NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Kaleidoscope Chapter 3 A Wedding in Brownsville

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Class 12 English Kaleidoscope Short stories Chapter 3 Question Answer

Answer:
The Senciminers were Jewish people who originally belonged to the town of Sencimin in Poland. They had emigrated to America and formed a close-knit community in New York. They maintained their shared identity through a social organisation called the Senciminer Society, where they held meetings, parties and gatherings. The town of Sencimin had been destroyed during the Holocaust and most of Dr Margolin’s family there had been tortured, burned and gassed by the Nazis. Many survivors from these camps later came to America, keeping their communal bonds alive through such events as the wedding in Brownsville.

Answer:
Dr Margolin did not want Gretl to come for several reasons:

1. Cultural Embarrassment: He was deeply uncomfortable with the way American Judaism was practised. The Anglicised Yiddish, the Yiddishised English, rabbis aping Christian ministers – all of it irritated him, and he felt ashamed showing this to Gretl whenever they attended Jewish functions together.
2. Gretl’s Clear-sightedness: Being born a Christian, Gretl could see through the hollow rituals, which only deepened his embarrassment. He noted that “even she could see that American Judaism was a mess.”
3. Apologies he’d have to make: At least this time, without Gretl, he would be “spared the trouble of making apologies to her.”

Ironically, Gretl herself had refused to go, so the question was already settled.

Answer:
The Hippocratic Oath is an ancient ethical code taken by medical practitioners, originating from the Greek physician Hippocrates. It is a solemn pledge to practise medicine honestly, to do no harm to patients, to maintain patient confidentiality and to uphold the dignity of the profession.
In the context of the story, it is mentioned to highlight Dr Margolin’s strong moral character – he had “never broken the Hippocratic Oath” and dealt with patients with extreme honesty, refusing dubious associations that smacked of careerism. This oath represents the ethical core around which his professional identity was built, even as other aspects of his life felt like failure.

Answer:
Despite the festive atmosphere of music, dancing, food and laughter, the merry banter at the wedding invariably circles back to death and the Holocaust. Every cheerful exchange quickly turns into an account of someone’s tragic fate – “My father? He was killed. They were all killed.” “Sorele? Shot. Together with her children.” “Abraham Zilberstein? They burned him in the synagogue.” “Riva herself? Where all the others ended up: Auschwitz.”
The survivors themselves acknowledge this painful irony with the haunting line: “All of us are really dead, if you want to call it that… Even the survivors carry death in the hearts. But it’s a wedding, we should be cheerful.” The Holocaust is so deeply embedded in their consciousness that even celebration cannot escape its shadow.

Answer:
The woman Dr Margolin encountered was Raizel, the daughter of Melekh the watchmaker from Sencimin. She had been his one great love in his youth. He had been told that she had been shot by the Nazis and he had mourned her all his life. Seeing her at the wedding shook him to his core, reviving all his long-suppressed love and youthful emotion. However, the reader is left to wonder whether this Raizel was real, a ghost, a hallucination or the apparition of a dead woman whose astral body still lingered – as the story suggests through its surrealistic ending.

Answer:
Several events contributed to Dr Margolin’s deeply confused state:

1. The accident on Eastern Parkway: He had seen a badly injured man being taken away on a stretcher – someone who, he later realised with dread, looked strangely familiar. The suspicion that he himself might have been the accident victim began to grow.
2. The overwhelming wedding atmosphere: The noise, the faces, the names of the dead – all created a surreal, almost intoxicated state, though he had not recalled drinking.
3. The encounter with Raizel: Meeting someone who claimed to be his long-dead beloved shattered his sense of reality.
4. The missing wallet: His wallet had vanished – a detail that, combined with everything else, hinted that perhaps he existed outside the normal physical world.
5. The physical sensations: When he checked himself, he found no pulse, no breathing and felt “oddly deflated as if some physical dimension were missing” – leading to the terrifying question: “Can one die without knowing it?”

Answer:
His Past: Dr Solomon Margolin was born in Sencimin, Poland, the son of a poor Talmud teacher. As a child, he was considered a prodigy – memorising passages of the Bible and Talmud, impressing even the rabbi of Tarnow. In his teens he mastered religious philosophy and even attempted to translate Spinoza’s Ethics from Latin into Hebrew. He was expected to be a genius.
But he squandered his gifts by constantly changing fields, wandering from country to country and wasting years learning languages. He lost Raizel – his great love – who married someone else and was later shot by the Nazis. His entire family in Sencimin was exterminated in the Holocaust.
Effect on present life: Despite outward success as a respected New York doctor, Dr Margolin privately feels like a failure. The Holocaust has destroyed his faith in humanity and in God. He suffers from hypochondria, fear of death, and existential despair. He treats rabbis and refugees free of charge – a gesture tied to survivor’s guilt. His marriage to Gretl, though stable, is emotionally distant. He pursues women recklessly despite his age and health. His past haunts him so completely that even a routine wedding becomes a confrontation with mortality, memory and the dead.

Answer:
Dr Margolin’s attitude towards his profession was deeply ethical and honourable, but also increasingly disillusioned.
On one hand, he upheld the Hippocratic Oath strictly – never compromising his integrity, refusing dubious associations that “smacked of careerism,” and treating rabbis, refugees and Jewish writers without charging them.
On the other hand, the story reveals a growing contempt: he had begun to “despise the matrons who came to him with their petty ills while millions were devising horrible deaths for one another.” The Holocaust had made ordinary medical practice seem trivial and absurd in comparison to the scale of human suffering he had witnessed and lost family to.
So his professional life represents a tension between his personal ethics (which remained strong) and his spiritual disillusionment with a world that could produce such evil.

Answer:
Dr Margolin views the American Jewish community with a mixture of affection, irritation and contempt.
He is critical of:

• The linguistic confusion: “Anglicised Yiddish” and “Yiddishised English”
• The distorted religious practices: men with no genuine faith wearing skullcaps, rabbis and cantors imitating Christian ministers
• The hollow social functions: loud music, unruly dancing, overcrowded celebrations
• The cultural assimilation that has eroded authentic Jewish identity

He feels American Judaism is, in his own words, “a mess.” Yet he continues to participate – sitting on committees, attending Seders, going to this very wedding – which shows that despite his critique, he cannot fully sever his emotional and cultural ties. His belonging to the community is involuntary, rooted in shared tragedy and origin, not in genuine religious conviction.

Answer:
Despite his aloof manner and private cynicism, several qualities made Dr Margolin beloved in his community:

1. Generosity: He treated rabbis, refugees and Jewish writers without charge, often providing medicines and hospital beds at his own expense.
2. Integrity: He never broke the Hippocratic Oath and refused to join dubious professional associations. His sense of honour was so strong that even Gretl said it had become “a mania.”
3. Community commitment: Despite his complaints, he served on Zionist committees, the Jewish scholastic society board, and co-edited a Jewish academic quarterly.
4. Childhood memory: The Senciminers remembered him fondly as “Schloime-Dovid, the little boy with blond side-curls who recited a whole tractate of the Talmud by heart” – a source of collective pride.
5. Warmth at the wedding: Despite his reluctance, once at the hall he engaged warmly, smiling, nodding, greeting everyone – which made people feel remembered and valued.

Answer:
The curious experience at the wedding hall can be interpreted on multiple levels:

• Psychological Interpretation: Dr Margolin had been deeply repressing grief, guilt, love and trauma for decades. The wedding – a gathering of survivors, haunted by the dead – triggered a psychological breakdown. His exhaustion, the crowd, the alcohol, the memories all combined to produce a vivid hallucination of Raizel.
• Supernatural/surrealistic Interpretation: The story strongly hints that Dr Margolin may have died in the car accident on Eastern Parkway and that his astral body continued the journey to the wedding unconsciously. The missing wallet, the absence of pulse and breathing he notices when he examines himself and the concept of “Hovering in the World of Twilight” all suggest that what he experienced at the wedding was from beyond death – and Raizel, herself dead, was there to receive him.
• Thematic Interpretation: Singer uses this experience to explore how the dead and the living are never truly separate for Holocaust survivors. The past, the dead and the living coexist in a single traumatised consciousness.

Answer:
This is the central ambiguity of the story and Singer deliberately leaves it unresolved.
Evidence that Dr Margolin was the accident victim:

• The man on the stretcher at Eastern Parkway wore a dark suit, bloodspattered shirt and bow tie – exactly the kind of formal clothing Margolin would have worn to the wedding.
• Margolin later “looked strangely familiar” to himself when he recalled the stretcher scene.
• He could find no pulse or breathing when he examined himself.
• He felt “oddly deflated as if some physical dimension were missing.”
• His wallet was gone – perhaps lost at the accident scene.
• Raizel, who was supposedly dead, appeared and could not explain her whereabouts.

If this reading is accepted: The wedding was not illusory – it was real, but Margolin experienced it as a ghost or astral body. The encounter with Raizel was also real, as she too was dead.
Alternative reading: The whole experience was a hallucination produced by exhaustion, emotional overload, possible food poisoning or alcohol, as Margolin himself suggests: “All this may be one long hallucination.”
Singer gives us both possibilities and refuses to settle the question – which is the essence of his surrealistic, deeply philosophical storytelling style.

Answer:
Yes, “A Wedding in Brownsville” can be loosely classified as a surrealistic story.
Surrealism, as a movement between the two World Wars, holds that the automatic, illogical and uncontrolled associations of the mind represent a higher reality than ordinary existence. This story reflects that idea powerfully:

1. The blurring of the real and unreal: From the moment Margolin sees the accident to the appearance of Raizel, the boundary between what is happening and what is imagined becomes impossible to determine.
2. Dream-like progression: The journey in the taxi – past dark industrial streets, ghostly figures, the red sky – reads like a dream sequence descending into an unknown world.
3. The return of the dead: Raizel, believed to be shot by the Nazis, appears living and young at a wedding. This defiance of factual reality is a key surrealistic device.
4. Self-examination in third person: Margolin checks his own pulse as if he were a patient – a dissociation from the self that mirrors the surrealist loss of fixed identity.
5. The concept of “World of Twilight”: The astral body wandering in semi-consciousness, unable to reach its destination, is a liminal surrealist image.

These elements together make the story a moving example of surrealism applied to Holocaust memory and grief.

Answer:
Singer’s technique is remarkable in its indirectness and compression.

1. Fragmentary conversation: Rather than describing the Holocaust directly, Singer embeds its horror in the casual chatter at the wedding: “My father? He was killed. They were all killed.” “Sorele? Shot. Together with her children.” These one-liners – sandwiched between offers of whiskey and Coca Cola – are far more devastating than any direct description could be.
2. The personal made universal: By focusing on one man’s inner life – his guilt, grief, failed love, existential dread – Singer conveys how the Holocaust did not merely kill bodies but destroyed entire inner worlds.
3. Juxtaposition of celebration and death: The irony of a joyful wedding where every conversation leads back to mass murder creates a profound emotional effect. Life and death coexist in unbearable proximity.
4. Stream of consciousness: In the taxi, Margolin’s philosophical musings – about God, Hitler, Stalin, immortality, his dead uncles digging their own graves – compress enormous historical tragedy into a single consciousness.
5. Raizel as a symbol: The woman he loved and lost to the Nazis reappearing at a wedding is not just a ghostly encounter – she represents everything the Holocaust took away: love, youth, possibility, the future. Her reappearance and her inability to explain where she has been, is Singer’s most powerful image of the unresolved grief that survivors carry.

Class 12 English Kaleidoscope Short stories Chapter 3 English to Hindi Translation.

