LET'S WARM UP A LITTLE !!!
What are the main crops of our country? Have you ever visited a farm and witnessed the work done by a farmer? Speak out.
Halku came in and said to his wife, "The landlord has come! Get the rupees you had set aside, I'll give him the money. Don't worry, we will somehow or other manage without it."
Munni had been sweeping the yard. She turned around and said, "But there are only three rupees. If you give them to him where's the blanket going to come from? How are you going to get through these January nights in the fields? Tell him we'll pay him after the harvest, not right now."
For a moment, Halku stood hesitating. Without a blanket, he couldn't possibly sleep in the fields at night. But, the landlord wouldn't be put off, would threaten and insult him. So, what did it matter if they died in the cold weather, as long as they could just take care of this calamity right now? As he thought about this, he moved his body and came close to his wife.
Trying to coax her he said, "Come on, give it to me. We'll manage. I'll figure out some other plan to get the blanket."
Munni drew away from him. Her eyes angry, she said, "You just tell me what other plan can be found. Is somebody going to give you a blanket? God knows how many debts are always left over that we can't pay off. What I say is, give up this tenant farming! The work's killing you. Whatever you harvest, goes to pay up the arrears, so why not finish with it? Earn some money for your own belly. I won't give you the money, I won't!"
Sadly, Halku said, "Then I'll have to put up with his abuse."
The bitter truth in Halku's words came charging at Munni like a wild beast. She went to the niche in the wall, took out the rupees and handed them over to Halku. Then she said, "Give up farming this time. If you work as a hired labourer, you'll at least get enough food to eat from it. Find work, rather than farming someone else's land!"
Halku took the money and went outside, looking as though he were tearing his heart out and giving it away. He'd saved the rupees from his work, bit by bit, for his blanket. Today, he was going to throw it away. With every step, his head sank lower, under the burden of his poverty. It was a dark January night. In the sky, even the stars seemed to be shivering. At the edge of his field, underneath a shelter of cane leaves, Halku lay on a bamboo cot wrapped up in his old shawl, shivering. Underneath the cot, his friend, Jabra the dog, was whimpering with his muzzle pressed into his belly.
Neither was able to sleep.
Halku curled up, and said, "Cold, Jabra? Didn't tell you, in the house you could lie on the paddy straw? So, why did you come out here? Now you'll have to bear the cold. You thought I was coming out here to eat puris and sweets and you came running on, ahead of me. Now, you can moan."
Jabra wagged his tail without getting up, protracted his whimpering into a long yawn, and was silent.
Halku stretched out his hand and patted Jabra's cold back.
"From tomorrow onwards, stop coming with me or the cold will get you. We'll get through the night somehow. This is the reward you get for farming. While we do the hard work somebody else gets the joy of it." Jabra looked at him with eyes overflowing with love. You have to put up with just one more cold night. Tomorrow I'll spread some straw. Then you won't feel the cold."
Jabra put his paws on Halku's knees and brought his muzzle close. Halku felt his warm breath. And he lay down. Like some kind of witch, the cold weather continued to torment him. When he could no longer bear it, he gently picked Jabra up and got him to fall asleep in his lap. The dog's body gave off some kind of stink but Halku, hugging him tight, experienced a happiness he hadn't felt for months. Jabra probably thought he was in heaven, and in Halku's innocent heart, there was no resentment about his smell. He embraced him with the same affection he would have felt for a brother. He was not crippled by poverty yet. Rather it was as though this singular friendship had opened all the doors to his heart and brilliantly illuminated every atom of it.
Suddenly, Jabra picked up the noise of some animal. Springing up, he ran out of the shelter and began to bark. Halku whistled and called him several times. But Jabra went on barking. Another hour passed. The night fanned up the cold with the wind. Halku sat up. It seemed as though ice rather than blood filled his veins. He leaned back to look at the skies. How much of the night was still left? The Dipper had not yet climbed half the sky. By the time it was overhead it would probably be morning. Night would last another three hours or so.
