One Centimetre
When Tao Ying rides on the bus alone, quite often she does not bother to buy a ticket. Why should she? Without her, the bus would still be stopping at every stop, a driver and a conductor would still have to be employed, and the same amount of petrol used.
Clearly Tao Ying has to be astute. When the bus conductor looked like the responsible type, she would buy a ticket as soon as she got on board. But if he appeared to be casual and careless, she would not dream of paying, considering it a small punishment for him and a little saving for herself.
Tao Ying works as a cook in the canteen of a factory. She spends all day next to an open fire, baking screwshaped wheat cakes with sesame butter. Today she is with her son Xiao Ye. She follows him onto the bus. As the doors shut her jacket is caught, ballooning up like a tent behind her. She twists this way and that, finally wrenching herself free.
‘Mama, tickets!’ Xiao Ye says. Children are often more conscious of rituals than adults. Without a ticket in his hand, the ride doesn’t count as a proper ride. On the peeling paint of the door somebody has painted the shape of a pale finger. It points at a number: 1.10 m. Xiao Ye pushed through. His hair looks as fluffy as a bundle of straw—dry and without lustre. As a rule, Tao Ying is very careful with her purse, but she has never skimped on her child’s diet. Nonetheless the goodness in his food refuses to advance beyond his hairline. As a result Xiao Ye is healthy and clever, but his hair is a mess.
Tao Ying tries to smooth it down, as if she was brushing away topsoil to get to a firm foundation. She can feel the softness of her son’s skull, rubbery and elastic to the touch. Apparently there is a gap on the top of everyone’s head, where the two halves meet. If they don’t meet properly, a person can end up with a permanently gaping mouth. Even when the hemispheres are a perfect match, it still takes a while for them to seal. This is the door to life itself—if it remains open, the world outside will feel like water, flowing into the body through this slit. Every time Tao Ying happens upon this aperture on her son’s head, she would be overwhelmed by a sense of responsibility. It was she who had brought this delicate creature into the world after all. Although she senses her own insignificance in the world, that her existence makes no difference to anyone else, she also realises that to this little boy she is the centre of the universe and she must try to be the most perfect, flawless mother possible.
Between Xiao Ye’s round head and the tip of the painted digit setting out the height requirement for a ticket rests the beautiful slender fingers of Tao Ying. Since she is in contact with oil all day, her nails are shiny, glistening like the smooth curved back of a sea shell.
‘Xiao Ye, you are not quite tall enough, still one centimetre away,’ she tells him softly. Tao Ying does not come from a privileged background, and has not read very many books. But she likes to be gentle and gracious, to set an example for her son and make a good impression.
‘Mama! I’m tall enough, I’m tall enough!’ Xiao Ye shouts at the top of his voice, stamping on the floor as if it were a tin drum. ‘You told me the last time I could have a ticket the next time, this is the next time. You don’t keep your word!’ He looks up at his mother angrily. Tao Ying looks down at her son. A ticket costs twenty cents. Twenty cents is not to be scoffed at. It can buy a cucumber, two tomatoes or, at a reduced price, three bunches of radishes or enough spinach to last four days. But Xiao Ye’s face is raised up like a half-open blossom, waiting to receive his promise from the sun.
‘Get in! Don’t block the entrance! This is not a train, where you stand from Beijing to Bao Ding. We’re almost at the next stop...!’ the conductor bellows. Normally, an outburst like this would certainly have discouraged Tao Ying from buying a ticket. But today she says, ‘Two tickets, please.’
Understanding the Text
1. How did Tao Ying’s son influence the way she led her life?
2. Pick out instances from the story to show that official rules are often arbitrary.
3. Tao Ying was very careful about spending money. What were her reasons for refusing the compensation offered by the temple officials?
4. Why was her final vindication important to Tao Ying?
Talking about the Text
1. The way a child looks at the world is very different from that of an adult.
2. There is always a gap between what we really are and what we wish to appear to be to others.
Appreciation
1. Comment on the significance of the first sentence of the story to its theme.
2. Would you describe the author’s portrayal of Tao Ying’s character in the story as sympathetic, critical or realistic?
3. Identify the episodes that bring out the ambivalent attitude to ethics commonly seen in human life?
4. How effectively does the narrative technique adopted in this story illustrate ‘unity of thought’?
Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 12 English One Centimetre