Isaac Bashevis Singer was born in Poland. His father and grandfather were rabbis and he was educated at the Warsaw Rabbinical Seminary. In 1935 he emigrated to the US and since then has worked as a regular journalist and columnist for the New York paper, The Jewish Daily Forward. Apart from some early work published in Warsaw, nearly all his fiction has been written in Yiddish for this journal. It is relatively recently that Singer’s work has been translated on any scale and that his merit, and the endurance of his writing, have been recognised by a general audience. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1978. His publications include—A Friend of Kafka, The Seance and Other Stories.
Hindi Translationआइज़ैक बाशेविस सिंगर का जन्म पोलैंड में हुआ था। उनके पिता और दादा दोनों रब्बी (यहूदी धर्मगुरु) थे, और उनकी शिक्षा वारसॉ रैबिनल सेमिनरी (यहूदी धर्मशास्त्रीय संस्थान) में हुई। 1935 में वे अमेरिका चले गए और तब से न्यूयॉर्क के समाचार-पत्र ‘द जीविश डेली फॉरवर्ड’ में नियमित पत्रकार और स्तंभकार के रूप में कार्य करते रहे। वारसॉ में प्रकाशित उनकी कुछ प्रारंभिक रचनाओं को छोड़कर, उनका लगभग पूरा कथा-साहित्य इसी पत्रिका के लिए यिडिश (एक यहूदी भाषा) भाषा में लिखा गया। हाल के वर्षों में ही सिंगर की रचनाओं का बड़े पैमाने पर अनुवाद किया गया है और आम पाठकों द्वारा उनकी योग्यता तथा उनके लेखन के स्थायित्व को पहचान मिली है। उन्हें 1978 में साहित्य के नोबेल पुरस्कार से सम्मानित किया गया था। उनकी प्रमुख कृतियों में ‘ए फ्रेंड ऑफ काफ्का’, ‘द सिएंस एंड अदर स्टोरीज’ आदि शामिल हैं।

The wedding had been a burden to Dr Solomon Margolin from the very beginning. True, it was to take place on a Sunday, but Gretl had been right when she said that was the only evening in the week they could spend together. It always turned out that way. His responsibilities to the community made him give away the evenings that belonged to her.
Hindi Translationशुरू से ही यह विवाह समारोह डॉ. सोलोमन मारगोलिन के लिए एक बोझ बन गया था। सच तो यह था कि शादी रविवार को होने वाली थी, लेकिन ग्रेटल सही कहती थी कि सप्ताह में केवल वही एक शाम होती थी जिसे वे साथ बिता सकते थे। हमेशा ऐसा ही हो जाता था। समुदाय के प्रति अपनी जिम्मेदारियों के कारण वे अपनी शामें, जो वास्तव में ग्रेटल की थीं, दूसरों को दे देते थे।

The Zionists had appointed him to a committee; he was a board member of a Jewish scholastic society; he had become co-editor of an academic Jewish quarterly. And though he often referred to himself as an agnostic and even an atheist, nevertheless for years he had been dragging Gretl to Seders at Abraham Mekheles’, a Landsman from Sencimin.
Hindi Translationज़ायोनिस्टों ने उन्हें एक समिति में नियुक्त किया था; वे एक यहूदी शैक्षणिक संस्था के बोर्ड सदस्य थे; और वे एक यहूदी अकादमिक त्रैमासिक पत्रिका के सह-संपादक भी बन गए थे। हालाँकि वे अक्सर स्वयं को अज्ञेयवादी (ईश्वर के होने पर संदेह करने वाला), यहाँ तक कि नास्तिक भी कहते थे, फिर भी सालों से वे ग्रेट्ल को अब्राहम मेखेलेस के यहाँ सेडर (यहूदी त्योहार ‘पासओवर’ का पारंपरिक भोज) में ले जाते आ रहे थे, जो कि सेनसिमिन से उनके ही वतन के एक भाई थे।”

Dr Margolin treated rabbis, refugees, and Jewish writers without charge, supplying them with medicines and, if necessary, a hospital bed. There had been a time when he had gone regularly to the meetings of the Senciminer Society, had accepted positions in their ranks, and had attended all the parties. Now Abraham Mekheles was marrying off his youngest daughter, Sylvia.
Hindi Translationडॉ. मारगोलिन रब्बियों (यहूदी धर्मगुरुओं), शरणार्थियों और यहूदी लेखकों का बिना शुल्क इलाज करते थे। वे उन्हें दवाइयाँ देते और आवश्यकता पड़ने पर अस्पताल में बिस्तर की व्यवस्था भी कराते। एक समय ऐसा भी था जब वे नियमित रूप से सेंचिमिनर सोसायटी की बैठकों में जाते थे, वहाँ पद स्वीकार करते थे और सभी पार्टियों में शामिल होते थे। अब अब्राहम मेखेलेस अपनी सबसे छोटी बेटी सिल्विया की शादी कर रहे थे।

The minute the invitation arrived, Gretl had announced her decision: she was not going to let herself be carted off to a wedding somewhere out in the wilds of Brownsville. If he, Solomon, wanted to go and gorge himself on all kinds of greasy food, coming home at three o’clock in the morning, that was his prerogative.
Hindi Translationजैसे ही निमंत्रण आया, ग्रेटल ने साफ़ घोषणा कर दी कि वह ब्राउनस्विल जैसे दूर और सुनसान इलाके में किसी शादी में जाने के लिए तैयार नहीं है। यदि सोलोमन स्वयं जाना चाहते हैं और तरह-तरह के चिकने-चुपड़े भोजन खाकर रात के तीन बजे घर लौटना चाहते हैं, तो यह उसका अपना अधिकार है।

Dr Margolin admitted to himself that his wife was right. When would he get a chance to sleep? He had to be at the hospital early Monday morning. Moreover he was on a strict fat-free diet. A wedding like this one would be a feast of poisons. Everything about such celebrations irritated him now: the Anglicised Yiddish, the Yiddishised English, the ear-splitting music and unruly dances.
Hindi Translationडॉ. मारगोलिन ने मन ही मन स्वीकार किया कि उनकी पत्नी सही कह रही थी। आखिर उन्हें सोने का समय कब मिलेगा? सोमवार की सुबह उन्हें जल्दी अस्पताल पहुँचना था। इसके अलावा, वे सख्त बिना-चर्बी वाले भोजन का पालन कर रहे थे। इस तरह की शादी उनके लिए मानो ज़हर से भरी दावत थी। अब ऐसी शादियों की हर बात उन्हें चिढ़ाने लगी थी—वह अंग्रेजी के प्रभाव वाली यिडिश भाषा, यिडिश के प्रभाव वाली अंग्रेजी, कान फोड़ने वाला संगीत और बेकाबू होकर किया जाने वाला डांस।

Jewish laws and customs were completely distorted; men who had no regard for Jewishness wore skullcaps; and the reverend rabbis and cantors aped the Christian ministers. Whenever he took Gretl to a wedding or Bar Mitzvah, he was ashamed. Even she, born a Christian, could see that American Judaism was a mess. At least this time he would be spared the trouble of making apologies to her.
Hindi Translationयहूदी कानूनों और परंपराओं को पूरी तरह बिगाड़ दिया गया था। जिन लोगों को यहूदी धर्म की कोई परवाह नहीं थी, वे भी सिर पर टोपी पहन लेते थे, और सम्मानित रब्बी (धर्मगुरु) तथा गायक ईसाई पादरियों की नकल करते थे। जब भी वे ग्रेटल को किसी शादी या ‘बार मित्ज्वाह’ (यहूदी उपनयन संस्कार) में ले जाते, उन्हें शर्म महसूस होती थी। यहाँ तक कि ग्रेटल, जो जन्म से ईसाई थी, भी समझ सकती थी कि अमेरिकी यहूदी समाज पूरी तरह अव्यवस्थित हो चुका है। कम से कम इस बार वे उसे सफाई देने और माफी माँगने की परेशानी से बच जाएँगे।”

Usually after breakfast on Sunday, he and his wife took a walk in Central Park, or, when the weather was mild, went to the Palisades. But today Solomon Margolin lingered in bed. During the years, he had stopped attending functions of the Senciminer Society; meanwhile the town of Sencimin had been destroyed. His family there had been tortured, burned, gassed.
Hindi Translationआमतौर पर रविवार को नाश्ते के बाद वे और उनकी पत्नी सेंट्रल पार्क में टहलने जाते थे, या मौसम अच्छा होने पर सेंट्रल पार्क चले जाते थे। लेकिन आज सोलोमन मारगोलिन बिस्तर में ही पड़े रहे। वर्षों के दौरान उन्होंने सेंचिमिनर सोसायटी के कार्यक्रमों में जाना बंद कर दिया था। इस बीच सेंचिमिन नगर पूरी तरह नष्ट हो चुका था। वहाँ उनके परिवार के लोगों को यातनाएँ दी गई थीं, उन्हें जलाया गया था, गैस चैंबरों में मारा गया था।

Many Senciminers had survived, and, later, come to America from the camps, but most of them were younger people whom he, Solomon, had not known in the old country. Tonight everyone would be there; the Senciminers belonging to the bride’s family and the Tereshpolers belonging to the groom’s. He knew how they would pester him, reproach him for growing aloof, drop hints that he was a snob. They would address him familiarly, slap him on the back, drag him off to dance.
Hindi Translationकई सेनसिमिनर (सेनसिमिन के निवासी) निवासी बच गए थे और बाद में शिविरों से निकलकर अमेरिका आ गए थे, लेकिन उनमें से अधिकतर युवा लोग थे, जिन्हें सोलोमन अपने पुराने देश में नहीं जानते थे। आज रात सब लोग वहाँ होंगे—दुल्हन के परिवार से जुड़े सेंचिमिनर और दूल्हे के परिवार से जुड़े तेशपोलर (तेरेशपोल के निवासी)। वे अच्छी तरह जानते थे कि लोग उन्हें कैसे तंग करेंगे,, उनसे दूर-दूर रहने का उलाहना देंगे और इशारों में उन्हें घमंडी कहेंगे। वे उनसे बहुत अपनापन दिखाकर बात करेंगे, उनकी पीठ थपथपाएँगे और उन्हें नाचने के लिए खींच ले जाएँगे।

Well, even so, he had to go to Sylvia’s wedding. He had already sent out the present. The day had dawned, grey and dreary as dusk. Overnight, a heavy snow had fallen. Solomon Margolin had hoped to make up for the sleep he was going to lose, but unfortunately he had woken even earlier than usual. Finally he got up. He shaved himself meticulously at the bathroom mirror and also trimmed the grey hair at his temples. Today of all days he looked his age: there were bags under his
eyes, and his face was lined. Exhaustion showed in his features.
Hindi Translationफिर भी, चाहे जैसा भी हो, उसे सिल्विया की शादी में जाना ही था। वह पहले ही उपहार भेज चुका था। दिन धुंधला और उदास होकर उगा था, मानो शाम हो। रात भर भारी बर्फ़ गिरी थी। सोलोमन मारगोलिन ने सोचा था कि जिस नींद की कमी आज रात होने वाली है, उसकी भरपाई कर लेंगे, लेकिन दुर्भाग्य से वे सामान्य दिनों से भी पहले जाग गए। आखिरकार वे उठे। उन्होंने बाथरूम के आईने के सामने बहुत सावधानी से दाढ़ी बनाई और कनपटियों के सफेद बाल भी काटे। आज, विशेष रूप से, वे अपनी उम्र के लग रहे थे। उनकी आँखों के नीचे सूजन थी और चेहरे पर झुर्रियाँ साफ़ दिखाई दे रही थीं। उनके चेहरे पर थकान झलक रही थी।

His nose appeared longer and sharper than usual; there were deep folds at the sides of his mouth. After breakfast he stretched out on the living-room sofa. From there he could see Gretl, who was standing in the kitchen, ironing—blonde, faded, middle-aged. She had on a skimpy petticoat, and her calves were as muscular as a dancer’s. Gretl had been a nurse in the Berlin hospital where he had been a member of the staff. Of her family, one brother, a Nazi, had died of typhus in a Russian prison camp.
Hindi Translationउनकी नाक सामान्य से अधिक लंबी और नुकीली लग रही थी और मुँह के किनारों पर गहरी रेखाएँ पड़ गई थीं। नाश्ते के बाद वे बैठक के सोफ़े पर लेट गए। वहाँ से वे ग्रेटल को देख सकते थे, जो रसोई में खड़ी कपड़े प्रेस कर रही थी—गोरे बालों वाली, फीकी पड़ चुकी, मध्यम आयु की महिला। उसने हल्का-सा पेटीकोट पहन रखा था और उसकी पिंडलियाँ किसी नर्तकी की तरह मजबूत थीं। ग्रेटल उस बर्लिन अस्पताल में नर्स थी, जहाँ सोलोमन कर्मचारी के रूप में काम करते थे। उसके परिवार में एक भाई, जो नाज़ी था, रूस के जेल शिविर में टाइफस से मर गया था।

A second, who was a Communist, had been shot by the Nazis. Her aged father vegetated at the home of his other daughter in Hamburg, and Gretl sent him money regularly. She herself had become almost Jewish in New York. She had made friends with Jewish women, joined Hadassah, learned to cook Jewish dishes. Even her sigh was Jewish. And she lamented continually over the Nazi catastrophe. She had her plot waiting for her beside his in that part of the cemetery that the Senciminers had reserved for themselves.
Hindi Translationदूसरा भाई, जो कम्युनिस्ट था, नाज़ियों द्वारा गोली मार दिया गया था। उसके वृद्ध पिता हैम्बर्ग में उसकी दूसरी बेटी के घर पर किसी तरह जीवन बिता रहे थे और ग्रेटल उन्हें नियमित रूप से पैसे भेजती थी। न्यूयॉर्क में आकर वह स्वयं लगभग यहूदी जैसी बन गई थी। उसने यहूदी महिलाओं से मित्रता कर ली थी, ‘हदासा’ (एक यहूदी महिला संगठन) की सदस्य बन गई थी और यहूदी व्यंजन बनाना सीख लिया था। यहाँ तक कि उसकी आहें भरने का ढंग भी यहूदी जैसा लगता था। वह लगातार नाज़ी अत्याचारों पर दुख व्यक्त करती रहती थी। कब्रिस्तान के उस हिस्से में, जिसे सेंचिमिनरों ने अपने लिए सुरक्षित रखा था, उसकी कब्र की जगह भी सोलोमन की कब्र के पास तय थी।

