A Trick
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This humorous yet unsettling story explores student vanity, friendship and the cruel consequences of a practical joke. In a university student hostel, the narrator and his friends decide to trick their proud, self-important friend Mr. Varma, who is anxiously awaiting his final B.A. results. They forge a fake telex message from the university announcing that Varma has stood first with first-class marks. Overjoyed, Varma is transformed by pride and vanity: he assumes the airs of a great intellectual, boasts about his exam strategy, and patronisingly looks down on his 'inferior' classmates as they spend two hours listening to Tagore's poems. But the triumph is short-lived. The next morning the real results appear on the notice board: Varma has barely scraped a low second class, while his rival Mr. Sinha has stood first. Shattered and burning with rage, Varma confronts the narrator, 'It was not at all gentlemanly on your part... I never liked such jokes', and the narrator is struck by deep remorse, realising the 'harmless' trick has crushed his friend's spirit and permanently ruined their friendship, leaving them in a long, painful silence of mutual shame.
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This story is a sharp, psychological exploration of student vanity, friendship and the consequences of playing cruel practical jokes.
The setup of the hoax
The story is set in a university student hostel. The narrator and his friends decide to play a clever practical joke on their friend, Mr. Varma, a proud, self-important student who is waiting anxiously for his final B.A. exam results. The pranksters construct a fake telex message from the university announcing that Varma has stood first in the university with first-class marks.
Varma's pride and triumph
When Varma receives the fake news, his joy is unbounded and he is completely transformed by pride and vanity. He immediately assumes the air of a great intellectual, boasting about his exam strategy and claiming that his success was entirely natural. He visits the narrator's room, where they spend two hours listening to the beautiful poems of Rabindranath Tagore, with Varma looking down patronisingly on his 'inferior' classmates.
The tragic mortification
The fun is short-lived. The next morning the actual university results are officially published on the notice board. To Varma's absolute horror and humiliation, he discovers that he has barely secured a low second class, while his rival, Mr. Sinha, has stood first.
The realisation of the hoax leaves Varma completely shattered and burning with rage. He confronts the narrator on the hostel verandah, his eyes emitting fire, and says: 'It was not at all gentlemanly on your part... I never liked such jokes.' The narrator is struck by deep remorse and guilt, realising that their harmless 'trick' has permanently ruined their friendship and crushed Varma's spirit, leaving them to sit in a long, painful silence of mutual shame.