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It was the most trivial matter, requiring only a few words for its narration.

Ashu has a younger sister. The girl has neither friends of her age nor any sisters, so Ashu is her only playmate.

An iron railing, with a driveway gate in the middle, surrounds the porch of Ashu's house. On that particular day, it was raining heavily. A few pedestrians, holding their shoes in their hands and with umbrellas over their heads, were hurrying along. They kept their eyes fixed on the path and did not have the leisure to look around anywhere else. Ashu spent the cloudy and dark holiday playing with his sister on the porch; the only sound to be heard was that of the falling rain.

It was the wedding day of their dolls. Ashu was busy planning for the wedding and advising his sister about the arrangements.

Now, the question arose as to who should officiate as the priest. The girl ran up to someone who had taken shelter on their porch and asked him, "Will you be the priest at the wedding of our dolls?"

Ashu turned around to see to whom his sister was talking. It was a half-wet Shibnath Pondit standing there with a folded and dripping umbrella; he was walking by when the rain forced him to take shelter on the porch. The little girl was requesting him to be the priest at the wedding of her dolls.

When he saw Ponditmoshai, Ashu left the play, his sister, and everything else and disappeared inside the house. His holiday had turned to dust.

Shibnath Pondit narrated this trivial incident to the boys the next day. He told the story mockingly, making a mountain out of a molehill, to explain why he had chosen to call Ashu by the new name of "Ginni", meaning housewife. At first, Ashu smiled gently as he always did and tried to join in the laughter that greeted the story from all sides. Just then the bell rang, announcing the recess. All the classes broke for lunch, and the maid from Ashu's home came and stood by the door, holding some sweets wrapped in sal leaves and water in a shiny jug.

While laughing at himself, Ashu's face and ears turned crimson, and the veins on his forehead bulged out. The tears, which he had held back till now, gushed out uncontrollably.

Shibnath Pondit had finished eating his food and was contentedly smoking a pipe in the staff room. The boys surrounded Ashu and gleefully shouted "Ginni, Ginni" into his ears. Ashu felt he had done the most shameful thing by playing with his little sister during the holiday. His mind refused to believe that the people on the earth would ever forget this incident.

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