Lemon Yellow and Fig Summary

Lemon-Yellow and Fig Summary for RTMNU BA students

In English language and literature, college and school students are studying the story written by Malgonkar title 'Lemon-Yellow and Fig'. The summary of this shorty is shared in this post. The summary will help the students to understand the story.

Short information of the  Author : Manohar Malgonkar

The story Lemon-Yellow Fig  is very thoughtful and interesting story written by Manohar Malgonkar. It describes a salesman's honest actions with good intentions which unfortunately leads to a difficult situation. The salesman loses his job while he is taking all the efforts to save his job and his business.

Lemon -Yellow and Fig Summary

Summary Lemon Yellow and Fig

 Mr. Agrawal is a salesman in a saree shop of Mr. Ratnam. The saree shop is located in Mumbai. The owner Mr. Ratnam stays in Bangalore and so he had kept a salesman to look after his shop in Mumbai.Mr. Agrawal has lost his job which was a good job of selling sarees and cholis all the day in the shop. The sarees and choli pieces were very beautiful and were woven in the mill of Mr Ratnam on Bangalore. The sarees were sold only in Mumbai.

Mr Agrawal had just begun the job of salesman His work was going pretty well  in sales. The sales of sarees and choli pieces had increased  and he managed to sell sarees one thousand rupees in one week Mr. Agrawal had written Mr. Ratnam to send more sarees to the shop so that he could sale sarees worth of 5000 Rupees a month and get a monthly income of Rs. 250 monthly. It was an excellent job and the salesman had began to perform well and increase the sale  of sarees and learn the new tricks of selling sarees But unfortunately the job did not last long and he was removed from the job due to an unfortunate incident.

Mr. Agrawal was lucky to get the o of salesman without having any experience. Mr. Ratnam had hired him just because of his honest looks. He felt that Agrawal had a innocent and honesty on his face and thus he selected him for the job. Mr Agrawal had responded to the advertisement of Mr. Ratnam who came from Bangalore to interview him. He was looking for a new salesman because his previous salesman had run away with some of the cash and six shot silk sarees.

Mr. Ratnam wanted only honesty and good manners while dealing with the customers. He said that  he would try the new salesman foe few weeks and if w he as satisfied with the work of the new salesman he could get the job for good. The new salesman Mr. Agrawal was hard worker and honest and in two weeks he performed better than the last salesman in the sale of the sarees. It was a time before Diwali and he knew that women would be buying sarees for Diwali during the week before the festival.

All was well in the new ob. The salesman was a refugee from Punjab and did not have a house in Mumbai. He thought that if he does the job well he could get married and settle in Mumbai. In the morning the salesman went to the shop opened the shutter when a woman came in the shop for buying. She looked good and the salesman was happy that he can have a sale in the morning that is bohni time. Mr. Agrawals salesman were very superstitious and believed the concept of first sale bohni.It was a good luck for the day.

The lady who was a little dark chose a lemon yellow colour silk saree and a matching choli blouse piece. The salesman felt that the saree was not suiting her dark colour but refrained from saying anything as it was not his job. The salesman could smell a strong perfume put by the lady. It was so strong that the little shop was filled with the aroma of the perfume. The saree was forty rupees and the lady gave a crisp hundred rupees note to the salesman. He gave her Rs. 60  back. Mr, Ratnam had said to the salesman that he should begin his day with a cash of Rs. 100 in small notes like a change of Rs. 100. This change should be kept in the cash box of the shop. Mr. Ratnam was particular about the cash and  the sales was allowed to keep only Rs. 100 with him every day and all the money was handed to the munim every evening. Just as she was leaving she gave him a smile. The salesman had hardly replace the sarees which were seen by the lady that another lady came to the shop. She was large and not too attractive but was wearing a diamond ear clips hexagonal shape popular in south India. Just as she came the smell of the her perfume filled the shop. The salesman realized it was the same perfume used by the previous customer. This lady wanted a saree of green and red colour somewhat a fig colour saree. This fig colour is popular among South Indian women. The sales showed many sarees with different prices and different shades in colour. Suddenly he thought that both the ladies have common perfume used and may belong to same family. He thought of recent tricks played on few shop keepers and felt he could also be trapped by the trick of these ladies. The fellow shopkeepers was tricked by one lady giving a hundred rupee note and getting the change and leaving the shop while the next lady coming in Just after the first left and buying some petty things and demanded change without giving any money. When the shopkeeper pointed her mistake she called the policeman and complained that she had given the hundred rupee note and told the number of the note which was exactly the same note given by the first lady. So the two lady were accomplice partner in crime. The shopkeeper could do nothing and but hand over the cash to the lady.

Thinking this the salesman thought Mr. Agrawal thought that these women are doing the same trick on him and to be on a preventive side decided to do something He told the lady I have some more fig colour sarees and I will bring it to you. He quickly went to the cash box which was kept hidden from the customers view took a hundred rupees note and put it in envelope and wrote my brothers name and address  who worked in the shop nearby. He called a near by chokra and asked him to give this envelope to his brother who was in Kripa Ram's shop.

Now the salesman thought he would not be cheated he smiled and went to the lady customer with three fig colour sarees. The lady liked two sarees and  she could not make her mind which to buy. The salesman suggested that she could buy both the sarees. She agreed and bought both the sarees. The sarees cost was Rs. 90 and the lady paid all the ninety rupees in all in ten rupees note. He looked at the notes and was puzzled is this any new trick. The notes were clear.

The lady was honest and the salesman felt ashamed of himself. As soon as the chokra came the salesman asked him to bring coffee and masala pan for himself. Just then he saw Mr. Ratnam coming to the shop. He was looking happy and he entered the shop. The salesman said that he wanted more stock as the sale was increasing. Mr Ratnam said yes and said that he wanted to check the  stock of  the sarees. The salesman was hurt that he was not trusted and Ratnam said that it was a formality to check as he wanted to be sure about the honesty of every salesman. He said don't mind because in business nothing is taken as granted. The stock checking was fine and Ratnam was satisfied with with the numbers now he said that he was happy and and had sent his daughter and sister today morning to buy the sarees to be personally satisfied. He was  happy with the salesman and said that now lastly I want to check the cash box and the cash in it. The salesman was shocked and his heart skipped as hundred rupee note was missing in the box. Mr. Ratnam noticed it and he was removed from his job.

Mr. Agrawal last his ob in an attempt to be more careful and preventive. He did not even tell it to Mr. Ratnam. He could not tell that he thought that his daughter and sister were  assumed to be cheaters by the salesman. No explanation was given. Mr. Ratnam was sad and said You have such an honest face'.

Sure the salesman had an honest face and still he lost the Job trying to be careful in his job.

Learning from the story Lemon-Yellow and Fig - Never be quick to judge people on appearance and do not overthink too much. Sometimes overthinking  and imagination leads to grave mistakes and difficult situations.

In this post the story of Lemon -Yellow and Fig is explained in a very simple way. Learners can read and understand the story.