Dr Margolin yawned, reached for the cigarette that lay in an ashtray on the coffee table beside him, and began to think about himself. His career had gone well. Ostensibly he was a success. He had an office on West End Avenue and wealthy patients. His colleagues respected him, and he was an important figure in Jewish circles in New York. What more could a boy from Sencimin expect? A self-taught man, the son of a poor teacher of Talmud? In person he was tall and quite handsome, and he had always had a way with women. He still pursued them—more than was good for him at his age and with his high blood pressure.
Hindi Translationडॉ. मारगोलिन ने जम्हाई ली, पास रखी कॉफी टेबल के ऐशट्रे से सिगरेट उठाई और अपने बारे में सोचने लगे। उनका जीवन और करियर अच्छी तरह आगे बढ़ा था। ऊपर से देखने पर वे एक सफल व्यक्ति थे। उनका वेस्ट एंड एवेन्यू में कार्यालय था और उनके मरीज अमीर लोग थे। उनके सहकर्मी उनका सम्मान करते थे, और न्यूयॉर्क के यहूदी समाज में वे एक महत्वपूर्ण व्यक्ति माने जाते थे। सेंचिमिन के एक लड़के के लिए इससे अधिक और क्या अपेक्षा की जा सकती थी? वह भी एक स्व-अध्ययन से आगे बढ़ा हुआ व्यक्ति, जो तालमूड (यहूदी धर्मग्रंथ) पढ़ाने वाले एक गरीब शिक्षक का बेटा था। व्यक्तिगत रूप से वे लंबे और काफी आकर्षक थे, और हमेशा से महिलाओं को प्रभावित करने की कला जानते थे। अब भी वे महिलाओं के पीछे जाते थे—शायद अपनी उम्र और उच्च रक्तचाप की स्थिति के हिसाब से जितना ठीक था, उससे कहीं अधिक।

But secretly Solomon Margolin had always felt that he was a failure. As a child he had been acclaimed a prodigy, reciting long passages of the Bible and studying the Talmud and Commentaries on his own. When he was a boy of eleven, he had sent for a Responsum to the rabbi of Tarnow who had referred to him in his reply as ‘great and illustrious’. In his teens he had become a master in the Guide for the Perplexed and the Kuzari. He had taught himself algebra and geometry. At seventeen he had attempted a translation of Spinoza’s Ethics from Latin into He brew, unaware that it had been done before. Everyone predicted he would turn out to be a genius. But he had squandered his talents, continually changing his field of study; and he had wasted years in learning languages, in wandering from country to country.
Hindi Translationलेकिन भीतर ही भीतर सोलोमन मारगोलिन हमेशा स्वयं को असफल महसूस करते थे। बचपन में उन्हें विलक्षण प्रतिभा (असाधारण बालक) माना जाता था। जो बाइबल के लंबे-लंबे अंश ज़ुबानी सुना देते थे और स्वयं ही तालमूड तथा उसकी व्याख्याओं का अध्ययन करते थे। जब वे ग्यारह वर्ष के थे, तब उन्होंने तार्नोव के रब्बी को एक धार्मिक प्रश्न भेजा था। उत्तर में उस रब्बी ने उन्हें “महान और विद्वान” कहकर संबोधित किया था। किशोरावस्था में ही वे ‘गाइड फॉर द परप्लेक्स्ड’ और ‘द कुज़ारी’ (प्रसिद्ध दार्शनिक ग्रंथ) के गहरे ज्ञाता बन गए थे। उन्होंने स्वयं बीजगणित और ज्यामिति सीखी थी। सत्रह वर्ष की उम्र में उन्होंने बारूक स्पिनोज़ा की पुस्तक ‘एथिक्स’ का लैटिन से हिब्रू में अनुवाद करने का प्रयास किया, यह जाने बिना कि यह कार्य पहले ही किया जा चुका था। सब लोग भविष्यवाणी करते थे कि वे एक महान प्रतिभाशाली व्यक्ति बनेंगे। लेकिन उन्होंने अपनी प्रतिभा को बर्बाद कर दिया। वे लगातार अपने अध्ययन का क्षेत्र बदलते रहे और भाषाएँ सीखने तथा एक देश से दूसरे देश भटकने में कई वर्ष व्यर्थ कर दिए।

Nor had he had any luck with his one great love, Raizel, the daughter of Melekh the watchmaker. Raizel had married someone else and later had been shot by the Nazis. All his life Solomon Margolin had been plagued by the eternal questions. He still lay awake at night trying to solve the mysteries of the universe. He suffered from hypochondria and the fear of death haunted even his dreams. Hitler’s carnage and the extinction of his family had rooted out his last hope for better days, had destroyed all his faith in humanity. He had begun to despise the matrons who came to him with their petty ills while millions were devising horrible deaths for one another.
Hindi Translationअपने जीवन के एकमात्र गहरे प्रेम—घड़ीसाज़ मेलेख की बेटी रैज़ेल—के साथ भी उनका भाग्य अच्छा नहीं रहा। रैज़ेल ने किसी और से विवाह कर लिया और बाद में नाज़ियों द्वारा गोली मार दी गई। सोलोमन मारगोलिन पूरी जिंदगी अनंत प्रश्नों से परेशान रहे। वे आज भी रातों को जागते रहते, ब्रह्मांड के रहस्यों को सुलझाने की कोशिश करते। वे रोग-भ्रम से पीड़ित थे और मृत्यु का भय उनके सपनों तक का पीछा करता था। हिटलर के नरसंहार और उनके परिवार के विनाश ने अच्छे दिनों की उनकी अंतिम आशा भी समाप्त कर दी थी और मानवता पर उनका विश्वास पूरी तरह तोड़ दिया था। उन्होंने उन अमीर महिलाओं से घृणा करनी शुरू कर दी थी, जो अपनी छोटी-मोटी बीमारियों को लेकर उनके पास आती थीं, जबकि दुनिया में लाखों लोग एक-दूसरे के लिए भयानक मौतें तैयार कर रहे थे।

Gretl came in from the kitchen.
‘What shirt are you going to put on?’
Solomon Margolin regarded her quietly. She had had her own share of troubles. She had suffered in silence for her two brothers, even for Hans, the Nazi. She had gone through a prolonged change of life.
Hindi Translationग्रेटल रसोई से अंदर आई।
“तुम कौन-सी कमीज़ पहनने वाले हो?”
सोलोमन मारगोलिन ने शांत भाव से उसकी ओर देखा। उसने भी अपने हिस्से के दुख झेले थे। उसने अपने दोनों भाइयों के लिए चुपचाप पीड़ा सही थी—यहाँ तक कि हांस के लिए भी, जो नाज़ी था।
वह लंबे समय तक शारीरिक और मानसिक बदलावों के कठिन दौर से गुज़री थी।

Now her face was flushed and covered with beads of sweat. He earned more than enough to pay for a maid, yet Gretl insisted on doing all the housework herself, even the laundry. It had become a mania with her. Every day she scoured the oven. She was forever polishing the windows of their apartment on the sixteenth floor and without using a safety belt. All the other housewives in the building ordered their groceries delivered, but Gretl lugged the heavy bags from the supermarket herself.
Hindi Translationअब उसका चेहरा लाल हो रहा था और उस पर पसीने की बूंदें चमक रही थीं। सोलोमन इतनी अच्छी कमाई करते थे कि आसानी से नौकरानी रख सकते थे, लेकिन ग्रेटल ज़िद करके घर का सारा काम खुद ही करती थी, यहाँ तक कि कपड़े धोने का काम भी। यह उसके लिए मानो एक सनक बन गई थी। हर दिन वह ओवन को घिस-घिसकर साफ़ करती। वह लगातार उनके सोलहवीं मंज़िल वाले फ्लैट की खिड़कियाँ चमकाती रहती, वह भी बिना किसी सुरक्षा बेल्ट के। इमारत की बाकी गृहिणियाँ अपना राशन घर मँगवा लेती थीं, लेकिन ग्रेटल सुपरमार्केट से भारी थैले खुद उठाकर लाती थी।

Now husband and wife sized each other up wryly, feeling the strangeness that comes of great familiarity. He was always amazed at how she had lost her looks. No one feature had altered, but something in her aspect had given way: her pride, her hopefulness, her curiosity. He blurted out:
‘What shirt? It doesn’t matter. A white shirt.’
‘You’re not going to wear the tuxedo? Wait, I’ll bring you a vitamin.’
Hindi Translationअब पति-पत्नी एक-दूसरे को व्यंग्यपूर्ण नज़रों से देख रहे थे, उस अजीबोगरीब अहसास को महसूस करते हुए जो अत्यधिक परिचय के कारण पैदा हो जाता है। सोलोमन को हमेशा आश्चर्य होता था कि ग्रेटल का रूप कितना बदल गया था। उसके चेहरे की कोई विशेष बात नहीं बदली थी, लेकिन उसके व्यक्तित्व में कुछ टूट-सा गया था—उसका गर्व, उसकी आशा और उसकी जिज्ञासा। वे अचानक बोल पड़े—
“कौन-सी कमीज़? इससे क्या फर्क पड़ता है। सफेद कमीज़।”
“क्या तुम टक्सीडो नहीं पहनोगे? रुको, मैं तुम्हारे लिए एक विटामिन लाती हूँ।”

‘I don’t want a vitamin.’
‘But you yourself say they’re good for you.’
‘Leave me alone.’
‘Well, it’s your health, not mine.’
And slowly she walked out of the room, hesitating as if she expected him to remember something and call her back.
Hindi Translation“मुझे कोई विटामिन नहीं चाहिए।”
“लेकिन तुम खुद ही कहते हो कि वे तुम्हारे लिए अच्छे हैं।”
“मुझे अकेला छोड़ दो।”
“ठीक है, यह तुम्हारी सेहत का सवाल है, मेरी नहीं।’
और वह धीरे-धीरे कमरे से बाहर चली गई, ऐसे रुक-रुककर जैसे उसे उम्मीद हो कि सोलोमन को अचानक कुछ याद आएगा और वे उसे वापस बुला लेंगे।

Dr Solomon Margolin took a last look in the mirror and left the house. He felt refreshed by the half-hour nap he had had after dinner. Despite his age, he still wanted to impress people with his appearance—even the Senciminers. He had his illusions. In Germany he had taken pride in the fact that he looked like a Junker, and in New York he was often aware that he could pass for an Anglo-Saxon. He was tall, slim, blond, blue-eyed. His hair was thinning, had turned somewhat grey, but he managed to disguise these signs of age. He stooped a little, but in company was quick to straighten up.
Hindi Translationडॉ. सोलोमन मारगोलिन ने आईने में एक आख़िरी नज़र डाली और घर से निकल पड़े। रात के खाने के बाद ली गई आधे घंटे की झपकी से वे कुछ तरोताज़ा महसूस कर रहे थे। अपनी उम्र के बावजूद वे अब भी लोगों पर अपने व्यक्तित्व का प्रभाव डालना चाहते थे—यहाँ तक कि सेंचिमिनरों पर भी। उनके मन में अब भी कुछ भ्रम और अभिलाषाएँ थीं। जर्मनी में उन्हें इस बात पर गर्व था कि वे किसी ‘जंकर’ (कुलीन जर्मन ज़मींदार) जैसे दिखते थे, और न्यूयॉर्क में उन्हें अक्सर लगता था कि वे आसानी से एंग्लो-सैक्सन (मूल अंग्रेज) समझे जा सकते हैं। वे लंबे, दुबले, सुनहरे बालों वाले और नीली आँखों वाले थे। उनके बाल पतले हो गए थे और कुछ सफेद भी पड़ गए थे, लेकिन वे उम्र के इन चिन्हों को छिपाने में सफल रहते थे। वे थोड़ा झुककर चलते थे, पर लोगों के बीच तुरंत सीधे खड़े हो जाते थे।

Years ago in Germany he had worn a monocle and though in New York that would have been too pretentious, his glance still retained a European severity. He had his principles. He had never broken the Hippocratic Oath. With his patients he was honourable to an extreme, avoiding every kind of cant; and he had refused a number of dubious associations that smacked of careerism. Gretl claimed his sense of honour amounted to a mania. Dr Margolin’s car was in the garage— not a Cadillac like that of most of his colleagues—but he decided to go by taxi.
Hindi Translationवर्षों पहले जर्मनी में वे एक आँख पर मोनोकल लगाया करते थे। हालाँकि न्यूयॉर्क में वह बहुत दिखावटी लगता, फिर भी उनकी नज़र में यूरोपीय कठोरता अब भी बनी हुई थी। उनके अपने सिद्धांत थे। उन्होंने कभी भी हिप्पोक्रेटिक शपथ (डॉक्टरों द्वारा ली जाने वाली नैतिक शपथ) का उल्लंघन नहीं किया था। अपने मरीजों के साथ वे अत्यंत ईमानदार रहते, हर प्रकार की बनावटी बातों से बचते, और उन्होंने ऐसे कई संदिग्ध संबंध ठुकरा दिए थे जिनसे केवल करियर को फायदा होता। ग्रेटल कहती थी कि उनका सम्मान-बोध एक सनक बन चुका है। डॉ. मारगोलिन की कार गैरेज में खड़ी थी—अपने अधिकांश सहकर्मियों की तरह कैडिलैक नहीं—लेकिन उन्होंने टैक्सी से जाने का निर्णय लिया।

