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Mukherjee was sweating profusely. He tried to shake the dog off. But Tiger hung on.
Then he swung his briefcase and pushed Tiger sideways and made him let go.

I was held by two of the men while Mukherjee was limping across the lawn towards
me. When he reached me, he was wild with rage and was showing his rotten teeth.
‘I have had enough of you and your grandfather. No one can behave like this
with me.’

As he spoke, his friends closed in. They stood round me in a circle. I had no way of
escape.

Revisit the text to complete the following table.

Action Reaction

1. Grandpa saw the police jeep coming.

The four open-air art class people
2.
looked up in surprise.

3. People stood in line as per Amritha’s

instructions.

4. Grandpa flung down a tin plate.

II
I looked across the lawn, wishing and wondering. Wishing I was safe, up in a tree like
grandpa. That is when I first saw the television crew. They were on the other side of the
road. They were filming every move we made. Mukherjee saw the look of surprise on my
face. He spun round. He saw the cameras taking pictures of him and his men. His face
grew pale.

In two seconds, he was out of our garden. There was no sign of a limp as he ran fast.

His men ran after him. They tried to hide behind the tree. But they could not escape the
cameras. The television crew closed in. They took some lovely close-up shots. There was
one of Mukherjee’s men peeping around his briefcase.

Questions were asked. Answers were given. Mukherjee against grandpa – all filmed and
recorded. Grandpa and Mukherjee gave their views. Then the newsmen asked me what I
thought. My mind was blank. I gave a sickly grin and said, ‘No comment.’

Suddenly there was a commotion on the street. It was beat music, heavy on the drums. I
saw the sun glinting on gold uniforms. It was a band, out in full strength. The TV crew
spun their cameras round to meet it. People came rushing out of their houses.

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