A devoted cook who can spin an ordinary day into a thrilling tale — Iswaran turns cooking, cleaning and storytelling into pure magic. But his greatest “true” story, about a ghostly woman with a baby, leaves his master shivering under the blankets. This is a story about the power of imagination, the art of storytelling, and how a vivid mind can blur the line between fact and fiction.
Author
Adapted from a story by R. K. Laxman, India’s beloved cartoonist and writer, known for gentle humour and sharp observation.
Main characters
Iswaran — the resourceful, imaginative cook; Mahendra — his easy-going master, a junior supervisor; the unnamed narrator who hears the tale from Mahendra.
Setting
Remote, lonely sites where Mahendra is posted — quarries, factories, construction areas far from towns, with a small house and plenty of empty silence at night.
Genre & tone
A humorous story-within-a-story with a sudden spooky, supernatural twist at the end. Light and amusing, then chilling.
1. Mahendra’s wandering job
Mahendra works as a junior supervisor in a firm that provides supervisors for construction sites. His job keeps him moving — he is sent to oversee work at quarries, drilling sites, factory buildings and bridges. Each place is usually far from any town, so he lives in a temporary little house wherever he is posted. His needs are simple, and his life is bearable mainly because of one person who travels everywhere with him: his cook, Iswaran.
2. Iswaran — the perfect attached cook
Iswaran is devoted to his master and remarkably resourceful. He can cook a tasty meal out of whatever is available, even in a place where there are no proper shops or fresh supplies. Every morning he gives Mahendra a hot bath, packs his lunch, and after seeing him off, he cleans the house, washes the clothes and tends a little vegetable garden. Because Mahendra works all day, Iswaran is left with plenty of free time — and that is when his other great talent shows itself. He is a wonderful storyteller with an endless supply of tales.
3. The art of telling a story
Iswaran does not just narrate — he performs. He uses the dramatic style of the Tamil thrillers he has read. Every small event is built up with suspense and surprise. For example, even a simple sentence about a stone on a path is delayed and decorated until Mahendra is hooked, leaning forward and waiting eagerly for what comes next. Iswaran weaves description, gesture and a thrilling pause into each story, never giving away the ending too soon.
4. The tale of the mad elephant
One of Iswaran’s favourite stories is about a wild elephant that escaped from a timber yard and went on a rampage. It crashed into the marketplace, smashed fruit and vegetable stalls and broke the bars of school windows. According to Iswaran, he was a young boy then, studying in the school, when the elephant came stamping into the yard. While everyone fled in panic, the brave boy Iswaran picked up a cane, walked calmly up to the huge beast, and whacked it on the third toenail. The elephant shuddered, looked at the boy, and collapsed to the ground — tamed! When the narrator (Mahendra) asks if he knew how to control mad elephants, Iswaran modestly attributes it to a knowledge of the “Japanese art” of hypnotism, hinting he could have done much more. The story is wildly exaggerated, but Iswaran tells it with such conviction that it is impossible not to enjoy.
5. Tales of crime, mystery and the supernatural
Iswaran’s stories are not limited to adventure. He spices them with murders, ghosts and the supernatural. He describes gory details of crime so vividly that Mahendra can almost see the scene. Gradually, the talk turns to spirits and the dead, and Iswaran insists that the area where they are staying was once a burial ground. He claims he has personally seen ghosts and strange shapes at night — especially that of a woman ghost holding a baby in her arms, who appears on full-moon nights. He warns Mahendra not to be frightened if he ever sees something strange.
6. Mahendra’s logical resistance
Mahendra is a rational, level-headed man. He laughs off Iswaran’s ghost stories and tells him plainly that there is no such thing as a ghost or a spirit. He believes it is all in the mind. He dismisses the warnings and refuses to be drawn into superstition — at least, that is what he tells himself in daylight. But the seed of fear has been quietly planted.
7. The night Mahendra is haunted
One night, Mahendra wakes up to a low moaning sound near his window. At first he tries to ignore it, telling himself Iswaran’s nonsense has got into his head. But the sound persists. Drawn by curiosity and fear, he looks out of the window in the full-moon light — and there, under the guava tree, he sees a dark, cloudy form clutching a bundle. Terrified, he dives back under his blanket, his heart pounding. He has a sleepless, fearful night.
8. The masterful twist
The next morning, shaken and pale, Mahendra tells Iswaran about the horrifying apparition — the ghostly woman with a baby. He expects Iswaran to be alarmed. Instead, Iswaran’s eyes light up and he says, almost happily, that this was the very female ghost he had warned about, and that whoever sees her never lasts long in that place. He even suggests Mahendra should have called him so they could have caught hold of the witch! At this point Mahendra realises the truth: he cannot bear to live there any longer. He decides he will leave the place at once. The story ends with the reader smiling, because we suspect the “ghost” was nothing but Iswaran’s storytelling power working on a tired, suggestible mind — the storyteller has, in a sense, written reality itself.
The power of imagination & storytelling
The central theme is the magical power of a good storyteller. Iswaran can make the dullest place and the smallest incident come alive. His stories are so vivid that they begin to shape how Mahendra sees the world. The story celebrates the human gift of imagination and how it can entertain, frighten and even control others.
Fact vs. fiction — a blurred line
Where does a story end and reality begin? Mahendra, a man of logic, ends up genuinely terrified by a tale he claimed not to believe. This shows how a strong narrative can override reason. We are left unsure whether Mahendra really saw a ghost or whether his imagination, fed by Iswaran, conjured one.