He was unfamiliar with Brooklyn and the heavy snow made driving hazardous. He waved his hand and at once a taxi pulled over to the curb. He was afraid the driver might refuse to go as far as Brownsville, but he flicked the meter on without a word. Dr Margolin peered through the frosted window into the wintry Sunday night but there was nothing to be seen. The New York streets sprawled out, wet, dirty, impenetrably dark. After a while, Dr Margolin leaned back, shut his eyes, and retreated into his own warmth. His destination was a wedding.
Hindi Translationवे ब्रुकलिन की सड़कों से परिचित नहीं थे और भारी बर्फ़बारी में गाड़ी चलाना जोखिम भरा था। उन्होंने हाथ हिलाया और तुरंत एक टैक्सी फुटपाथ के पास आकर रुक गई। उन्हें डर था कि ड्राइवर ब्राउनस्विल तक जाने से मना कर देगा, लेकिन उसने बिना कुछ कहे मीटर चला दिया। डॉ. मारगोलिन जमी हुई खिड़की से सर्द रविवार की रात को देखने लगे, पर बाहर कुछ दिखाई नहीं दे रहा था। न्यूयॉर्क की सड़कें गीली, गंदी और अभेद्य अँधेरे में फैली हुई थीं। कुछ देर बाद उन्होंने सीट पर सिर टिकाया, आँखें बंद कर लीं और अपनी ही गर्माहट में खो गए। उनका गंतव्य एक विवाह समारोह था।

Wasn’t the world, like this taxi, plunging away somewhere into the unknown toward a cosmic destination? May be a cosmic Brownsville, a cosmic wedding? Yes. But why did God—or whatever anyone wanted to call Him—create a Hitler, a Stalin? Why did He need world wars? Why heart attacks, cancers? Dr Margolin took out a cigarette and lit it hesitantly. What had they been thinking of, those pious uncles of his, when they were digging their own graves? Was immortality possible? Was there such a thing as the soul? All the arguments for and against weren’t worth a pinch of dust.
Hindi Translationक्या यह संसार भी इस टैक्सी की तरह किसी अज्ञात दिशा में भागता नहीं जा रहा था—किसी ब्रह्मांडीय मंज़िल की ओर? शायद कोई ब्रह्मांडीय ब्राउनस्विल, कोई ब्रह्मांडीय विवाह? हाँ। लेकिन भगवान ने—या कोई उन्हें जिस भी नाम से पुकारना चाहे—एक हिटलर, एक स्टालिन को क्यों बनाया? उन्हें विश्व युद्धों की क्या आवश्यकता थी? दिल के दौरे और कैंसर जैसी बीमारियाँ क्यों? डॉ. मारगोलिन ने झिझकते हुए एक सिगरेट निकाली और जलाई। नके वे धर्मपरायण (आस्तिक) चाचा और ताऊ आखिर क्या सोच रहे होंगे, जब वे अपनी ही कब्रें खोद रहे थे? क्या अमरता संभव थी? क्या आत्मा जैसी कोई चीज़ वास्तव में होती है? इसके पक्ष और विपक्ष में दिए जाने वाले तमाम तर्क एक चुटकी धूल के बराबर भी नहीं थे।”

The taxi turned onto the bridge across the East River and for the first time Dr Margolin was able to see the sky. It sagged low, heavy, red as glowing metal. Higher up, a violet glare suffused the vault of the heavens. Snow was sifting down gently, bringing a winter peace to the world, just as it had in the past—forty years ago, a thousand years ago, and perhaps a million years ago. Fiery pillars appeared to glow beneath the East River; on its surface, through black waves jagged as rocks, a tugboat was hauling a string of barges loaded with cars.
Hindi Translationटैक्सी ईस्ट रिवर (पूर्वी नदी) पर बने पुल पर मुड़ी और पहली बार डॉ. मारगोलिन आकाश को देख सके। आकाश नीचे की ओर झुका हुआ लग रहा था—भारी और तपते हुए धातु की तरह लाल। उससे ऊपर बैंगनी चमक पूरे आकाश में फैली हुई थी। बर्फ़ धीरे-धीरे गिर रही थी, दुनिया पर सर्दियों की शांति बिखेरती हुई—ठीक वैसे ही जैसे चालीस वर्ष पहले, हजारों वर्ष पहले, और शायद लाखों वर्ष पहले गिरती रही होगी। ईस्ट रिवर के नीचे अग्नि जैसे चमकते स्तंभ दिखाई दे रहे थे। नदी की सतह पर, चट्टानों जैसी काली लहरों के बीच, एक टगबोट कारों से भरी नौकाओं की कतार खींच रही थी।

A front window in the cab was open and icy gusts of wind blew in, smelling of gasoline and the sea. Suppose the weather never changed again? Who then would ever be able to imagine a summer day, a moonlit night, spring? But how much imagination— for what it’s worth—does a man actually have? On Eastern Parkway the taxi was jolted and screeched suddenly to a stop. Some traffic accident, apparently.
Hindi Translationटैक्सी की आगे की खिड़की थोड़ी खुली थी और बर्फीली हवा के झोंके भीतर आ रहे थे, जिनमें पेट्रोल और समुद्र की गंध मिली हुई थी। उन्होंने सोचा—अगर मौसम कभी बदले ही नहीं तो? फिर कोई गर्मियों का दिन, चाँदनी रात या वसंत की कल्पना कैसे कर पाएगा? लेकिन आखिर मनुष्य की कल्पना-शक्ति की सीमा ही कितनी है? ईस्टर्न पार्कवे पर टैक्सी अचानक झटके से रुक गई और उसके पहिए चीखने लगे। शायद कोई सड़क दुर्घटना हुई थी।

The siren on police car shrieked. A wailing ambulance drew nearer. Dr Margolin grimaced. Another victim. Someone makes a false turn of the wheel and all a man’s plans in this world are reduced to nothing. A wounded man was carried to the ambulance on a stretcher. Above a dark suit and blood spattered shirt and bow tie the face had a chalky pallor; one eye was closed, the other partly open and glazed. Perhaps he, too, had been going to a wedding, Dr Margolin thought. He might even have been going to the same wedding as I…
Hindi Translationपुलिस की गाड़ी का सायरन चीख रहा था और एक एम्बुलेंस की करुण आवाज़ पास आती जा रही थी। डॉ. मारगोलिन का चेहरा सिकुड़ गया। एक और शिकार। किसी ने गाड़ी का पहिया गलत दिशा में मोड़ दिया और इस दुनिया में आदमी की सारी योजनाएँ पलभर में समाप्त हो गईं। एक घायल व्यक्ति को स्ट्रेचर पर उठाकर एम्बुलेंस तक ले जाया गया। उसके काले सूट, खून से सनी कमीज़ और बो-टाई के ऊपर उसका चेहरा चाक की तरह सफेद और पीला दिखाई दे रहा था। उसकी एक आँख बंद थी और दूसरी आधी खुली तथा बेजान (पथराई हुई) थी।। डॉ. मारगोलिन ने सोचा—शायद वह भी किसी शादी में जा रहा था। संभव है, वह उसी शादी में जा रहा हो, जिसमें मैं जा रहा हूँ…

Some time later the taxi started moving again. Solomon Margolin was now driving through streets he had never seen before. It was New York, but it might just as well have been Chicago or Cleveland. They passed through an industrial district with factory buildings, warehouses of coal, lumber, scrap iron. Negroes, strangely black, stood about on the sidewalks, staring ahead, their great dark eyes full of gloomy hopelessness. Occasionally the car would pass a tavern. The people at the bar seemed to have something unearthly about them, as if they were being punished here for sins committed in another incarnation.
Hindi Translationकुछ समय बाद टैक्सी फिर चलने लगी। अब सोलोमन मारगोलिन उन सड़कों से गुजर रहे थे जिन्हें उन्होंने पहले कभी नहीं देखा था। यह न्यूयॉर्क था, लेकिन उतना ही आसानी से यह शिकागो या क्लीवलैंड भी हो सकता था। वे एक औद्योगिक इलाके से गुज़रे, जहाँ कारखानों की इमारतें, कोयले के गोदाम, लकड़ी और कबाड़ लोहे के ढेर थे। फुटपाथों पर अश्वेत लोग खड़े थे—असाधारण रूप से काले—सीधे सामने देखते हुए। उनकी बड़ी-बड़ी आँखों में गहरी उदासी और निराशा भरी हुई थी। कभी-कभी टैक्सी किसी शराबखाने के पास से गुजरती। वहाँ बार पर बैठे लोग कुछ अलौकिक-से लगते थे, मानो वे किसी पिछले जन्म के पापों की सज़ा यहाँ भुगत रहे हों।

Just when Solomon Margolin was beginning to suspect that the driver, who had remained stubbornly silent the whole time, had gotten lost or else was deliberately taking him out of his way, the taxi entered a thickly populated neighbourhood. They passed a synagogue, a funeral parlour, and there, ahead, was the wedding hall, all lit up, with its neon Jewish sign and Star of David. Dr Margolin gave the driver a dollar tip and the man took it without uttering a word.
Hindi Translationजब सोलोमन मारगोलिन को यह शक होने लगा कि ड्राइवर, जो पूरे रास्ते कसम खाकर चुप बैठा था, रास्ता भटक गया है या जान-बूझकर उन्हें घुमा रहा है, तभी टैक्सी एक घनी आबादी वाले इलाके में पहुँच गई। वे एक आराधनालय, एक शवगृह के पास से गुज़रे और फिर सामने रोशनी से जगमगाता विवाह-भवन दिखाई दिया। उस पर यहूदी शैली का नीयॉन साइन और स्टार ऑफ डेविड बना हुआ था। डॉ. मारगोलिन ने ड्राइवर को एक डॉलर इनाम में दिया और उसने बिना एक शब्द बोले उसे ले लिया।

Dr Margolin entered the outer lobby and immediately the comfortable intimacy of the Senciminers engulfed him. AII the faces he saw were familiar, though he didn’t recognise individuals. Leaving his hat and coat at the checkroom, he put on a skullcap and entered the hall. It was filled with people and music, with tables heaped with food, a bar stacked with bottles. The musicians were playing an Israeli march that was a hodge-podge of American jazz with Oriental flourishes. Men were dancing with men, women with women, men with women. He saw black skullcaps, white skullcaps, bare heads. Guests kept arriving, pushing their way through the crowd, some still in their hats and coats, munching hors d’oeuvres, drinking schnapps.
Hindi Translationडॉ. मारगोलिन बाहरी लॉबी में दाखिल हुए और तुरंत ही सेंचिमिनरों की आत्मीयता ने उन्हें घेर लिया। वे जितने भी चेहरे देख रहे थे, सब परिचित लग रहे थे, हालाँकि वे किसी व्यक्ति को ठीक से पहचान नहीं पा रहे थे। उन्होंने चेक-रूम (सामान घर) में अपनी टोपी और कोट उतारा, सिर पर एक छोटी टोपी पहन ली और हॉल में प्रवेश किया। हॉल लोगों और संगीत से भरा हुआ था। मेज़ों पर तरह-तरह का भोजन सजा था और बार पर शराब की बोतलें लगी थीं। संगीतकार एक इज़राइली मार्च बजा रहे थे, जिसमें अमेरिकी जैज़ और पूर्वी धुनों का अजीब मिश्रण था। पुरुष पुरुषों के साथ नाच रहे थे, महिलाएँ महिलाओं के साथ, और पुरुष महिलाओं के साथ। कहीं काली टोपियाँ थीं, कहीं सफेद, और कहीं नंगे सिर। मेहमान लगातार आते जा रहे थे, भीड़ में रास्ता बनाते हुए। कुछ लोग अभी भी टोपी और कोट पहने हुए थे, साथ-साथ हल्के स्टार्टर्स खाते और शराब पीते जा रहे थे।

