The Gardener is a short story written By Indian poet and writer, Palya Lankesh. The story was originally published in 1889. The story of “The Gardener” revolve around a life of gardener, Tammanna.
Summary of The Gardener 2nd Puc in English
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Summary of The Gardener By P. Lankesh
The story “The Gardener” by P. Lankesh begins with an old man standing in a coconut grove in Channarayapatna. The old man has strong muscular arms, gray hair and a big nose. He is holding a newspaper under his arms. The old man is portrayed as a laborer, observer and philosopher. He reached the coconut grove after walking hundreds of miles.
The Garden’s owner was looking for such kind of man only. The Garden’s owner talk for a while with old man and hired him. The old man proved to be very useful as he has good experience and knowledge of agriculture. The income of garden increases because of old man. The garden’s owner lifestyle changes with the rise in income of garden.
The owner’s plantation has grown but he has become lazy and avoids his work. The owner’s wife finds this very strange. She cannot decide whether hiring the old man was a good or bad decision for them. Her husband’s wealth and social status has increased and he has made many friends in his village and city.
The owner’s wife is worried and afraid because since their income has increased, her husband has adopted many adulterous and immoral habits. Their farm has grown from 10 acres to much bigger. The owner’s wife realizes that they are doing well financially but their life is getting worse day by day.
The owner’s wife was standing in the garden with a troubled face, when the old man saw her standing in the garden with a troubled face, he understood that she was troubled because of her husband’s behavior. The old man meets her, he smiles and gives her coconut juice. They both sit and the old man starts telling her a story.
The old man told that there was a man named Tammanna, he had 10 acres of wet land, a luxurious house and people were always ready to obey his orders. He had a rival named Basavaiya. The owner’s wife wondered, what has she to do with this.
She didn’t want to hear the story, but she heard it because she didn’t want to hurt the old man. Tamanna and Basavaiah were rivals, if Tamanna bought 4 acres of land, Basavaiah would do the same. If Tamanna had 10 friends, Basavaiah made 15 fans. Initially there was healthy competition between the two, but later it turned out to be very bad. There was no land left to acquire in the village, all the land was either Tamanna’s or Basavaiah’s.
Tammanna had a thousand acres of land and Basavaiah had 800 acres of land. Basavaiah could not tolerate this so he sent a letter to Tammanna to buy his 200 acres of land. Tammanna did not accept Basavaiah’s offer and sent him an offer to buy his entire 800 acres of land.
Basavaiah got very angry with Tammanna’s offer and he took over his 200 acres of land with the help of his men. Tammanna’s supporters gave him many suggestions to get the land back, they told Tammanna that he can go to court, he can take the help of police, or he can get his land back with the help of men.
Tamanna did not choose any of the suggestions, he was searching for a way through which he could completely destroy Basavaiah. Later, an idea came to Tamanna’s mind which he also implemented.
Tamanna molded her words into ballads and started singing them in front of people. Their rivalry moved from visible to invisible things. Basavaiah also tried to do the same but he couldn’t do it. Tamanna’s ballads spread everywhere, he started mentioning Basavaiah’s cruelty and meanness in his songs. Basavaiah became helpless, he got very angry and took over Tamanna’s land.
Tammanna did not care about his land because for him, his art had become the most important purpose of his life. Tammanna was awarded with the title of the best poet. Basavaiah started feeling insulted. He built a luxurious mansion for himself. He hired people just to evaluate him. He even decorated himself with gold and diamonds but still his house looked dull and empty.
One day Basavaiah learns that Tamanna is not well. Basavaiah becomes happy, he finds a way to kill Tamanna. Tamanna’s illness was Basavaiah’s strength.Tammanna finds another way to punish Basaviya. Tammanna realises that if he stays alive, Basaviya will continue to give him a tough fight.
Tammanna leaves everything and runs away from his village so that the news spreads that Tammanna is dead. After Tammanna leaves the village, Basaviya dies within a few days as he has no reason left to live. The old man tells the owner’s wife that his name is Tammanna. After Basaviya’s death, he forgets all his songs and ballads.
The story old man was telling to the owner’s wife was his own life story and that is Tamanna. He tells her that there was a time when he was very famous, but now he has no identity. Tamanna tells the owner’s wife that a human being needs wealth, education, art and many other things, but these things do not force a human being to live. A human being lives his life for some kind of revenge.
At the end of story, Tammanna tells the owner’s wife that today your husband is so rich that he is not ready to take anyone’s advice. Man is so confused that he lives his life only for revenge. Tammanna tells the owner’s wife not to take these things seriously. Tammanna tells these things to the owner’s wife so that she can do something about her husband.
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