On a winter’s
Night (Auther munshi prem chand)
Halku and his wife lived in a village. They were poor.
They owed money to Sohna, the money –lender, Though it was a cold winter, Halku
had not bought a blanket. He said to his wife, ``Give me some money. Sohna, the
money-lender, has already come twice. We should give him the money. That’s how we
can get rid of him ‘‘As there are only three rupees,’’ said Hlku`s wife.‘‘ We
cannot return his money. We should buy a blanket instead. Since the harvest is
not yet done we should wait’’. Although
Halku needed a blanket badly, he did not
buy it. He had no woollen clothes, no quilts or blankets. Halku did not like
Sohna to curse him. He again begged his wife, Give me the money, please. I must
get rid of him. I will think of some
other way of buying a blanket.’’
Halku`s wife had
tears in her eyes. She said, ‘ Who will give you a blanket? Since you cannot
pay your debts, why don`t you give up farming and become a labourer? We work so
hard, yet we have no comfort.We have to sweat all our lives.”
Halku said, ‘‘Do you want me to listen to Sohna’ s abuses
?” This made her angry and she shouted, “Why should he sbuse you ?Is he a king ? Are we slaves ?”But
she knew that Halku was right. She did not like anyone abusing her husband. She
thought she should give the money to her husband. She took out the three rupee
and put them in his hand and said, “Since farming dies not give us enough to
eat, you should give it up. We do not get any money to spend. The land needs
all the money. We are always in debt. What do you get in return for all your
hard work? Only abuses!
As Halku was going to the money-lender, he thought of the
money. He did not like the idea of giving up his hard-earned money. He could
easily buy a cheap blanket with his small savings. It would keep him warm. But how
would he pay his debts then? No, he would pay his debts first. It was a cold
dark night! Even the stars seemed to shiver with cold. Since Halku had no
woollen clothes, he wrapped himself in an
old cotton sheet. Hay lay on his cot in corner of his field. His dog Jhabra lay
under it. Neither Jhabra nor Halku could sleep. Halku smoked his clay-pipe
for the tenth time to keep away the cold. As he smoked , his
thoughts went to the rich landowners who were sleeping in their warm beds under
woollen blankets. Where did they get the money from to buy these blankets?
Surely, it was from poor people like him who worked hard and suffered, while
the landowners kept on getting rich.
Halku lay
down again. He tried to sleep. But just as he stretched himself he shivered.
The cold went deep into his bones. Since he could think of nothing else, he
took jhabra and made him sleep next to him. This kept both of them warm. They were both happy. As they were
about to fall asleep, Jhabra started barking. It was very cold outside l, yet
Jhabra ran into the field. He barked and ran from one corner of the field to
another. Some animals had entered Halku`s field. The wind was icy cold. Jhabra
had been away for an hour. Halku was cold again. He looked at the sky. It was
not yet midnight. Halku thought of the mango orchard and went there. The ground
was covered with dry leaves. Halku`s hands and feet were numb. Since he had no
other way of keeping warm, he made a pile of dry leaves and lit the fire.
Jhabra was barking in the field. Halku was alone. Soon the fire died out and
the orchard was dark again. Although Halku was warm now, he did not go out into
the field. He felt extremely lazy. As it became colder, his laziness increased.
Jhabra was barking loudly. It seemed to Halku that a herd of cattle had entered
his fields. He called out to Jhabra. Jhabra did not listen. He kept on barking.
Halku thought , `` I should not imagine things. When Jhabra is there, no one
can enter my fields.’’ Again Halku heard the cattle chewing. As he was cold and
lazy he did not move. He stopped worrying about his field and the cattle kept
on eating his crop. It was a good crop that year. Halku lay down and slept.
When he woke up the next morning, he saw his wife. She said, `` Are not you
going to get up today? Look, the cattle have eaten up all the crop. You should
have kept watch.’’ Halku replied, ‘ You can only think of the fields. I had a
stomach-ache. That’s why I came here, lit a fire and lay down.’’ Everything was
lost, yet Halku and his wife went into their fields. His wife was sad. She
said, ‘‘Now you will have to work as a labourer.’’ YES and I won’t have to
sleep in the open on a bitterly cold night like this any longer, replied Halku
with a sigh relief.
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