The hall resounded with stamping, screaming, laughing, clapping. Flash bulbs went off blindingly as the photographers made their rounds. Seeming to come from nowhere, the bride appeared, briskly sweeping up her train, followed by a retinue of bridesmaids. Dr Margolin knew everybody, and yet knew nobody. People spoke to him, laughed, winked, and waved, and he answered each one with a smile, a nod, a bow. Gradually he threw off all his worries, all his depression. He became half-drunk on the amalgam of odours: flowers, sauerkraut, garlic, perfume, mustard, and that nameless odour that only Senciminers emit. ‘Hello, Doctor!’ ‘Hello Schloime-Dovid, you don’t recognise me, eh? Look, he forgot!’ There were the encounters, the regrets, the reminiscences of long ago.
Hindi Translationपूरा हॉल पैरों की थाप, चीखों, हँसी और तालियों की आवाज़ों से गूँज रहा था। फोटोग्राफर इधर-उधर घूमते हुए कैमरों की तेज़ चमक छोड़ रहे थे। ऐसा लगा मानो अचानक कहीं से दुल्हन प्रकट हो गई हो। वह तेज़ी से अपना लंबा घेरदार लिबास सँभालती हुई चल रही थी और उसके पीछे दुल्हन की सहेलियाँ थीं। डॉ. मारगोलिन सबको जानते थे, फिर भी किसी को सचमुच नहीं जानते थे। लोग उनसे बातें कर रहे थे, हँस रहे थे, आँख मार रहे थे और हाथ हिला रहे थे। वे हर किसी को मुस्कान, सिर हिलाकर या झुककर उत्तर दे रहे थे। धीरे-धीरे उनकी सारी चिंताएँ और उदासी दूर होने लगीं। वे तरह-तरह की गंधों के मिश्रण से मानो आधे नशे में हो गए—फूलों, खट्टी गोभी, लहसुन, इत्र, सरसों और उस अनजानी गंध से, जो केवल सेंचिमिनरों से आती थी। “हैलो, डॉक्टर!” “हैलो, श्लोइमे-डोविड, तुमने मुझे पहचाना नहीं? देखो, यह तो भूल ही गया!” पुरानी मुलाकातें, पछतावे और बीते दिनों की यादें फिर से जीवित हो उठीं।

‘But after all, weren’t we neighbours? You used to come to our house to borrow the Yiddish newspaper!’ Someone had already kissed him: a badly shaven snout, a mouth reeking of whiskey and rotten teeth. One woman was so convulsed with laughter that she lost an earring. Margolin tried to pick it up, but it had already been trampled underfoot. ‘You don’t recognise me, eh? Take a good look! It’s Zissel, the son of Chaye Beyle!’ ‘Why don’t you eat something?’ ‘Why don’t you have something to drink? Come over here. Take a glass. What do you want? Whiskey? Brandy? Cognac? Scotch? With soda? With Coca Cola? Take some, it’s good.
Hindi Translation“अरे, आखिर हम पड़ोसी थे ना? तुम हमारे घर यिडिश अख़बार उधार लेने आया करते थे!” किसी ने तो उन्हें चूम भी लिया था: बुरी तरह से बनी दाढ़ी वाला चेहरा, व्हिस्की और सड़े दाँतों की बदबू से भरा मुँह। एक औरत इतनी ज़ोर से हँसी कि उसका कान का झुमका गिर गया। मारगोलिन उसे उठाने की कोशिश करने लगे, लेकिन तब तक वह लोगों के पैरों तले कुचला जा चुका था। “तुमने मुझे पहचाना नहीं, है ना? ज़रा ध्यान से देखो! मैं ज़िस्सेल हूँ, खाये बेयले का बेटा!” “कुछ खाते क्यों नहीं?” “कुछ पीते क्यों नहीं? इधर आओ। एक गिलास लो। क्या लोगे? व्हिस्की? ब्रैंडी? कॉन्यैक? स्कॉच? सोडा के साथ? या कोका-कोला के साथ? लो ना, अच्छी है।

Don’t let it stand. So long as you’re here, you might as well enjoy yourself.’ ‘My father? He was killed. They were all killed. I’m the only one left of the entire family.’ ‘Berish the son of Feivish? Starved to death in Russia—they sent him to Kazakhstan. His wife? In Israel. She married a Lithuanian.’ ‘Sorele? Shot. Together with her children.’ ‘Yentl? Here at the wedding. She was standing here just a moment ago. There she is, dancing with that tall fellow.’ ‘Abraham Zilberstein? They burned him in the synagogue with twenty others. A mound of charcoal was all that was left, coal and ash.’ ‘Yosele Budnik? He passed away years ago. You must mean Yekele Budnik. He has a delicatessen store right here in Brownsville—married a widow whose husband made a fortune in real estate.’
Hindi Translationइसे ऐसे ही मत छोड़ो। जब यहाँ आए हो, तो थोड़ा आनंद भी उठा लो।” “मेरे पिता? उन्हें मार दिया गया। सबको मार दिया गया। पूरे परिवार में सिर्फ मैं ही बचा हूँ।” “फेइविश का बेटा बेरिश? रूस में भूख से मर गया—उसे कज़ाख़स्तान भेज दिया गया था। उसकी पत्नी? इज़राइल में है। उसने एक लिथुआनियाई आदमी से शादी कर ली।” “सोरेले? उसे उसके बच्चों के साथ गोली मार दी गई।” “येंटल? यहीं शादी में है। अभी कुछ देर पहले यहीं खड़ी थी। वहाँ देखो, उस लंबे आदमी के साथ नाच रही है।” “अब्राहम ज़िल्बरस्टीन? उसे बीस और लोगों के साथ आराधनालय में जला दिया गया। बस कोयले और राख का ढेर बचा था।” “योसेले बुडनिक? वह तो कई साल पहले मर गया। शायद तुम येकेले बुडनिक की बात कर रहे हो। उसकी यहीं ब्राउनस्विल में एक डेलिकेटेसन (तैयार गोश्त और पकवानों की) की दुकान है—उसने एक विधवा से शादी की, जिसके पति ने रियल एस्टेट में बहुत धन कमाया था।”

‘Lechayim, Doctor! Lechayim, Schloime-Dovid! It doesn’t offend you that I call you Schloime-Dovid? To me you’re still the same Schloime-Dovid, the little boy with the blond side-curls who recited a whole tractate of the Talmud by heart. You remember, don’t you? It seems like only yesterday. Your father, may he rest in peace, was beaming with pride…’ ‘Your brother Chayim? Your Uncle Oyzer? They killed everyone, everyone. They took a whole people and wiped them out with German efficiency: gleichgeschaltet!’ ‘Have you seen the bride yet? Pretty as a picture, but too much make-up.
Hindi Translation“लेखायिम, डॉक्टर! लेखायिम, श्लोइमे-डोविड! तुम्हें बुरा तो नहीं लगता कि मैं तुम्हें श्लोइमे-डोविड कहता हूँ? मेरे लिए तुम अब भी वही छोटे-से श्लोइमे-डोविड हो, जिसके सुनहरे घुँघराले बाल थे और जो तालमुद का पूरा अध्याय मुँहज़बानी सुना देता था। तुम्हें याद है ना? ऐसा लगता है जैसे कल की ही बात हो। तुम्हारे पिता—भगवान उनकी आत्मा को शांति दे—गर्व से चमक उठते थे…” “तुम्हारा भाई खायिम? तुम्हारे चाचा ओयज़र? सबको मार डाला गया, सबको। उन्होंने पूरी एक जाति को जर्मन कुशलता के साथ मिटा दिया—‘ग्लाइख़गेशाल्टेट (पूरी तरह तबाह)!’” “क्या तुमने दुल्हन को देखा? तस्वीर जैसी सुंदर है, लेकिन बहुत ज़्यादा श्रृंगार किया है।

Imagine, a grandchild of Reb Todros of Radzin! And her grandfather used to wear two skullcaps, one in front and one in back. ‘Do you see that young woman dancing in the yellow dress? It’s Riva’s sister—their father was Moishe the candlemaker. Riva herself? Where all the others ended up: Auschwitz. How close we came ourselves! All of us are really dead, if you want to call it that. We were exterminated, wiped out. Even the survivors carry death in the hearts. But it’s a wedding, we should be cheerful.’ ‘Lechayim, Schloime-Dovid! I would like to congratulate you. Have you a son or daughter to marry off? No? Well, it’s better that way. What’s the sense of having children if people are such murderers?’
Hindi Translationसोचो, वह रैब टोड्रोस ऑफ रैडज़िन की पोती है! और उसके दादा दो टोपियाँ पहनते थे—एक आगे और एक पीछे।” “क्या तुम उस पीले कपड़े में नाचती हुई लड़की को देख रहे हो? वह रीवा की बहन है—उनके पिता मोइशे मोमबत्ती बनाने वाले थे। और रीवा खुद? वहीं पहुँची जहाँ बाकी सब पहुँचे— नाज़ी यातना शिविर। हम खुद भी कितने करीब पहुँच गए थे! अगर सच कहो, तो हम सब वास्तव में मर चुके हैं। हमें खत्म कर दिया गया, मिटा दिया गया। जो बच गए हैं, वे भी अपने दिलों में मौत लेकर घूम रहे हैं। लेकिन यह शादी है, हमें खुश रहना चाहिए।” “लेखायिम, श्लोइमे-डोविड! मैं तुम्हें बधाई देना चाहता हूँ। क्या तुम्हारा कोई बेटा या बेटी है जिसकी शादी करनी हो? नहीं? तो शायद यही अच्छा है। जब लोग इतने बड़े हत्यारे हों, तो बच्चों का क्या मतलब?”

It was already time for the ceremony, but someone still had not come. Whether it was the rabbi, the cantor, or one of the in-laws who was missing, nobody seemed able to find out. Abraham Mekheles, the bride’s father, rushed around, scowled, waved his hand, whispered in people’s ears. He looked strange in his rented tuxedo. The Tereshpol mother-in-law was wrangling with one of the photographers. The musicians never stopped playing for an instant. The drum banged, the bass fiddle growled, the saxophone blared. The dances became faster, more abandoned, and more and more people were drawn in. The young men stamped with such force that it seemed the dance floor would break under them.
Hindi Translationअब तक विवाह की रस्म शुरू हो जानी चाहिए थी, लेकिन अभी भी कोई व्यक्ति नहीं पहुँचा था। वह रब्बी था, गायक था या दूल्हा-दुल्हन के रिश्तेदारों में से कोई—यह कोई ठीक से नहीं जान पा रहा था। दुल्हन के पिता अब्राहम मेखेलेस इधर-उधर भाग रहे थे, भौंहें सिकोड़ रहे थे, हाथ हिला रहे थे और लोगों के कानों में फुसफुसा रहे थे। किराए के टक्सीडो में वे अजीब लग रहे थे। तेरेशपोल वाली सास फोटोग्राफरों में से एक से बहस कर रही थी। संगीतकार एक पल के लिए भी बजाना बंद नहीं कर रहे थे। ढोल धमक रहा था, बड़ा वायलिन गरज रहा था और सैक्सोफोन तीखी आवाज़ में बज रहा था। नृत्य और भी तेज़ तथा उन्मुक्त होते जा रहे थे और अधिक से अधिक लोग उनमें शामिल होते जा रहे थे। युवा पुरुष इतने ज़ोर से पैर पटक रहे थे कि लगता था नृत्य-मंच टूट जाएगा।

Small boys romped around like goats, and little girls whirled about wildly together. Many of the men were already drunk. They shouted boasts, howled with laughter, kissed strange women. There was so much commotion that Solomon Margolin could no longer grasp what was being said to him and simply nodded yes to everything. Some of the guests had attached themselves to him, wouldn’t move, and kept pulling him in all directions, introducing him to more and more people from Sencimin and Tereshpol. A matron with a nose covered with warts pointed a finger at him, wiped her eyes, called him Schloimele. Solomon Margolin inquired who she was and somebody told him. Names were swallowed up in the tumult. He heard the same words over and over again: died, shot, burned.
Hindi Translationछोटे लड़के बकरियों की तरह उछल-कूद कर रहे थे और छोटी लड़कियाँ पागलों की तरह घूम-घूमकर नाच रही थीं। कई पुरुष पहले ही नशे में थे। वे ऊँची-ऊँची डींगें मार रहे थे, ज़ोर-ज़ोर से हँस रहे थे और अनजान स्त्रियों को चूम रहे थे। इतना शोर और हलचल थी कि सोलोमन मारगोलिन अब यह भी ठीक से नहीं समझ पा रहे थे कि लोग उनसे क्या कह रहे हैं। वे बस हर बात पर सिर हिलाकर “हाँ” कर देते थे। कुछ मेहमान उनसे चिपक गए थे। वे उनका पीछा छोड़ने को तैयार नहीं थे और उन्हें हर दिशा में खींचते हुए सेंचिमिन और तेरेशपोल के नए-नए लोगों से मिलवा रहे थे। एक मोटी औरत, जिसकी नाक मस्सों से भरी थी, उनकी ओर उँगली दिखाते हुए रो पड़ी और उन्हें “श्लोइमेले” कहकर पुकारने लगी। सोलोमन मारगोलिन ने पूछा कि वह कौन है, और किसी ने उन्हें उसका नाम बताया। लेकिन शोर-शराबे में नाम दबकर खो जाते थे। उनके कानों में बार-बार वही शब्द गूँज रहे थे—“मर गया”, “गोली मार दी गई”, “जला दिया गया।”

