Introduction:
The story in brief :
Mr. Sivasanker, the representative of South Indian typical middle class family, is thinking about the servant problem standing on the veranda . Sidda appears suddenly as God-sent and offers to be the servant. He is now jobless as his former master, a doctor, has left the town. Mr. Sivasanker calls his wife for taking decision and they delay a bit to finalise Sidda’s assignment. Meanwhile, Leela, five-year-old girl of Mr. Sivasanker comes out , looks at Sidda and declares her choice. Sidda’s job as servant in Mr. Sivasanker’s house is now confirmed by Leela’s request. Two meals a day and four rupees a month Sidda would get as remuneration for household chores, washing clothes, gardening and looking after Leela.
Whenever Leela would cry :
“Sidda, come and paly.”, the latter leaves the work at hand and responds to the little madam. They play throwing ball,
Sidda throws the ball into the sky as Leela commands. Sidda changes the place
and proves that the moon knows Sidda as
the moon also changes its place
following them. Sidda says : “I
have asked it to follow us about”. Leela acts as a teacher and teaches the old
student Sidda. After dinner when Leela is on her bed , Sidda sits on the floor
near the bed and says incomparable stories about animals in forest, gods in
heaven and strange magicians . Sidda gradually becomes a good friend of this
little girl who spends most of her time with this servant .
One day Leela goes with Sidda
for fetching some sugar from a shop. After their returning it is found that
Leela’s gold necklace is missing. All responsibility of this missing seems to
go to Sidda who is rebuffed and threatened of police. Sidda becomes mute
like an animal and leaves the house stealthily . Mr. Sivasanker informs the police who
captures Sidda from his haunt few days later. When Sidda is brought in Mr.
Sivasanker’s home, Leela, seeing his old best friend , becomes glad
measurelessly .She does know the meaning of
thief and stealing and also the value of a gold necklace. Sidda, who
declares that he has not taken the necklace, is silent and embarrassed for the
abuse hurled towards him by the police. Ultimately, he is taken to the police custody. Leela becomes desperate and cries bitterly. Few
days later, the gold chain is found in
the tamarind pot in the kitchen. The Police Inspector will be informed tomorrow
but no Sidda again. Here ends the story.
The secret of friendship
between Leela and Sidda :
A good friend is a rare gift, as if, a gift from heaven. To become a true friend of a child is not very easy and it requires some perfect soft skill. It is a relationship of mutual affection and intense attachment. The basis of friendship between Leela and Sidda is obviously not sociological, it is out and out mental or psychological. A child is the denizen of the land of innocence. Leela’s mind naturally searches a mate of the same field which is fulfilled by Sidda who is endowed with innocence like a child. A child of five like Leela knows nothing about honesty, loyalty, sympathy, responsibility, dutifulness and the like qualities which help in developing friendship. She knows only love and affection of Sidda, she gets his company whenever and wherever she demands. On the other hand, Sidda knows how to become the friend of a child , a girl like Leela. He has developed a mutual understanding and he equally enjoys Leela’s company which is not possible by the acting of a servant. Sidda is gifted with some soft skills by which he can study Leela’s mind, can understand Leela’s necessity, can realize Leela’s feeling and can cater Leela’s demand. It may not be termed as trust but reliability that Leela finds in Sidda and she easily puts herself in the care of this person Sidda coming from outside of her house.
Is Sidda trained in nursery
matters ? There is no mention of it in the story, he is merely a servant who
works for two square meals. Actually, Sidda’s company anyhow makes Leela
supremely happy. He takes Leela to some wonderland and plays with her in the
field of imagination. He throws the ball up and when it comes down, he says
that the ball touches the moon and a part of moon is sticking on the ball. When
Leela enquires it he intelligently says that it evaporates very soon and goes
back to the moon. Sidda firmly says that the moon know him and then plays the
trick which is applied by the adults before the children in all times. Now he
stands with Leela near the rose plant and the moon is here, now he takes Leela
to the backyard and the moon is there. Leela claps her hands and cries in wonder.
Actually, the basis of friendship between Leela and Sidda is the mutual
enjoyment through continuous attachment and
mutual love built from unalloyed innocence. The credit of this friendship is not only of
Sidda, Leela is equally endowed with this soft skill at such little age and
fifty percent of the credit goes to her. All children are not equally gifted
with same good qualities. Sidda offers himself to be good friend and it is
Leela who acknowledges him as a good one with her own affable and genial
nature.