Loneliness and companionship
In remote postings far from society, Iswaran’s tales are Mahendra’s main source of company and joy. The story quietly shows how storytelling fills loneliness and binds two very different people together.
Humour and the gentle mocking of superstition
Laxman’s tone is warm and funny. He gently pokes fun at how easily even a “rational” man can be swept into superstition once fear takes hold — reminding us that the mind is a powerful and easily fooled thing.
- Mahendra’s job moves him constantly between quarries, factories and bridge sites.
- Iswaran cooks, cleans, gardens — and tells dramatic stories in the Tamil-thriller style.
- The tale of the runaway mad elephant that young Iswaran “tamed” with a cane on its toenail.
- Iswaran’s ghost stories — the site was a burial ground; a woman ghost carries a baby on full-moon nights.
- Mahendra insists ghosts don’t exist — yet wakes to a moan and sees a shape under the guava tree.
- The twist: Iswaran calmly confirms it was the female ghost, and Mahendra decides to leave at once.
“Iswaran was a master of the art of storytelling.” Discuss how the story illustrates this. (Long answer)
- Open with his style: Iswaran did not simply report events; he dramatised them, copying the suspenseful manner of Tamil thrillers he loved to read.
- Give the technique: He delayed the key fact, decorated the scene with detail and gesture, and built suspense so the listener leaned forward, eager and impatient.
- Use examples: Even a stone on the path became a thrilling episode; the mad-elephant tale was packed with action and a heroic climax; his crime and ghost stories were gory and chilling.
- Show the effect: His tales kept Mahendra completely absorbed and made lonely postings bearable.
- Clinch with the twist: His storytelling was so powerful that it finally made the rational Mahendra believe in a ghost — the ultimate proof of his mastery.
How did Iswaran make even an everyday incident sound exciting? (Short-long answer)
- State his method: he never came straight to the point.
- Explain the build-up: he described the surroundings, hinted at danger, and paused at the right moment.
- Add the listener’s reaction as evidence.
Remember Iswaran with “C-C-G-S” — he Cooks, Cleans, Gardens, and tells Stories. And remember the climax with “Moan → Moon → Move”: Mahendra hears a moan, sees a shape in the moonlight, and decides to move out!
Don’t confuse the characters: Iswaran is the cook and storyteller; Mahendra is the master who is frightened. Also, the chapter is from the supplementary reader “Moments”, not the main “Beehive” book. In answers about the ending, mention the irony — the rational man who denied ghosts is the one who flees in fear.
Q1. In what way is Iswaran an asset to Mahendra?
Answer: Iswaran is a great asset because he is devoted, resourceful and entertaining. As an “attached” cook, he travels with Mahendra to every remote site and manages all his domestic needs — cooking tasty meals from whatever is available, giving him a hot bath, packing his lunch, cleaning the house, washing clothes and even growing vegetables. Most importantly, he keeps the lonely Mahendra company with his endless, dramatic stories, which make life at faraway, isolated postings enjoyable and bearable.
Q2. How does the story of the mad elephant reveal Iswaran’s character?
Answer: The mad-elephant story reveals Iswaran’s vivid imagination, his love of exaggeration and his flair for self-glorification. He claims that as a schoolboy he calmly walked up to a rampaging elephant and brought it down with a single cane stroke on its toenail, modestly crediting his success to the “Japanese art” of hypnotism. The wildly improbable tale, told with complete conviction, shows him to be a born storyteller who happily places himself as the hero of his own thrilling fictions.
Q3. How did Iswaran manage to terrify the rational Mahendra? What does this show?
Answer: Iswaran first prepared the ground with chilling stories — insisting the site was an old burial ground and that he had seen a woman ghost carrying a baby on full-moon nights. Though Mahendra dismissed these as nonsense, the fear quietly took root in his mind. One full-moon night he woke to a moaning sound, looked out, and saw a dark form with a bundle under the guava tree, exactly as described. Terrified, he hid under his blanket and finally decided to leave. This shows the immense power of suggestion and storytelling — a vivid narrative can overpower logic and make even a sceptic believe in the supernatural.
Q4. The story ends with Mahendra deciding to flee. Comment on the irony and the open ending.
Answer: The ending is deeply ironic. Mahendra, the practical man who firmly declared that ghosts do not exist, becomes so frightened by Iswaran’s tale and the shape he sees that he chooses to run away, while Iswaran — who claims the ghost is real — remains calm and even offers to catch the “witch.” The ending is also deliberately open: the author never tells us whether Mahendra truly saw a ghost or whether his imagination, fed by Iswaran’s stories, conjured the apparition. This ambiguity leaves the reader smiling and thoughtful, underlining the theme that a skilled storyteller can blur the line between fact and fiction.
- ✅ Iswaran, Mahendra’s devoted cook, is both a perfect housekeeper and a brilliant storyteller.
- ✅ He dramatises every event in Tamil-thriller style — from a stone on the road to a mad elephant he “tamed.”
- ✅ His ghost stories (a burial ground, a woman with a baby on full-moon nights) plant fear in Mahendra’s mind.
- ✅ The rational Mahendra is terrified by a shape he sees one night and resolves to leave the place.
- ✅ Themes: the power of imagination and storytelling, fact vs. fiction, loneliness, and gentle humour about superstition.
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