A man from Tereshpol tried to draw him aside and was shouted down by several Senciminers calling him an intruder who had no business there. A latecomer arrived, a horse and buggy driver from Sencimin who had become a millionaire in New York. His wife and children had perished, but, already, he had a new wife. The woman, weighted with diamonds, paraded about in a low-cut gown that bared a back, covered with blotches, to the waist. Her voice was husky. ‘Where did she come from? Who was she?’ ‘Certainly no saint.
Hindi Translationतेरेशपोल का एक आदमी उन्हें अलग ले जाने की कोशिश कर रहा था, लेकिन कई सेंचिमिनरों ने उसे डाँटते हुए चिल्लाकर कहा कि वह बाहरी व्यक्ति है और उसे वहाँ दखल देने का कोई अधिकार नहीं। तभी एक देर से आने वाला मेहमान पहुँचा—सेंचिमिन का एक घोड़ा-गाड़ी चलाने वाला, जो न्यूयॉर्क में आकर करोड़पति बन गया था। उसकी पत्नी और बच्चे मारे जा चुके थे, लेकिन अब उसने एक नई शादी कर ली थी। वह औरत हीरों से लदी हुई थी। उसने गहरे गले वाला ऐसा वस्त्र पहन रखा था, जिसकी पीठ कमर तक खुली थी और उस पर धब्बे दिखाई दे रहे थे। उसकी आवाज़ भारी और कर्कश थी। “यह कहाँ से आई? कौन थी यह?” “कोई संत-महिला तो बिल्कुल नहीं।

Her first husband was a swindler who amassed a fortune and then dropped dead. Of what? Cancer. Where? In the stomach. First you don’t have anything to eat, then you don’t have anything to eat with. A man is always working for the second husband.’ ‘What is life anyway? A dance on the grave.’ ‘Yes, but as long as you’re playing the game, you have to abide by the rules.’ ‘Dr Margolin, why aren’t you dancing? You’re not among strangers. We’re all from the same dust. Over there you weren’t a doctor. You were only Schloime-Dovid, the son of the Talmud teacher. Before you know it, we’ll all be lying side by side.’
Hindi Translationउसका पहला पति ठग था। उसने बहुत धन कमाया और फिर अचानक मर गया।” “किससे?” “कैंसर से।” “कहाँ?” “पेट में। पहले खाने को कुछ नहीं होता, फिर खाने के लिए पेट ही नहीं बचता। आदमी हमेशा दूसरे पति के लिए मेहनत करता रहता है।” “आखिर जीवन है ही क्या? कब्र पर किया जाने वाला एक नृत्य।” “हाँ, लेकिन जब तक तुम यह खेल खेल रहे हो, तुम्हें इसके नियम मानने पड़ेंगे।” “डॉ. मारगोलिन, आप नाच क्यों नहीं रहे? आप अजनबियों के बीच नहीं हैं। हम सब एक ही मिट्टी से बने हैं। वहाँ, अपने पुराने देश में, आप डॉक्टर नहीं थे। आप केवल तालमुद पढ़ाने वाले शिक्षक के बेटे श्लोइमे-डोविड थे। देखते-देखते हम सब एक-दूसरे के बगल में कब्रों में पड़े होंगे।”

Margolin didn’t recall drinking anything but he felt intoxicated all the same. The foggy hall was spinning like a carousel; the floor was rocking. Standing in a corner, he contemplated the dance. What different expressions the dancers wore. How many combinations and permutations of being the Creator had brought together here. Every face told its own story. They were dancing together, these people, but each one had his own philosophy, his own approach. A man grabbed Margolin and for a while he danced in the frantic whirl. Then, tearing himself loose, he stood apart. Who was that woman? He found his eye caught by her familiar form. He knew her!
Hindi Translationमारगोलिन को याद नहीं था कि उन्होंने कुछ पिया भी था या नहीं, फिर भी वे स्वयं को नशे में महसूस कर रहे थे। धुंध से भरा वह हॉल मानो झूले की तरह घूम रहा था और फर्श डगमगा रहा था। एक कोने में खड़े होकर वे नृत्य देख रहे थे। नाचने वालों के चेहरों पर कितने अलग-अलग भाव थे! सृष्टिकर्ता ने कितने प्रकार के स्वभाव और व्यक्तित्वों को यहाँ एक साथ ला खड़ा किया था। हर चेहरा अपनी अलग कहानी कह रहा था। ये लोग साथ नाच रहे थे, लेकिन हर व्यक्ति की अपनी सोच, अपना जीवन-दर्शन और अपना अलग तरीका था। एक आदमी ने मारगोलिन को पकड़ लिया और कुछ देर तक वे भी उस उन्मत्त घूमते नृत्य में शामिल रहे। फिर स्वयं को छुड़ाकर वे अलग खड़े हो गए। वह औरत कौन थी? उनकी नज़र उसके परिचित-से रूप पर टिक गई। वे उसे जानते थे!

She beckoned to him. He stood baffled. She looked neither young nor old. Where had he known her—that narrow face, those dark eyes, that girlish smile? Her hair was arranged in the old manner, with long braids wound like a wreath around her head. The grace of Sencimin adorned her—something he, Margolin, had long since forgotten. And those eyes, he was in love with those eyes and had been all his life. He half smiled at her and the woman smiled back. There were dimples in her cheeks. She too appeared surprised. Margolin, though he realised he had begun to blush like a boy, went up to her.
Hindi Translationउसने उन्हें इशारे से बुलाया। वे उलझन में खड़े रह गए। वह न तो जवान लग रही थी और न बूढ़ी। उन्होंने उसे कहाँ देखा था—वह पतला चेहरा, वे काली आँखें, वह किशोरी जैसी मुस्कान? उसके बाल पुराने ढंग से बने हुए थे—लंबी चोटियाँ सिर के चारों ओर मुकुट की तरह लिपटी हुई थीं। उसमें सेंचिमिन की वही सहज सुंदरता थी—कुछ ऐसा, जिसे मारगोलिन बहुत पहले भूल चुके थे। और वे आँखें! वे जीवन भर उन्हीं आँखों से प्रेम करते रहे थे। उन्होंने हल्की मुस्कान के साथ उसकी ओर देखा और वह भी मुस्कुरा दी। उसके गालों में गड्ढे पड़ गए। वह भी उतनी ही आश्चर्यचकित लग रही थी। मारगोलिन, यह महसूस करते हुए कि वे किसी लड़के की तरह लाल पड़ गए हैं, उसकी ओर बढ़ गए।

‘I know you—but you’re not from Sencimin?’
‘Yes, from Sencimin.’
He had heard that voice long ago. He had been in love with that voice.
‘From Sencimin—who are you, then?’
Her lips trembled.
Hindi Translation“मैं तुम्हें जानता हूँ—लेकिन तुम सेंचिमिन की नहीं हो?”
“हाँ, सेंचिमिन की ही हूँ।”
उसने वह आवाज़ बहुत पहले सुनी थी। वह उसी आवाज़ से प्रेम करता था।
“सेंचिमिन से—तो फिर तुम कौन हो?”
उसके होंठ काँप उठे।

‘You’ve forgotten me already?’
‘It’s a long time since I left Sencimin.’
‘You used to visit my father.’
‘Who was your father?’
‘Melekh the watchmaker.’
Hindi Translation“क्या तुम मुझे पूरी तरह भूल चुके हो?”
“मुझे सेंचिमिन छोड़े बहुत समय हो गया है।”
“तुम मेरे पिता के यहाँ आया करते थे।”
“तुम्हारे पिता कौन थे?”
“मेलेख घड़ीसाज़।”

Dr Margolin shivered.
‘If I’m not out of my mind then I’m seeing things.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because Raizel is dead.’
Hindi Translationडॉ. मारगोलिन काँप उठे।
“अगर मैं पागल नहीं हो गया हूँ, तो फिर मैं कोई भ्रम देख रहा हूँ।”
“तुम ऐसा क्यों कह रहे हो?”
“क्योंकि रैज़ेल मर चुकी है।”

‘I’m Raizel.’
‘You’re Raizel? Here? Oh my God, if that’s true—then anything is possible! When did you come to New York?’
‘Some time ago.’
‘From where?’
‘From over there.’
‘But everyone told me that you were all dead.’
Hindi Translation“मैं ही रैज़ेल हूँ।”
“तुम रैज़ेल हो? यहाँ? हे भगवान, अगर यह सच है—तो फिर कुछ भी संभव है! तुम न्यूयॉर्क कब आई?”
“कुछ समय पहले।”
“कहाँ से?”
“वहीं से… उस पार से।”
“लेकिन सबने तो मुझे बताया था कि तुम सब मर चुके हो।”

‘My father, my mother, my brother Hershl…’
‘But you were married!’
‘I was.’
‘If that’s true, then anything is possible!’ repeated Dr Margolin, still shaken by the incredible happening. Someone must have purposely deceived him. But why? He was aware there was a mistake somewhere but could not determine where.
Hindi Translation“मेरे पिता, मेरी माँ, मेरा भाई हर्श्ल…”
“लेकिन तुम्हारी तो शादी हो चुकी थी!”
“हाँ, हुई थी।”
“अगर यह सच है, तो फिर कुछ भी संभव है!” डॉ. मारगोलिन ने दोहराया। वे अब भी इस अविश्वसनीय घटना से काँप रहे थे। ज़रूर किसी ने जान-बूझकर उन्हें धोखा दिया था। लेकिन क्यों? उन्हें महसूस हो रहा था कि कहीं न कहीं कोई गलती है, पर वे समझ नहीं पा रहे थे कि कहाँ।

‘Why didn’t you let me know? After all…’ He fell silent. She too was silent for a moment. ‘I lost everything. But I still had some pride left.’
‘Come with me somewhere quieter—anywhere. This is the happiest day of my life!’
‘But it’s night…’
‘Then the happiest night! Almost—as if the Messiah had come, as if the dead had come to life!’
‘Where do you want to go? All right, let’s go.’
Hindi Translation“तुमने मुझे खबर क्यों नहीं दी? आखिर…” वे चुप हो गए। कुछ पल तक वह भी चुप रही। “मैंने सब कुछ खो दिया था। लेकिन मेरे भीतर थोड़ा-सा स्वाभिमान अभी भी बचा था।”
“मेरे साथ कहीं शांत जगह चलो—कहीं भी। यह मेरे जीवन का सबसे खुशी भरा दिन है!”
“लेकिन अभी तो रात है…”
“तो फिर सबसे खुशी भरी रात! ऐसा लग रहा है जैसे मसीहा आ गया हो, जैसे मृत लोग फिर से जीवित हो उठे हों!”
“तुम कहाँ जाना चाहते हो? अच्छा, चलो।”

Margolin took her arm and felt at once the thrill, long forgotten, of youthful desire. He steered her away from the other guests, afraid that he might lose her in the crowd, or that someone would break in and spoil his happiness. Everything had returned on the instant: the embarrassment, the agitation, the joy. He wanted to take her away, to hide somewhere alone with her.
Hindi Translationमारगोलिन ने उसका हाथ पकड़ लिया और उसी क्षण उन्हें युवावस्था की भूली हुई इच्छा का रोमांच महसूस हुआ। वे उसे भीड़ से दूर ले गए, डरते हुए कि कहीं वह खो न जाए या कोई आकर उनकी खुशी को बिगाड़ न दे। सब कुछ अचानक लौट आया था—घबराहट, उत्तेजना और आनंद। वे उसे कहीं ले जाकर अकेले में छिपाना चाहते थे।

Leaving the reception hall, they went upstairs to the chapel where the wedding ceremony was to take place. The door was standing open. Inside, on a raised platform stood the permanent wedding canopy. A bottle of wine and a silver goblet were placed in readiness for the ceremony. The chapel with its empty pews and only one glimmering light was full of shadows. The music, so blaring below, sounded soft and distant up here. Both of them hesitated at the threshold.
Hindi Translationरिसेप्शन हॉल से बाहर निकलकर वे ऊपर उस चैपल में गए जहाँ विवाह की रस्म होनी थी। दरवाज़ा खुला हुआ था। अंदर एक ऊँचे मंच पर स्थायी विवाह मंडप सजा हुआ था। रस्म के लिए एक बोतल शराब और चाँदी का प्याला रखे थे। चैपल खाली बेंचों और केवल एक टिमटिमाती रोशनी के साथ छायाओं से भरा हुआ था। नीचे जो संगीत तेज़ और शोरभरा था, यहाँ ऊपर आकर बहुत हल्का और दूर का लग रहा था। दोनों दरवाज़े की चौखट पर हिचकिचाकर रुक गए।

Margolin pointed to the wedding canopy.
‘We could have stood there.’
‘Yes.’
‘Tell me about yourself. Where are you now? What are you doing?’
‘It is not easy to tell.’
Hindi Translationमारगोलिन ने विवाह मंडप की ओर इशारा किया।
“हम वहीं खड़े हो सकते थे।”
“हाँ।”
“अपने बारे में बताओ। अब तुम कहाँ हो? क्या कर रही हो?”
“यह बताना आसान नहीं है।”

