकाच्या प्रत्येक छोट्या-मोठ्या गरजेची स्वतःहून काळजी घेई - सकाळी दूध आणणे, चहा नीट बनवणे - जणू आईसारखी.

From the very start, the author senses that beneath Dadu's dry exterior lies a different kind of beauty, and this is no fleeting impression. Though the author had insisted, while hiring him, that Dadu do only as told, there was rarely any need to tell him anything at all - he brought milk before the author even woke, lit the stove the moment the author began his morning ablutions, and never needed to be told twice that the tea should have less sugar. Watching Dadu's efforts to spare the author even the smallest discomfort reminded the author of his own mother.

दादूचा मुलगा सोलापूरला गिरणीत कामाला होता. जमीन गहाण पडल्याने व शेती न परवडल्याने दादू व त्याची बायको इथे आले. मुलाकडे न राहण्याचे कारण म्हणजे तिथे खर्च वाढेल आणि गहाण जमीन सोडवता येणार नाही. मुलावाचून करमत नाही का विचारता, तो म्हणतो - जसा लेखक आईवडिलांना सोडून इथे आहे, तसाच त्याचा मुलगाही त्याच्यापासून दूर आहे.

Dadu had learned everything about the author, but rarely spoke about himself. On the few occasions he opened up, he mentioned his son worked at a mill in Solapur - his only child, born late in life. A piece of family land back in the village had long been mortgaged to a moneylender, and once old age made farming impossible, Dadu came here with his wife and sent his son to Solapur. Asked why he and his wife didn't simply live with their son, he explained that moving to Solapur would raise expenses and make it harder to redeem the mortgaged land, besides which work would be hard to find there for either of them. Asked whether he didn't miss his son, Dadu replied, 'Just as you have come here leaving your parents behind, my son too has left me and gone to the mill; I serve you here, and surely some old woman there feeds him his meals just the same.'

क्रिकेट सामन्यात लेखकाने चांगली कामगिरी केल्यावर मित्र जहागीरदार त्याच्या खोलीत आला आणि थकवा घालवण्यासाठी बिअर मागवायला सांगितले. लेखकाने दादूला ती आणायला सांगितले, पण दादूने ठाम नकार दिला आणि पैशांची लालूचही नाकारली.

In the cricket match, the author batted excellently and, with his friend Jahagirdar's bowling, they won the game. On the way back the author's body ached, so Jahagirdar stopped by his room for tea, but suggested beer instead. When the author asked Dadu to fetch it, Dadu flinched as if he'd stepped on a snake, looking at the author as one would look at a ghost. Even when the author offered an extra rupee as a bribe, Dadu refused outright - 'even a hundred rupees instead of one wouldn't change my mind' - and flung the offered note aside.

रागावलेल्या लेखकाला दादू 'आईसाहेबांकडे' जात असल्याचे सांगतो - म्हणजे तक्रार करण्यासाठी नाही, तर 'तुझ्या मुलाला कोणीतरी सांभाळायला हवे' या भावनेने. लेखकाला जाणीव होते की दादू आपल्याला स्वतःच्या दूरच्या मुलासारखेच वागवत आहे, आणि हे पाहून लेखकाची चूक त्याला उमगते.

When the enraged author threatened to dismiss him, Dadu's voice grew hoarse and his eyes filled with tears - saying, 'Or else I'll lose my job... rather than do such work to earn my living, I'd fill my belly with thorns,' and walked off. As Dadu opened the gate, the author stopped him and asked where he was going; Dadu said he was headed to 'the mistress's house' to tell her that pests had attacked her plant - but the real reason came out: 'I have to look after my son... if it had been my own son instead of you, the grief I'd have felt would have been exactly what I felt just now when you told me to go to the shop.' Hearing this, the author felt deeply ashamed, took Dadu's hand and led him back inside. In the end, the author lied to Jahagirdar that a telegram had arrived saying his mother was ill, sending him off, while Dadu stood beaming with joy like a small child.