Passage 12

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In plain words

As I made up the song like that and spread the word from village to village, all the medicine in his shop was sold out. Then he was overjoyed: ‘Raju, my boy! Thanks to you all the medicine in my shop has gone,’ and he tried to give Me an anna. But I refused it.

I had two friends, Ramesh and Suresh. The three of us sat at the same desk: Ramesh on one side, Suresh on the other, and I in the middle. When those two opened their mouths, not a single word would come out. So: ‘Do not worry about the examinations. I will write the answers to the questions on your behalf. Be brave,’ I told them, and set their minds at rest. We three went into the examination hall. His number was one thing, Mine another, and the other boy's something else again. One number had no connection with the next. One would sit at that end. The other would sit at this end. They were fretting that what I told them was not reaching them. Then I did one thing. First of all I wrote My own answer paper at top speed. Then I wrote on an answer sheet in one boy's handwriting. On it I wrote his name. In the second boy's name, in his handwriting, I wrote answers to the questions. Putting all three papers together, I placed them on the examiner's table. The three of us went out. Then we began to wait for the results. The results came on the third day. In those days it did not take months to announce results. All three of us got first classes. I, Ramesh, Suresh... First class for all three! Whatever answers I had written were in their answer sheets too. Yet no one could say they had copied from Mine. The two of them were sitting somewhere far away. My number was six. One boy's number was 108. The other's number was further off still.