Close to Halku's field there was a mango grove. Halku thought, 'If I go and get a pile of leaves, I can make a fire from them and keep myself warm. If anybody sees me gathering the leaves in the dead of night, they'll think it is a ghost. Of course, there's a chance some animal's hidden in my field waiting, but I can't stand sitting here any longer."
He ripped up some stalks from a nearby field, made a broom out of them and picking up a lighted cowdung cake, went towards the grove. Jabra saw him coming and ran to him, wagging his tail.
Halku said, "I couldn't stand it any more, Jabra. Come along, let's go into the orchard and gather leaves to warm up with. When we're toasted we'll come back and sleep." Under the trees, it was pitch dark; the bitter wind blew, buffeting the leaves, and drops of dew dripped from the branches. Jabra had found a bone and he was chewing on it. Halku set his fire down on the ground and began to gather the leaves. In a little while he had a great heap. His hands were frozen, his bare feet numb. He piled up a regular mountain of the leaves and by lighting he'd burn away the cold.
In a short while, the fire was burning branches. In the flickering light, the immense trees of the grove, looked as though they were carrying the vast darkness on their heads
. Halku sat before the fire and let it warm him. After a while, he took off his shawl, then he spread out both feet as though challenging the cold to do its worst. Victorious over the immense power of the winter, he could not repress his pride in his triumph.
He said to Jabra, "Well, Jabra, You're not cold now, are you?"
Jabra barked as though to say, "How could I feel cold now?"
The leaves were all burned up. Darkness covered the orchard again. Under the ashes, a few embers smouldered and when a gust of wind blew over them, they stirred up briefly, then flickered out again.
Halku sat by the warm ashes humming a tune. The fire had warmed thin, but as the cold began to spread, he felt drowsy.
Jabra gave a loud bark and ran towards the field. Halku realised that this meant a pack of wild animals had probably broken into the field. They might be blue buck. They must be grazing; he began to hear the sound of nibbling. He thought, 'No, with Jabra around no animal can get into the field, he'd rip it to shreds. I must have been mistaken. Now there's no sound at all."
He shouted, "Jabra! Jabra!"
Jabra went on barking and did not come to him.
Then again, there was the sound of munching and crunching in the field. He could not have been mistaken this time. It really hurt to think of getting up from where he was. It was so comfortable there it seemed intolerable to go to the field in this cold, and chase after animals. He didn't stir.
He shouted. "Hillo! Hillo! Hillo!"
Jabra started barking again. There were animals eating his field just when the crop was ready, What a fine crop it was, and these cursed animals were destroying it.
With a firm resolve, he got up and took a few steps. But, suddenly a gust of wind pierced him, with a sting like a scorpion's so he went back and sat again by the extinguished fire and stirred up the ashes to warm his chilled body.
Halku went on sitting peacefully near the warm ashes. His drowsiness held him motionless as though with ropes. Wrapped in his shawl he fell asleep on the warmed ground near the ashes. When he woke up in the morning, the sun was high and Munni was saying, "Do you think you're going to sleep all day? You came out here and had a fine time while the whole field was being flattened!" Halku got up and said, "Then you've just come from the field."
"Yes, the whole field's ruined and you could sleep like that! Why did you bother to put up the shelter anyway?"
Halku sought an excuse. "I nearly died and just managed to get through the night and you worry about your crop."
Then, the two of them walked to the edge of their land. He looked, the whole field had been trampled
Munni's face was shadowed with grief but Halku was content..Munni said, "Now you'll have to hire yourself out to earn some money to pay off the rent and taxes." With a contented smile Halku said, "But won't have to sleep nights out here in the cold."
[Translated version of Munshi Premchand's Poos Ki Roat]
About the Author-
Munshi Premchand (1880-1936)
Munshi Premchand was born on 31 July, 1880 Indian. He was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. He is one of the most celebrated writers of the Indian subcontinent, and is regarded as one of the foremost Indian writers of the early twentieth century. His understanding of the socio-economic stature of the people of his time was remarkable and he was adept in weaving the intricacies of human emotions into the characters of his stories. His work truly depicts the society of his time.