A Tiger for Malgudi by R. K. Narayan Page B

an idea for a “strong-man” story of a giant who could not be contained. When I went back that way again, I visited his hut and offered him five hundred rupees a month for one year with food (that was most important) to join me and do whatever role I gave him. His puny wife was delighted to let him go, having never seen so much money in her life. Her condition was that he’d send her money every month and get back to her at the end of it all. After I saw the tiger act in your circus, I wanted to combine them in my story - and there we are.’
    They were seated on folding chairs in the shade of a large banyan tree. Captain looked happy and relaxed, much to Madan’s relief - very different from what he seemed at the circus ground. Madan asked,‘Would you like a cup of coffee, tea, or fruit juice?’
    ‘You have all that here too?’Captain exclaimed patronizingly.
    ‘First thing I arranged to have was the canteen over there, where you see the smoke - otherwise no work would go on here; they’ll be going out all the time for a refreshing drink ... For stronger refreshments too they have a tavern - fortunately for us a mile out of here - where I believe they gather at the end of the day. I don’t let them leave this spot during their working hours ... though sometimes I notice some transaction going on across the barrier at the back of the lot ...’
    ‘Don’t notice too much. You must know when not to be too observant. I have a team of about three hundred at work, I find all sorts of problems. I can’t be too strict or rigid as long as they do their work, I try not to look too closely ...’
    Captain was relaxed; Madan felt expansive and said,‘You will be welcome to come and spend as much time as you like here ... You look more happy here.’
     
The make-up and costume section was in one of the huts, and it could hardly hold the make-up man and his assistants as Jaggu stood in the centre. He was fitted with a leopard-skin covering, which was strapped across his shoulder; his hair was tousled so that it stood like an aura, and they had given him a moustachio, which curved up to his ears. There had been a controversy among the make-up men whether the ends should curve down in pirate fashion or up like a colonel’s. They went on arguing about it so hotly that Madan heard their wrangling from under the shade of his banyan tree and came over to ask what the matter was; he stood at the entrance, impressed with the mighty figure, while the make-up men were going round him like pygmies. They went on touching him up here and there as if he were inanimate. Except for a little shifting of his legs, and letting out a deep sigh, he gave no sign of being alive. Madan studied him and cried,‘Here, pull off those moustaches. He is all right plain-faced. He is like Tarzan and not like a pirate or Bhima.’
    ‘But, sir, there must be some break-up or offset for his face. It’s too plain for the large area ...’
    ‘It’s sticky, sir, and scratching, sir,’mumbled Jaggu through the gum on his lips.
    ‘Where did you get the idea to give him whiskers? Take them off immediately,’Madan ordered while Jaggu looked on gratefully. ‘Also loosen his robe a bit - it should come down to his knees, even covering his knees. Otherwise, it will look as if he wore a loincloth, and will cut a sorry figure on the screen - enough material in that cloak, loosen all the pleats ...’It took them over two hours before achieving the results visualized by Madan. Pulling out the moustache was ticklish, literally, and Jaggu moaned and wriggled and was reprimanded by Madan’s assistant supervising the operations.
    Finally at about nine o’clock the hero was ready: properly painted and costumed, his hair done up in proper style. Madan and his assistant stood around gazing and commenting.
    Madan looked satisfied.‘An hour or more wasted because of the moustache. I don’t know where they got the idea from - our mythology, I suppose! Jaggu is not a