Mahfil, vol. 1, no. 2 28 doer, and. it's the one who is "brave who can do wrong. After all, doing evil is a step to success, and it's just a matter of luck that some are caught and punished while others go free,.,,*. "Take me now - l^m a living image of cowardice. If I had even a little bravery, I could be a very great man, That's all - just a little bravery - and my life would be transformed. If just once I could lift off and throw away the helplessness and failure loaded on me like an unbearable burden, then.,o, But no, my cowardice keeps preventing me from doing evil 9 and even now it's stopping me - it's hindering my success^ "I see men ready to devour others. I see that those who are capable are in authority, and those who are not capable are subjected to authority, I see that bravery is really power, combined with blind, demonic barbarity• "I just told you I'm a coward, For the last thirty years I've been wandering with my wife and children. Thirty-years ago, when my elder brother was alive, I was rich. He had no children; I was the heir to his property. But after my brother's death, his wife put me out of the house, I sued in court, but my elder brother's wife gave a lot of money to the judge and won the case. It was decided that I'd get the property only after her death, "For thirty years now I^e been suffering, hoping that the woman would die so I could get her property, I^e experienced hell in Calcutta - hell! I've spent thirty years in a squalid room with my wife and children. And that woman, all by herself, goes on enjoying a fortune of crores, At last, after thirty years, death caught up with her too. You can't imagine how I've passed these thirty years - how I^e wasted my youth counting every miniate, every hour, every day, every week, every month, every year - depending on just one hope! "After thirty years, when I got the report of my sister-in-law's death, my heart had become numb, I felt no enthusiasm or excitement, A terrible emptiness had taken over my soul. My son's couldn't believe the report when they heard it - those sons of a poverty-stricken father couldn't even imagine wealth. I tried to make them -understand, and, after great difficulty, they were able to do so. "I returned alone to take charge of the property - but I was stunned by what I saw. Darkness spread before my eyee and the earth slipped from under my feet, "I discovered that a twenty-four or five year old boy had gotten control of my property, explaining that he was my brother's son<»He claimed that my' brother had adopted him - an* outright lie! But what could I do? He had control of the property, "The neighbors' explained everything to me. The boy was the nephew of my sister-in-law. The old woman had left him there so as to wipe me out completely. The neighbors advised me to file suit for the property. They were prepared to testify that it was mine, I'd already fought one case and established the ownership of the property, "Once again, sirs, there was a court caee, I fought it by selling the rest of my ornaments and possessions. More than a year has passed - we're on the verge of starvation - but still the case is going on."