What are Hari Singh’s reactions to the prospect of receiving an education? Do they change over time? (Hint: Compare, for example, the thought: “I knew that once I could write like an educated man there would be no limit to what I could achieve.” With these later thoughts: “Whole sentences, I knew, could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees. It was a simple matter to steal – and sometimes just as simple to be caught. But to be a really big man, a clever and respected man, was something else.”) What makes him return to Anil?

Hari Singh, though a fifteen-year-old boy, was an expert thief. Hari Singh was not his real name. He took a new name every month to prevent getting caught which clearly shows his cleverness and wit. He was quite pleased at the idea of Anil teaching him to read and write his name, sentences and add numbers. Writing like an educated man, he felt, would open the doors of success in his life and get him a life beyond his dreams.

One day, when Anil returned home with a bundle of notes, Hari’s inner thief made him forget all the good that Anil had done to him and the advantage the education would bring to him and he stole the money and ran away. However, his conscience stopped him from onboarding a train and made him analyse his act which made him feel guilty and he returned to Anil’s place.