August 31, 2013

A Roadside Medicine Seller

Essay : [A Roadside Medicine Seller]

English Essay on "A Roadside Medicine Seller"

A Roadside Medicine Seller

(A Roadside Medicine Seller is a very common figure. He is a typical man. You can describe him in the light of your own experience, and deduce some generalization regarding his attitude and character. Hints

(1) Introduction Every man has to choose a profession education or training- A Roadside Medicine Seller is neither educated not trained in any skill etc.
(2) His appearance-The type of man that he is dress a bag containing medicines.
(3) The display of his medicines and the way he sells them.
(4) Conclusion mountebank cheats the people.


In this world every man has to earn his living. For this purpose he has to take up one profession or the other. Suitable education or some training in certain skill is essential to enable a person to be successful in his career. Generally the people are very serious about their means of livelihood. Even the illiterate person will learn some craft in order to keep flesh and soul together. But there are some people who are neither educated nor skilled in any craft. During the period of their childhood they are delinquents and hence fail to adopt a respectable profession when they grow up. A Roadside Medicine Seller is one of those men. You may see him wandering from place to place with a bag of medicines in his hand.
He is generally a bearded man in simple clothes with a bag of medicines (the so called medicines) in one hand and a wand in the other. When in country-side, he wears an 'achkan' and a turban and in big cities you may find him dressed like a college student. You may see him in the village fair or near the railway station or round the city courts.
He selects the most suitable place for the display of his medicines. He may select a busy thoroughfare, the heart of the fair, a marketplace and other such situations where the people are likely to gather in large numbers. After a careful scrutiny of the place he spreads a sheet of cloth by the roadside and begins arranging his medicines.(4essay.blogspot.com) The things are arranged so as to attract the passers-by.
Let us have a look at his medicines. These are of many types. You can see small open packets containing powders of different colors various herbs some tins (big and small) with tablets and pills a number of bottles and vials that contain liquids and fluids of every sort a tuft of hair taken from the tail of a roe the paw of a lion the teeth of a panther the stuffed skin of a tiger and the like. A small basket with a slit in the upper lid is also visible. Through the silt a snake is flourishing his head. Right in the middle in the sheet there is a small enameled trough and a glass full of water.
Now he has set his 'shop'. The customers are now to be attracted in addition to some delinquent school-boys who are already absorbed in his manner of display. Within five minutes he can have a large group of spectators La! He begins his art. He moves his wand' in the air and begins reciting some very popular verses from a folk-song in musical tone. The passers-by stand, listen to his recitation and are fascinated to get close to him unconsciously.
After having a sufficient number of audiences his 'business' is now to begin. He now delivers a lecture on his medicines-most of the medicines are very rare one he obtained from one of the peaks of the Himalayas the other he brought out of the abyss the Arabian Ocean the third from the dense forests of the Sunder Ban and so on. He is an all round physician, surgeon and specialist he can treat any disease on the face of this earth. He swears oath after oath, recites the holy 'Kalima' and thus assures the people of his immense knowledge and wide experience. In support of his successful medical career he produces a bundle of letters which, he says, have been written by his patients from time to time.
The people are attracted to him. The simple villagers are taken in by his oaths assurances. With the help of the trough lying in the middle he conducts experiments as a living proof of his assertions. This has a magical effect. The people begin to purchase his medicines one by one. Some 'patients' wish to talk to him in private. Such patients are very good because they pay very highly. In short a large amount is thus earned at the end of this show.
He is a mountebank. He knows nothing but claims to be a great scholar. He is a cheat and even more dangerous than a thief because the latter simply robs you of your wealth, but he will rob you of your health in addition to your wealth.

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