6. THE PRICE OF FLOWRES

 6. THE PRICE OF FLOWRES 

The Price of Flowers" is a story written by P.K.Mukhopadhyay. It is a very sweet and  small story which is based on sympathy. After reading this book the reader founds  themselves silent for some time because of the silent environment built by the story. 

The story is really poignant.  Gupta was an Indian living in London. Once he met an English girl in a vegetarian  restaurant. Her name was Alcie Margaret Clifford.She was called Maggie. She was   thirteen years old. She was working as a typist in a nearby office. She belonged to a  poor family. She wanted to know if Gupta was an Indian. Her brother Frank was in  Military service in India. India was supposed to be a land of tigers, snakes and fevers. 

So her mother was anxious about her son.  Gupta offered to go with Maggie to her house to meet her mother. He told the mother  that she need not worry about her son's safety in India. He was shown a crystal ring  sent by Frank. The mother and the daughter wanted him to look into the crystal ring  and say how Frank was.

But Gupta told them that he would not see anything. Later he  became close to the family. He took Maggie out several times. 

One day Gupta received news that Maggie's mother was not well. He went to their  house immediately. Maggie told him that her mother was worried about her son and  hence sick. She wanted him to gaze into the crystal again and say that the son was  safe. Gupta did not hesitate to tell such a lie to the mother. The mother soon became  well. 

Later Gupta was shocked to learn that Frank had died in the war. He had died even  before the false information was given to the mother. Gupta felt very sad about it. He  was leaving for India to take up a new job. Maggie met him before his departure. She  gave him a shilling to buy flowers and place them on her brother's grave in Punjab.  After she had gone Gupta wiped the tears from his eyes and went upstairs to pack his  bags.