Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai Read Free Book Online Page A

spoke to him and he was never included in any after-school activities, nor invited to birthday parties. Like all invisible boys, Amrith had kept as indistinguishable as possible. He knew that if he did get attention, it would only be negative. All that had changed with his winning the cup. First, there had been the momentwhen the cup was presented to him by the principal, at an assembly in front of the whole school. As he went up on the stage, the entire student body had roared its approval at his winning this glory for their school, boys in his class whistling and calling, “Well done, Amrith, well done.” He had been surprised and touched by this tribute. After that, though his classmates still did not include him in their various activities, they always greeted him with respect and often asked his opinion on matters of art and literature. Most of the other boys in the play had been seniors, a few of them prefects. Amrith had worried that his shyness and silence would be made fun of, but these older boys actually liked him for his quietness and saw it as a sign of deference to their higher status. When these senior boys met him in the corridors, they always greeted him warmly, whereas they ignored the other junior boys.
    This year, Amrith’s school was doing the last scene from
Othello
. There had been a meeting of the Drama Society, just before school ended, and the boys had talked about which parts they were going to try out for. From this discussion, Amrith understood that there were three roles that would go automatically to the students who wanted them, since no one else would be auditioning for those parts. Thus Othello belonged to Mala’s admirer, Suraj Wanigasekera; Emilia to a boy named Fernando; and Desdemona, Othello’s wife, to Amrith.
    He was thrilled at the prospect of playing such a major role and he was determined to win the cup again. The thought of being declared the best by an EnglishShakespearean actor would be further confirmation that he was destined to be an actor.
    Amrith could not be bothered to struggle through the Elizabethan English of the play to find out the plot. Instead, he went into the library in their home and took down a book that had Shakespearean plays retold in modern prose. He returned to his room with the book and lay on his bed, reading the story of Othello.
    It was a tale, so the subtitle to the story declared, “of jealousy and its tragic consequences.” Othello, the main character, was a Moor, a black man. He was a successful warrior and had been promoted to High General of the Venetian forces by the Duke of Venice. His greatest enemy was his ensign, Iago, who was jealous of Othello’s success, but also angry and envious that Othello had chosen one Michael Cassio to be his second-in-command over Iago. Iago set out to destroy Othello. While pretending to be Othello’s closest friend, he preyed on a great weakness the Moor had — his love for his wife, Desdemona. Othello’s love was so powerful that it made him vulnerable. Because he could not imagine a life without Desdemona, the threat of her deceiving him, or leaving him, lay in wait to trap him. Iago began to exploit this weakness. He used Michael Cassio — who was extremely good-looking — to do so. Othello had given Desdemona a handkerchief when they were courting. She had accidentally dropped it and her lady-in-waiting, Emilia, who was also Iago’s wife, had found it. Iago forced Emilia to give it to him. He planted it inCassio’s room, then told Othello that he had seen the fateful handkerchief in Cassio’s hand. Iago also told Othello that he had shared a bed with Cassio one night, and Cassio had murmured in his sleep of his love for Desdemona and cursed the Moor for having her. Othello demanded the handkerchief from Desdemona, but she could not produce it. He began to believe that his wife was being unfaithful to him with Cassio. Iago, through other tricks, inflamed the Moor’s jealousy until he was