Back to: CBSE Class 7 English Summary & Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Written by Sharada Dwivedi, this chapter gives an account of two young siblings who grow curious about a man named Mr Nath. Due to a lack of any definite information about the man, the two children make many interesting speculations. Like a true expert detective, Maya even makes written notes about “Catching a Crook”.
Summary
Nishad and Maya are two siblings who are very curious about Mr Nath. Their mother is a doctor who treats Mr Nath. Mr Nath is a man who lives as a tenant in Shankar House. He is lean and has a scarred face.
He does not ever step out of his room and rarely has any visitors. He also does not interact with anyone in his neighbourhood. His food is delivered to his room from the restaurant by a boy named Ramesh. Besides Ramesh, the only other visitor Mr Nath has is a tall, fair, stout man who visits him on Sundays.
The two children begin to gather information about him. While Maya suspects him of being a criminal on run who is hiding from the police, Nishad has a different opinion. To Nishad, he seems a poor, lonely figure with no friends. Maya believes Mr Nath is a criminal who has loads of wealth hidden in his room.
Nishad gathers information about Mr Nath by talking to Ramesh, the boy who delivers the man’s meals. Based on this information, Maya makes notes about Mr Nath. She concludes that he is a criminal who got scars on his face during an encounter with the police and now lives in Shankar House to prevent arrest.
Nishad thinks that the man looks impoverished because he is starving and kindly offers him his chocolates. He believes the scars are burn scars and that he is no criminal but a generous and kind man. Nishad declares that he is determined to become a friend of the lonely Mr Nath.
Conclusion
The two siblings turn into two young expert detectives in their mission to find the truth about Mr Nath and his unusual behaviour. Their perspectives, however, are very different. Thus, Maya remains doubtful of the man and suspects that he is a crook. Nishad, or Seven as he is sometimes called, remains sympathetic and is willing to befriend Mr Nath without prior judgements.
