She extended her hand in greeting and said, “It is a great pleasure to meet you. If you are not in a hurry, there is no problem staying here for another four days. You can see all the beauties of this town, or you can simply stay here and study if you wish.” My friend took leave of her and departed. She asked me to sit down and inquired about my village, my name, and everything else. After a couple of minutes of this and that, as soon as lunch was over, she said, “Some friends and I are planning to take a few newcomers from your country to the zoological gardens. Would you like to come too?”

“Of course, I would be delighted to come,” I replied.

“In that case, let’s meet at two o’clock,” she said. I stood up, wished her good morning, and returned to my room.

After finishing my lunch, I sat waiting, ready by half past one, wondering when they would call me. What exactly is a zoological garden? Why have they arranged such a thing? What is there to see? Back home, we see all kinds of animals everywhere, brushing against our eyes and feet! Would there be tigers and lions here too, just like in a circus? As I pondered these questions, with just two minutes left for two o’clock, someone came and told me to get ready to go out. I immediately got up and followed him outside.

In the main hall, about ten or fifteen of our countrymen, all a little older than me, were standing there. As I looked at their faces, not a single one looked like a Telugu man. While I was still scrutinizing their faces, the lady manager who had spoken to me in the morning entered, dressed up, wearing a hat adorned with some kind of feathers on her head, and a long coat that reached down to her feet, holding a stick in her hand. After seeing that coat, I thought perhaps everyone has to wear such attire here. When I looked at the others, I saw that they too were all putting on similar coats. Everyone’s...

Barrister Parvateesam

All eyes were on me. Realizing this, I quickly excused myself, saying, “I’ll be back in a moment,” and dashed into my room. I hurriedly put on that coat as well and returned. Immediately, we set off.

By the time we reached the street, there was a car ready, large enough to seat ten or fifteen people. As soon as we all got in, it started off and, weaving smoothly through the town, took us to the exhibition hall. We all got down there and went inside. Even to enter, we had to buy tickets. The manager lady herself bought tickets for all of us.

As we went inside, I thought it would be like our big cattle sheds back home. But instead, it looked as if it stretched over several hundred acres. In one part,