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80
THE WAY OF LIFE
Ganesh did not give any reply to this. He looked towards Nila. After the boy went away to school, Nila said to Ganesh, "Do not give any heed to the words of the boy. I will try to speak to him. He is only a boy, you know. His friends might have said something to him; so he spoke thus to you. Do not mind his words." But Ganesh was not satisfied. He thought, "Now, this boy will grow up. He will understand the nature of my intimacy with Nila. She is his mother. He will develop hatred for us; and that may lead to some calamity to us. And I cannot go way, leaving Nila. Somehow or the other I must remove this boy from my way".
A STRONG PASSION MAKES MAN HEARTLESS AND CRUEL
Passion, when it grows strong, makes man a beast. A strong sexual passion does not allow a man to remain a man. It makes him a cruel and heartless beast. Ganesh planned to kill the boy. He did not say anything to Nila because he knew that Nila loved her son. He could not tell her about his plan to kill the boy. Outwardly, Ganesh also used to love the boy so that Nila might not entertain any suspicion regarding his evil and devilish designs.
Ganesh made a plan. He secured the assistance of a friend of his who was an Anglo-Indian. One day, the two friends hired a taxi and waited for the boy at the school-gate, at the time when school would close for the day. The boy was going to a morning school. The school ended for the day, and the boys were all returning to their respective houses. Ganesh was standing at the main gate. When Nila's son came, he said to the boy; "Dear child! your mother has gone to Jogeshwari. I have come to take you there. I have also brought a taxi".
When they sat in the taxi, it began speeding towards Jogeshwari. After entering the forest near Jogeshwari he paid the hire to the taxi-driver and sent away the taxi. Now, the boy began to weep. "Take me to my mother! I want to go to my mother!" He sat beneath a tree weeping. The Anglo-Indian friend of Ganesh took pity on the child. He said, "Why do you
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