‘Are you alone? Are you attached?’
‘Attached? No.’
‘Would you never have let me hear from you?’ he asked. She didn’t answer.
Gazing at her, he knew his love had returned with full force. Already, he was trembling at the thought that they might soon have to part. The excitement and expectancy of youth filled him. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her, but at any moment someone might come in.
Hindi Translation“क्या तुम अकेली हो? क्या तुम किसी के साथ रिश्ते में हो (या विवाहित हो)?’
‘रिश्ते में? नहीं।’
‘क्या तुम मुझे कभी अपने बारे में कुछ जानने नहीं देतीं? उन्होंने पूछा। उसने कोई उत्तर नहीं दिया।
उसे देखते हुए मारगोलिन को महसूस हुआ कि उसका प्रेम पूरी तीव्रता से लौट आया है। वे पहले ही इस डर से काँप रहे थे कि कहीं उन्हें जल्दी ही अलग न होना पड़े। युवावस्था की उत्तेजना और प्रतीक्षा फिर से उनके भीतर भर गई थी। वे उसे बाँहों में लेना और चूमना चाहते थे, लेकिन किसी भी क्षण कोई आ सकता था।

He stood beside her, ashamed that he had married someone else, that he had not personally confirmed the reports of her death. ‘How could I have suppressed all this love? How could I have accepted the world without her? And what will happen now with Gretl?—I’ll give her everything, my last cent.’ He looked round toward the stairway to see if any of the guests had started to come up. The thought came to him that by Jewish law he was not married, for he and Gretl had had only a civil ceremony. He looked at Raizel.
Hindi Translationवे उसके पास खड़े थे, इस बात से शर्मिंदा कि उन्होंने किसी और से विवाह कर लिया था और उन्होंने उसकी मृत्यु की खबरों की स्वयं पुष्टि नहीं की थी। “मैंने इस प्रेम को कैसे दबा दिया? मैंने उसके बिना दुनिया को कैसे स्वीकार कर लिया? और अब ग्रेटल का क्या होगा?—मैं उसे सब कुछ दे दूँगा, अपनी आख़िरी कौड़ी तक।” वे ऊपर सीढ़ियों की ओर देखने लगे कि कहीं मेहमान ऊपर तो नहीं आ रहे। उनके मन में यह विचार आया कि यहूदी कानून के अनुसार उनका विवाह मान्य नहीं है, क्योंकि उनका और ग्रेटल का विवाह केवल सिविल समारोह था। उन्होंने रैज़ेल की ओर देखा।

‘According to Jewish law, I’m a single man.’
‘Is that so?’
‘According to Jewish law, I could lead you up there and marry you.’
She seemed to be considering the import of his words.
‘Yes, I realise…’
Hindi Translation“यहूदी कानून के अनुसार, मैं एक अविवाहित पुरुष हूँ।”
“क्या सच में?”
“यहूदी कानून के अनुसार मैं तुम्हें वहाँ ऊपर ले जाकर तुमसे विवाह कर सकता हूँ।”
ऐसा लगा जैसे वह उनकी कही बात के मायने पर विचार कर रही हो।
“हाँ, मैं समझती हूँ…”

‘According to Jewish law, I don’t even need a ring. One can get married with a penny.’
‘Do you have a penny?’
He put his hand to his breast pocket, but his wallet was gone. He started searching in his other pockets. Have I been robbed? he wondered. But how? I was sitting in the taxi the whole time. Could someone have robbed me here at the wedding? He was not so much disturbed as surprised. He said falteringly:
‘Strange, but I don’t have any money.’
Hindi Translation“यहूदी कानून के अनुसार मुझे अंगूठी की भी ज़रूरत नहीं है। एक पैसे से भी शादी हो सकती है।”
“क्या तुम्हारे पास एक पैसा है?”
उसने हाथ अपनी कोट की जेब की ओर बढ़ाया, लेकिन उसका बटुआ गायब था। वह दूसरी जेबों में तलाशने लगा। क्या मुझे लूट लिया गया है? उसने सोचा। लेकिन कैसे? मैं तो पूरी यात्रा टैक्सी में ही था। क्या शादी में किसी ने मेरा सामान चुरा लिया? वह उतना परेशान नहीं था जितना आश्चर्यचकित था। वह हकलाते हुए बोला—
“अजीब है… मेरे पास पैसे नहीं हैं।”

‘We’ll get along without it.’
‘But how am I going to get home?’
‘Why go home?’ she said, countering with a question. She smiled with that homely smile of hers that was so full of mystery. He took her by the wrist and gazed at her. Suddenly it occurred to him that this could not be his Raizel. She was too young. Probably it was her daughter who was playing along with him, mocking him.
Hindi Translation“‘हम इसके बिना भी काम चला लेंगे।’
“लेकिन मैं घर कैसे जाऊँगा?”
“घर क्यों जाना है?” उसने सवाल के रूप में जवाब दिया। वह अपनी उसी सादगी भरी मुस्कान के साथ मुस्कुराई जो रहस्यों से भरी हुई थी। मारगोलिन ने उसका कलाई पकड़कर उसे देखा। अचानक उसके मन में आया कि यह उसकी रैज़ेल नहीं हो सकती। वह बहुत युवा लग रही थी। शायद यह उसकी बेटी है, जो उसके साथ खेल रही है, उसका मज़ाक उड़ा रही है।

For God’s sake, I’m completely confused! he thought. He stood bewildered, trying to untangle the years. He couldn’t tell her age from her features. Her eyes were deep, dark, and melancholy. She also appeared confused, as if she, too, sensed some discrepancy. The whole thing is a mistake, Margolin told himself. But where exactly was the mistake? And what had happened to the wallet? Could he have left it in the taxi after paying the driver? He tried to remember how much cash he had had in it, but was unable to. ‘I must have had too much to drink. These people have made me drunk—dead drunk!’ For a long time he stood silent, lost in some dreamless state, more profound than a narcotic trance.
Hindi Translation“हे भगवान, मैं पूरी तरह उलझ गया हूँ!” उसने सोचा। वह हतप्रभ खड़ा रहा, वर्षों को एक साथ जोड़ने की कोशिश करता हुआ। उसके चेहरे से उसकी उम्र का अनुमान लगाना कठिन हो गया था। उसकी आँखें गहरी, काली और उदास थीं। वह स्वयं भी उलझी हुई-सी लग रही थी, जैसे उसे भी किसी गड़बड़ी का एहसास हो रहा हो। “यह सब एक गलती है,” मारगोलिन ने अपने आप से कहा। लेकिन गलती कहाँ थी? और बटुआ कहाँ गया? क्या उसने टैक्सी में ही भुगतान करते समय उसे छोड़ दिया था? उसने याद करने की कोशिश की कि उसके पास कितना नकद था, लेकिन वह याद नहीं कर पाया। “शायद मैंने ज़्यादा पी ली है। इन लोगों ने मुझे नशे में कर दिया है—पूरी तरह बेहोश!” वह बहुत देर तक चुप खड़ा रहा, किसी स्वप्नहीन अवस्था में खोया हुआ—एक गहरे नशीले प्रभाव से भी अधिक गहन अवस्था में।

Suddenly he remembered the traffic collision he had witnessed on Eastern Parkway. An eerie suspicion came over him: perhaps he had been more than a witness? Perhaps he himself had been the victim of that accident! That man on the stretcher looked strangely familiar. Dr Margolin began to examine himself as though he were one of his own patients. He could find no trace of pulse or breathing. And he felt oddly deflated as if some physical dimension were missing. The sensation of weight, the muscular tension of his limbs, the hidden aches in his bones, all seemed to be gone. It can’t be, it can’t be, he murmured. Can one die without knowing it? And what will Gretl do?
Hindi Translationअचानक उसे ‘ईस्टर्न पार्कवे’ पर हुए उस सड़क हादसे की याद आई जो उसने देखा था। उसके मन में एक अजीब-सा संदेह उठा—शायद वह केवल दर्शक नहीं था? शायद वह खुद उस दुर्घटना का शिकार था! उस स्ट्रेचर पर पड़ा हुआ आदमी उसे अजीब तरह से जाना-पहचाना लगा था। डॉ. मारगोलिन ने स्वयं की जाँच ऐसे शुरू की जैसे वह अपना ही मरीज हो। उसे न तो नाड़ी का कोई संकेत मिला और न ही साँस का। उसे अजीब-सी हल्कापन महसूस हुआ, जैसे उसके शरीर का कोई आयाम गायब हो गया हो। वजन, मांसपेशियों का तनाव, हड्डियों की छिपी पीड़ाएँ—सब समाप्त-से लग रहे थे। “यह नहीं हो सकता… यह नहीं हो सकता,” वह बुदबुदाया। “क्या कोई बिना जाने मर सकता है?” और फिर उसके मन में आया—“ग्रेटल का क्या होगा?”

He blurted out:
‘You’re not the same Raizel.’
‘No? Then who am I?’
‘They shot Raizel.’
‘Shot her? Who told you that?’
She seemed both frightened and perplexed. Silently she lowered her head like someone receiving the shock of bad news.
Hindi Translationवे अचानक बोल पड़े:
“तुम वही रैज़ेल नहीं हो।”
“नहीं? तो फिर मैं कौन हूँ?”
“रैज़ेल को गोली मार दी गई थी।”
“गोली मार दी गई? यह किसने बताया तुम्हें?”
वह डरी हुई और उलझी हुई-सी लग रही थी। उसने धीरे-धीरे सिर झुका लिया, जैसे कोई बुरी खबर सुनकर टूट गया हो।

Dr Margolin continued to ponder. Apparently Raizel didn’t realise her own condition. He had heard of such a state—what was it called? Hovering in the World of Twilight. The Astral Body wandering in semi-consciousness, detached from the flesh, without being able to reach its destination, clinging to the illusions and vanities of the past. But could there be any truth to all this superstition? No, as far as he was concerned, it was nothing but wishful thinking. Besides, this kind of survival would be less than oblivion. ‘I am most probably in a drunken stupor,’ Dr Margolin decided. ‘All this may be one long hallucination, perhaps a result of food poisoning…’
Hindi Translationडॉ. मारगोलिन सोच में पड़ गए। शायद रैज़ेल को अपनी ही स्थिति का एहसास नहीं है। उन्होंने ऐसे हालात के बारे में सुना था—इसे क्या कहते हैं? धुंधलके की दुनिया (अर्ध-चेतना के संसार) में मंडराना’। आत्मा का अर्धचेतन अवस्था में भटकना, शरीर से अलग होकर भी अपनी मंज़िल तक न पहुँच पाना, और अतीत के भ्रमों तथा दिखावों से चिपके रहना। लेकिन क्या इन सब अंधविश्वासों में कोई सच्चाई हो सकती है? यह कोरी कल्पना (मनगढ़ंत सोच) के अलावा और कुछ नहीं था। और वैसे भी, ऐसी अवस्था तो मृत्यु से भी बदतर होती। “मैं शायद गहरे नशे की हालत में हूँ,” डॉ. मारगोलिन ने निर्णय लिया। “यह सब एक लंबा भ्रम हो सकता है, शायद फूड पॉइजनिंग (दूषित भोजन) का नतीजा…’

He looked up, and she was still there. He leaned over and whispered in her ear:
‘What’s the difference? As long as we’re together.’
‘I’ve been waiting for that all these years.’
Hindi Translationउसने ऊपर देखा, और वह अब भी वहीं थी। वह झुककर उसके कान में फुसफुसाया:
“क्या फर्क पड़ता है? जब तक हम साथ हैं।”
“मैं इसी पल का इतने सालों से इंतज़ार कर रही थी।”

‘Where have you been?’
She didn’t answer, and he didn’t ask again. He looked around. The empty hall was full, all the seats taken. A ceremonious hush fell over the audience. The music played softly. The cantor intoned the benedictions. With measured steps, Abraham Mekheles led his daughter down the aisle.
Hindi Translation“तुम कहाँ थीं?”
उसने जवाब नहीं दिया, और उसने भी फिर नहीं पूछा। उसने चारों ओर देखा। खाली हॉल अब लोगों से भरा हुआ था, सभी सीटें भरी थीं। सभा में एक गंभीर सन्नाटा छा गया। संगीत धीमा और शांत हो गया। गायक (कैंटर) आशीर्वाद के शब्द उच्च स्वर में पढ़ने लगा। मापी-तौली चालों के साथ अब्राहम मेखेलेस अपनी बेटी को गलियारे से होते हुए आगे ले जा रहे थे।

Class 12 English Kaleidoscope Chapter 3 Summary in English and Hindi.

