Expert Detectives Summary Class 7 English Honeycomb Chapter 6

Introduction

This story is about two children – Maya, who is a ten-year-old girl and Nishad, a boy of seven, whose nickname is also Seven because his name has been derived from the seventh note of the musical scale. They know a man whose name is Mr. Nath, who is a secretive person. Maya thinks that he is a crook and is willing to do anything to get the truth. One day, the children’s marble rolls into Mr. Nath’s room and Nishad gets a chance to see him and get all his questions answered.

Summary

The story is about Nishad (seven) and Maya (ten) who are siblings. They were very curious about one of their mother's patients Mr. Nath who had been living a lonely life at Room number 10 of Shankar Guest House for more than a year. He had no friends, except one man who would visit him regularly on Sunday morning and have lunch with him. Mr Nath had strange burn marks on his face. Maya believed that these scars were caused when police had set his house on fire to force him out. She believed Mr. Nath had lots of money stacked somewhere in the room. Nishad, however, had a different opinion about Mr Nath. He believed that Mr Nath was sick and poor. The scars on his face were due to some tragedy or accident in which he had lost his family. 

One day, when Nishad was alone, he went to Mr. Nath's room and gave him a part of chocolate. Later, when he told Maya about the encounter, she was disappointed by having missed this opportunity. Also, she was excited to know that her brother had found something worthy for their investigation. Nishad went to meet Ramesh who used to take meals for Mr Nath everyday. Ramesh informed him that Mr Nath was not very particular about his food. He would take the same meal twice every day. Every Sunday, a tall, stout, spectacled man would come to visit him. When Nishad informed his findings to Maya, she suggested that this mysterious visitor could be Mr Nath's accomplice in crime. The children were discussing the possibilities of Mr Nath being a crook.

The next day, their school was to reopen after summer breaks but because of heavy rain, they couldn't attend it. Maya took a paper and decided to jot down the developments in their investigation to solve the mystery of Mr. Nath's identity. Nishad was busy reading his comics when Maya informed what she had done. Maya prepared a list of things to confirm Mr. Nath’s character such as why the

other tenants considered him mad, strange and unfriendly, he never received any mail, his unfriendly nature, having just one visitor- a possible accomplice and other things. Nishad tried to counter Maya's various points. Nishad wanted to befriend him to clarify the fact, but Maya called him crazy for his idea of becoming friends with a criminal. Till the end of the story, they could not find out whether Mr Nath was a lonely man or a rouge.

Theme/Message

The lesson is a story of two young detectives who were curious about a man who is concerned about a person whom they find very strange, who was polite, a recluse with health problems. Nishad's mother, a doctor by profession, knew the man as a patient. They persistently searched for evidence against him. The person never has visitors to his home, does not have friends, does not talk to people, is very skeletal and pays excellent tips to Ramesh, who brings his food to his room. However, these were more imaginary than incriminating.

List of Difficult Words with Meaning

stashed away - hidden away
peculiar - strange
crook - criminal
burning scars - marks of burning
alias - alternate name
stout - heavy build
glared - looking in a angry way
gaunt - sickly
peek - look quickly and secretively
sort out - arrange systematically
by appointment to - officially chosen (by someone important)