Malgudi Days Swami & Friends 1 Season 1 Episode 4 Malgudi Days Swami & Friends 4

When I contacted my lawyer, friend, after having missed his calls for a good five days, anxious to explain that the cash you sent for the errands was nowhere to be found, the man who picked up the phone acted like he had been expecting me.

"You must be the traveller," he said.

"Yes."

"The one who H. M. put in charge of the errands?"

"Is Mr. H. M. Malhotra there?"

"Yes, in the High Court. Who is this, by the way?"

"Oh, he's not expecting me, Mr. Narayan. I just wanted to tell him to be patient. The loss wasn't my fault," I spoke nervously, watching the postman, who had barely gone fifteen paces in half an hour, sitting down in front of my house and smoking a cigarette.

"I didn't say anything about a loss," said Mr. Narayan. "Who are you, again?"

"Who am I? I thought Mr. Malhotra was greatly worried because of what the postman said."

"Naturally. But he's fine now."

"Really? How?"

"He managed to locate the person responsible."

"Who's that?"

"You."

"But I took all the care..."

"Don't worry. In spite of all his other idiosyncrasies, Mr. Malhotra doesn't lose money. That's why he wasn't frantic when you told him you lost the 2,400 rupees."

"But I didn't say anything about a loss yet."

"Why, you just confessed that you lost all the money."

"No! I didn't say that. I just wanted to say, when I found the envelope empty, that it wasn't my fault."

"Then whose fault was it?"

"The postman's."

"Oh, stop it. Mr. Malhotra doesn't lose money. So when you said you lost it, he knew the postman had stolen it."

"In that case, he shouldn't blame me at all."

"He doesn't."

"Oh."

"He knows the postman will be caught soon. So, be careful."

I felt very uneasy when I got off the phone. Personally, the postman didn't seem crooked when he delivered the money. But how do we know what kind of person he really is? Moreover, I couldn't understand how Mr. Malhotra got all this information from the postman.

A thought struck me:

"Hey, Jogayya! Do you know where Mr. Malhotra is?"

"Yes. All judges are in the High Court," said Jogayya.

"I knew that. But do you know where he sits?"

"You're nuts. If you go to the High Court, you'll find out."

"Why can't you tell me?"

"For several reasons. First, you can't enter the High Court. Second, if you do, you won't know where to look for him."

"If I don't know where to look for him, I can ask around, can't I?"

"Absolutely! You can try all the courtrooms, starting with number one and continuing till Balan Vaidya's room, number two. After that, you can go to Siddaiah's court."

"I don't know how you talk to customers, Jogayya."

"No, no, I talk fine. It's you who pushes me to the wall."

My lawyer friend was right I couldn't get inside the High Court. So I stayed out and watched people going in and out.

When the postman walked by, I imagined he was walking on thin ice. That's why I couldn't bear to look him full in the eye. There were some lawyers who were standing around in the compound, applying makeup and powder on their faces. I thought they were related to Mr. Malhotra, so I went up to one of them and asked:

"Do you, by any chance, know where Mr. H. M. Malhotra's court is?"

"I am Mr. H. M. Malhotra himself," said the person.