Dr Solomon Margolin, a successful Jewish immigrant doctor in New York, reluctantly attends the wedding of Sylvia, daughter of his fellow townsman Abraham Mekheles, in Brownsville. His wife Gretl refuses to accompany him. Before leaving, Margolin reflects on his life – outwardly successful but secretly feeling like a failure. He is haunted by the Holocaust, which had wiped out his entire family in his Polish hometown of Sencimin and by the death of his first love Raizel, who was reportedly shot by the Nazis.
On his way to the wedding, his taxi witnesses a road accident on Eastern Parkway – a man on a stretcher with a chalky, bloodied face is carried to an ambulance. Margolin barely registers it and continues to the wedding.
At the wedding hall, he is swept up in the noise, celebration, and familiar faces of the Sencimin community. Amid the feasting and dancing, conversations casually mix joy with grief – names of people shot, burned and gassed in the Holocaust are mentioned between toasts and laughter. Margolin begins to feel strangely intoxicated without having drunk much.
Suddenly he notices a woman whose face he finds deeply familiar. She reveals herself to be Raizel – his long-lost first love whom he believed to be dead. Overwhelmed with joy, he takes her to the quiet chapel upstairs. He even considers marrying her on the spot under Jewish law, but discovers his wallet is missing. Doubts begin to creep in – is she really Raizel or is she too young to be her? Is this her daughter?
His confusion deepens. He examines himself and finds no trace of pulse or breathing. He suddenly recalls the accident on Eastern Parkway and is struck by an eerie suspicion – perhaps he himself had been the victim of that accident. Perhaps the man on the stretcher had been him. He wonders whether he is dead, drunk or hallucinating. The story ends on a deliberately ambiguous note – the wedding ceremony begins downstairs and Margolin sits beside Raizel, uncertain whether any of what he is experiencing is real.

Summary in Hindiडॉ. सोलोमन मार्गोलिन न्यूयॉर्क में एक सफल यहूदी प्रवासी डॉक्टर हैं। वे अनिच्छा से अपने पुराने कस्बे सेंसिमिन के साथी अब्राहम मेखेल्स की बेटी सिल्विया की शादी में ब्राउन्सविल जाते हैं। उनकी पत्नी ग्रेटल साथ जाने से इनकार कर देती है। जाने से पहले मार्गोलिन अपने जीवन के बारे में सोचते हैं – बाहर से सफल, लेकिन भीतर से खुद को असफल महसूस करते हैं। प्रलय (Holocaust) ने उनके पोलैंड के कस्बे सेंसिमिन में उनके पूरे परिवार को नष्ट कर दिया था और उनकी पहली प्रेमिका रायज़ेल को नाज़ियों ने गोली मार दी थी। यह दर्द उन्हें हमेशा सताता रहता है।
शादी के रास्ते में उनकी टैक्सी ईस्टर्न पार्कवे पर एक सड़क दुर्घटना की गवाह बनती है – एक घायल आदमी को स्ट्रेचर पर एम्बुलेंस में ले जाया जाता है। मार्गोलिन इसे देखकर आगे बढ़ जाते हैं।
शादी के हॉल में वे सेंसिमिन समुदाय के उत्सव, शोर और परिचित चेहरों में खो जाते हैं। जश्न के बीच-बीच में प्रलय में मारे गए लोगों के नाम भी सामने आते रहते हैं। मार्गोलिन बिना अधिक पिए भी अजीब तरह से नशे जैसा महसूस करने लगते हैं।
तभी उनकी नज़र एक परिचित चेहरे वाली महिला पर पड़ती है। वह महिला अपने आप को रायज़ेल बताती है – वही जिसे मार्गोलिन मृत समझते थे। खुशी से अभिभूत होकर वे उसे ऊपर चैपल में ले जाते हैं और यहूदी कानून के अनुसार उससे विवाह करने की सोचते हैं, लेकिन उनका बटुआ गायब मिलता है। धीरे-धीरे संदेह घेरने लगता है – क्या यह सच में रायज़ेल है या कोई और?
जब वे खुद को जांचते हैं तो उन्हें न नाड़ी मिलती है और न सांस। अचानक उन्हें ईस्टर्न पार्कवे की दुर्घटना याद आती है और एक भयावह संदेह मन में आता है – कहीं वे खुद ही उस दुर्घटना के शिकार तो नहीं थे? क्या वे मर चुके हैं? क्या यह सब एक मतिभ्रम है? कहानी इसी अनिश्चितता के साथ खत्म होती है – नीचे शादी की रस्म शुरू होती है और मार्गोलिन रायज़ेल के पास बैठे रहते हैं, यह जाने बिना कि वे जो अनुभव कर रहे हैं वह वास्तविकता है या स्वप्न।

Class 12 English Kaleidoscope Short stories Chapter 3 Very Short Answer Type Questions with Explanation.

1. Who is the author of A Wedding in Brownsville?
   Answer:
   A Wedding in Brownsville was written by Isaac Bashevis Singer.
2. Why was the wedding a burden to Dr Solomon Margolin?
   Answer:
   The wedding disturbed his schedule and took away the time he wanted to spend with his wife, Gretl.
3. Why did Gretl refuse to attend the wedding?
   Answer:
   Gretl disliked long, tiring wedding functions and did not want to travel to Brownsville.
4. Who were the Senciminers?
   Answer:
   The Senciminers were Jewish people who originally belonged to Sencimin, Margolin’s hometown.
5. Why did Dr Margolin dislike Jewish weddings in America?
   Answer:
   He felt Jewish customs had become distorted and artificial in America.
6. What profession did Dr Solomon Margolin have?
   Answer:
   Dr Solomon Margolin was a doctor.
7. Why did Dr Margolin consider himself a failure?
   Answer:
   He felt he had wasted his talent and failed to become the genius everyone expected.
8. What fear troubled Dr Margolin constantly?
   Answer:
   He constantly suffered from the fear of death.
9. Why did Dr Margolin decide to take a taxi to Brownsville?
   Answer:
   He was unfamiliar with Brooklyn and the snowy weather made driving dangerous.
10. What accident did Dr Margolin witness on the way?
    Answer:
    He saw a serious traffic accident where an injured man was taken away in an ambulance.
11. What topic repeatedly came up in conversations at the wedding?
    Answer:
    The guests repeatedly talked about the Holocaust and the deaths of loved ones.
12. Who did Dr Margolin unexpectedly meet at the wedding?
    Answer:
    He unexpectedly met Raizel, his former love.
13. Who was Raizel?
    Answer:
    Raizel was the daughter of Melekh the watchmaker and Margolin’s first love.
14. Why was Dr Margolin shocked after meeting Raizel?
    Answer:
    He believed Raizel had died during the Nazi period.
15. Why did Dr Margolin become confused at the end of the story?
    Answer:
    He began to suspect that he himself might have died in the traffic accident.

Class 12 English Kaleidoscope Short stories Chapter 3 Short Answer Type Questions with Explanation.

1. Why was Dr Solomon Margolin unhappy about attending the wedding?
   Answer:
   Dr Solomon Margolin was unhappy about attending the wedding because it disturbed his routine and personal time. He wanted to spend Sunday evening with his wife, Gretl, but his social responsibilities forced him to attend. He also disliked Jewish weddings in America because he believed Jewish customs had lost their originality and become artificial. Moreover, he was on a strict diet and disliked rich wedding food.
2. Describe Dr Margolin’s personality.
   Answer:
   Dr Margolin was an intelligent, hardworking and respected doctor. He was kind and generous as he treated poor rabbis, refugees, and Jewish writers free of cost. However, he was also thoughtful and emotional. He constantly worried about life, death and the suffering caused by wars. Though successful in life, he secretly considered himself a failure.
3. Why did Dr Margolin think of himself as a failure despite being successful?
   Answer:
   Although Dr Margolin had a successful medical career, wealth and social respect, he still considered himself a failure. As a child, people expected him to become a genius because of his extraordinary intelligence. However, he felt he had wasted his talents by changing fields of study and not achieving anything extraordinary in life.
4. How did the Holocaust affect Dr Margolin’s life?
   Answer:
   The Holocaust deeply affected Dr Margolin emotionally. Many members of his family were tortured and killed by the Nazis. The destruction of his hometown and loved ones made him lose faith in humanity. He became pessimistic and was haunted by sadness, loneliness and thoughts of death.
5. What atmosphere did Dr Margolin find at the wedding hall?
   Answer:
   The wedding hall was crowded, noisy and full of excitement. Music was playing loudly and guests were dancing, laughing, eating and drinking. At the same time, many conversations reminded people of the Holocaust, dead family members and painful memories. Thus, joy and sorrow existed together at the wedding.
6. How did people behave with Dr Margolin at the wedding?
   Answer:
   People greeted Dr Margolin warmly and treated him with great affection. They recognised him from Sencimin and reminded him of old memories. Many guests talked to him, pulled him into conversations and encouraged him to drink and dance. They still remembered him as “Schloime-Dovid” from his childhood.
7. Who was Raizel and why was her appearance shocking for Dr Margolin?
   Answer:
   Raizel was the daughter of Melekh the watchmaker and Dr Margolin’s first love. Her sudden appearance shocked him because he had been told that she had died during the Nazi period. Seeing her alive made him question reality and believe that impossible things could happen.
8. Why did Dr Margolin become emotionally disturbed after meeting Raizel?
   Answer:
   Meeting Raizel brought back old memories and feelings of love. Dr Margolin realised that he had never truly forgotten her. He regretted marrying someone else and wondered how life would have been different if they had stayed together. These emotions deeply disturbed him.
9. Why did Dr Margolin suspect that something strange had happened to him?
   Answer:
   Dr Margolin became suspicious when he could not find his wallet and began feeling physically different. He remembered the traffic accident he had seen earlier and wondered if he himself had been the victim. He felt strangely weightless and started questioning whether he was alive or dead.
10. How does the story mix happiness with sadness?
    Answer:
    The story mixes happiness and sadness through the wedding atmosphere. While people danced, celebrated and enjoyed the marriage, they also remembered family members lost in the Holocaust. Even during cheerful conversations, painful memories of death and destruction continued to appear.

Class 12 English Kaleidoscope Short stories Chapter 3 Long Answer Type Questions with Explanation.

Answer:
Dr Solomon Margolin is the central character of the story. He is a successful and respected doctor living in New York. He is intelligent, honest and generous. He treats poor rabbis, refugees and Jewish writers without charging money. He follows professional ethics sincerely and respects his responsibilities.
Despite his success, Dr Margolin feels unhappy and dissatisfied. As a child, people considered him a genius and expected great achievements from him. However, he believes that he wasted his talents and failed to fulfil expectations. The deaths of his family during the Holocaust deeply affected him and destroyed his faith in humanity.
He is thoughtful and philosophical, often thinking about life, death and the mysteries of existence. His emotional side becomes clear when he meets Raizel, his first love and realises that he still has feelings for her. Thus, Dr Margolin is shown as a complex character who is successful outwardly but emotionally disturbed within.

Answer:
The Holocaust had a terrible effect on both Dr Margolin and the Jewish community shown in the story. Many people from Sencimin lost their family members to torture, shootings, gas chambers and starvation under Nazi rule. Dr Margolin himself lost many relatives and his hometown was destroyed.
Because of these tragic experiences, the survivors carried deep emotional pain even after coming to America. At the wedding, guests repeatedly talked about family members who had died. Though the occasion was meant for celebration, memories of suffering continued to dominate conversations.
For Dr Margolin, the Holocaust destroyed his belief in goodness and humanity. He became depressed and fearful of death. The story clearly shows that even after surviving physically, people remained emotionally wounded by the horrors of war.

Answer:
The wedding in Brownsville had a lively yet emotional atmosphere. The hall was full of music, dancing, food, laughter and celebration. Guests enjoyed themselves by dancing, eating and drinking. The musicians played loudly, photographers moved around and the entire place appeared festive.
However, beneath this happiness there was deep sadness. Many guests were Holocaust survivors who had lost family members. Their conversations repeatedly turned toward painful memories of death and destruction. Even while celebrating, they spoke about people who had been burned, shot or killed by the Nazis.
Thus, the wedding atmosphere reflected both joy and sorrow. It symbolised how people tried to move forward in life while still carrying painful memories of the past.

Answer:
Raizel’s appearance is one of the most important and mysterious moments in the story. She was Dr Margolin’s first love and he believed she had died during the Holocaust. Seeing her suddenly at the wedding shocks him deeply.
Her appearance brings back memories of youth, love and lost opportunities. Dr Margolin realises that he never truly forgot her and begins imagining a new life with her. He even thinks of marrying her according to Jewish law.
At the same time, her appearance creates confusion and mystery. Dr Margolin begins questioning whether Raizel is real, an illusion or a spirit from the past. Through this mysterious meeting, the author explores themes of memory, love, regret and the uncertainty between reality and imagination.

Answer:
At the end of the story, Dr Margolin enters a confused state of mind and begins to suspect that he may be dead. Earlier, on the way to the wedding, he had witnessed a traffic accident where an injured man was taken away in an ambulance. Later, he starts wondering whether he himself had actually been the victim.
His confusion increases when he cannot find his wallet and feels physically unusual. He notices that he cannot sense his pulse, breathing or body weight properly. This strange feeling makes him think that his soul may be wandering in a mysterious state between life and death.
The ending remains unclear and mysterious. The author leaves readers wondering whether Dr Margolin is imagining everything, dreaming, drunk or actually trapped between life and death. This mystery makes the story more powerful and thought-provoking.