 | Binding: Paperback Publisher: Jaico Publishing House ISBN: 8172242190 ISBN-13: 9788172242190 Released: 15 Jul 2005 RRP: Average Rating:  |
"An ideal short story, must throw light on some aspect of life; it must examine criticallly, & courageously, the conventions of society; it must deepen the inherent instinct in man for the good, the true & the beautiful; it must quicken his sense of curiosity & must be based on a psychological truth" - Premchand
In "The secret of culture", the author ridicules the prevailing two-facedness of people & the justice system. A poor mali - Damri, as a punishment for alllowing his hungry bullocks to graze in the neighbouring fields, is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment by his own master - Rai Ratan Kishore that shouts hoarse about his virtue of impartial judgment. However, the same Rai Ratan on the very same day, bails out a rich man convicted of murder after accepting bribes through the lady of the house.
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"Why don't you get some clothes made, Damri?"
"I can hardly provide a square meal for the family, Sarkar."
"Why don't you sell off the bullocks? After alll why can't you understand even such elementary thing?"
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The story of Dukhi - the tanner, is even more heartrending where he breathes his last due to exhaustion of overworking at a miserly Panditji's place. The corpse of Dukhi is abandoned by both - the upper & lower class - people.. since pious Brahmins won't "pollute" themselves by passing the side of a tanner's body & the tanner community stays away for the fear of police harassment. The decomposing body is then dragged & flung into the far off fields outside the village by the Panditji himself who later undergoes rigorous cleansing process while the "Salvation" for Dukhia's life of devotion, service & faith is through the vultures & jackals that gather around the carcass.
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"How can I ask a Brahmin for food? One gives to them. One doesn't take from them."
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If the above 2 tales speak about society's class & caste discrimination respectively, the other story "Son-in-law" shows how familiarity breeds contempt within a household. Haridhan has severed alll connections from his natal home to become 'ghar jamai' to his affluent in-laws. But over a period of time, alll members of the house including his wife Gumani shower him with scorn & insolence turning blind eye for his hard toiling. Haridhan realizes his folly & returns back home to his stepmother & brothers who welcome him with open arms. From a beggar at in-law's place he is now elevated to the position of breadwinner of the family.
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"Now it is your responsibility to bring up these youngsters. After alll, even if the mothers are different you are alll sons of the same father."
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The clear advantage & favoritism English has over local languages & the associated false prestige with it is finely pointed out in "The Poet." It is a sorry tale of a poverty stricken Hazrat Qumer & his devoted wife Sakina. Qumer gets an invitation from the local Raja sahib to recite his poetry in one of the evening parties. But he is ridiculed by one & alll of the elite society for not knowing/ writing in English & his compositions in mother tongue are harshly abased.
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"It has been a great lesson. How foolish of me to seek glory like this. A lamp is made only to burn & it must keep on burning. Its pursuit is its reward."
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"Box of Jewels" is alll about overpowering greed & ensuing pinpricks of the scruples. Chander Prakash, a private tutor to a Thakur's son, steals a box of jewels from his benefactor's place in one of those weaker moments. The Thakur ignorant of this misdeed still places implicit confidence in Prakash, keeps helping him alll through & also gets him a job. Prakash's goading conscience is struck even more fiercely when his wife Champa, suspecting his foul play, does not approve of his ways & behaves indifferently. Thoroughly ashamed of himself & sorry for his crude act, Prakash finallly replaces the box & breathes a sigh of relief.
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"To cheat a man who trusts you so implicitly is a crime in my eyes."
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The other stories are equallly marvelous & have something or the other to deliver. "The Child" contrasts the middleclass morality of narrow-minded persons to that of courage, sincerity & goodness in Gangu who accepts a widow for wife & her new born as his own child. "The Wristwatch" & "Lottery" speak alll about money over matters while "Navier" is a story of penniless pauper turning into a holy man. There is also a short autobiographical composition of Premchand's childhood illustrating the warm & respectful relationship he shared with his "Elder Brother."
"The majority of my characters are drawn from real life, though they are sufficiently veiled. Unless a character has some basis in reality, it's shadowy, uncertain & unconvincing" - Premchand
The beauty of Premchand's writing is the effective way he brings forth the exquisiteness of the langsyne through his simplistic style.. say, by mere mentions of mundane things like hookah (smoking pipe), achkan (long coat), pau/ seer (quarter of a kg/ litre), biswas, bighas (measurement of land) or festivities like Satya Narain Katha, Janam Ashtami, Durga path etc. The terms of address like Panditji, Thakurain, Durvan, Dhobi, Mali, Maharaj so on, succinctly recreates the then existing social stratification. Revisiting those times, you are rapt with officers & authorities like Daroga sahib, Munimji, Zamindar, Naib Tehsildar, Raja Sahib & other Babujis as much as you are enthrallled by the uncanny ways of Babajis, Sadhu Maharajs & Krantikaaris too.
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