The Tunnel : Summary

In an early story, named The Tiger in the Tunnel, the writer had described that the tiger was killed in the tunnel, and he must have written this story only to show his regret, in which the tiger was saved.

 It was a hot noon and Suraj, a young boy, ventured into the forest and headed towards the tunnel. He wanted to see the train coming out of it. He had cycled from the town and had left it at a nearby small village, from where he walked all the way to reach the tunnel. The whistle of the train and the following thunder informed him that the train was about to come. He looked at the train shooting out of the tunnel, puffing like a green, black and gold dragon. Suraj found the train very beautiful.

After the train had gone, Suraj walked along the embankment towards the tunnel. As he walked into the tunnel, it became very dark; he was a little confused if the night had fallen, so he looked back to reassure himself that it was day yet. He could see a small round circle of light ahead of him, which was the another opening of the tunnel.

Suraj turned back as there was nothing to do or see in the tunnel except the damp and sticky walls with some stray animals like lizards and bats. As he walked out, he saw a fleeting glimpse of a leopard. He was confused what it was, but the watchman confirmed that it was one.

The watchman, named Sundar Singh, was posted there to look after the rails and tunnel. Only two trains passed the tunnel a day. He inspected the tunnel before a train approached and if he found everything fine, he would take a rest in his hut, else he would signal the train to stop way before the train entered the tunnel.

Suraj talked to Sundar Singh, who claimed that the tunnel and the leopard were his. He informed that the train passing there at night was a mail train and it was a delight to watch it. When Suraj asked if it was safe to be in the jungle at night, he said that it was safer to be in the jungle than in the town.

Suraj went away, but returned the following evening. The night jungle is quite different from that of the daylight jungle, as even rustle of the leaves could mean the movement of a frightening animal. Hearing the animals' sounds, they drank tea, inspected the tunnel and came back to sit on the cot. It was at this time when they heard the sound as if someone was cutting through the branch of a tree. Sundar Singh said that it was a leopard and the train was about to come, so it was necessary to shoo away the leopard for its safety. Suraj was confused if it would be safe to go near the leopard. Sundar Singh assured him that the leopard had nothing to do with them and it would go away on seeing them.

In the tunnel, they spotted the leopard crouching on the track. They screamed together to shoo it away. The leopard turned swiftly and disappeared into the darkness. The train came thundering a little after, leaving the tracks trembling after it.

A week later, Suraj was travelling by the same train with his father. His father was travelling to Delhi on a business trip and he had decided to take Sundar with him thinking where he roamed about. As the train approached the tunnel, he strained his eyes to look into the dark night and saw the lamp of the watchman. In the dark, he could not see him, but he knew it was him, though other passengers thought him to be a firefly; they never knew that it was the watchman lighting up the darkness for steam engines and leopards.