Bheela’s Blog-005
02-January-2021
Episode 4 — Recap
Oshin reveals the reason for her leaving home at the age of 83. She wants to visit all those places starting from her childhood village in north Japan. She thinks she made some wrong decisions in the past, which led to her son Hitoshi being the person he is. Oshin remembers her past, and in the flashback scene, we can see her family. Oshin’s family faces extreme poverty. Kei is curious to know grandma’s history. He calls home to inform his father.
Episode 5 –
Nozomi picks up the phone as Kei calls him. (The last name of Nozomi is Yashiro). Kei was lucky to find him as he worked late in his workshop, and someone kept the phone close to his work-bench.
Listening to Kei’s voice, he is eager to know when grandma is coming back. Kei does not give a straight answer. Oshin snatches the phone and speaks to Nozomi herself. She tells Nozomi that she must have caused a lot of concern to all of them, but she did not leave her home out of any protest. She tells him to consider that it was an older woman’s wish to visit places. Nozomi is concerned if she has enough money for these trips, and Oshin assures him that she planned for a long journey and has enough. She also informs Nozomi about Kei being with her during her travels, and hence there is no cause of worry. She is happy that Kei insisted on being with her, and it is visible from her expression when she talks to Nozomi. She then abruptly puts the phone down.
She warns Kei again that following her on her trips wouldn’t be all that fun. Kei wants her to pick up all the pieces she left behind on her journey of life of 83 years. Oshin feels that Kei is born after the struggle period was over; he grew up in rather good times as he is just 20 years old. Soon the generation will not know what severe poverty was.
(Japan’s economy boomed after the war and eliminated much of the poverty over the years. Also, most of the people do not want to talk about the past, leaving the next generation unaware of the facts of old times)
Kei takes his grandma for a hot bath.
(Japan’s homes and hotels have bathing places where the tubs are large enough for more people to bathe together. It is also a family tradition where youngster help the elderly take a bath, and they give the elderly a nice massage while bathing)
Oshin is happy as they both are enjoying the hot bath. Oshin is delighted to discover this aspect of Kei’s personality. She finds this strange. Usually, the young generation is no longer interested in listening to the older, let alone find their life history.
Oshin had a long life; she left pieces of her life behind. She now wanted to pick up the forgotten parts. Her determination moves Kei. He is attached to her, but he knew nothing about her early years and the life she led by the time Kei grew up. She never talked about her past. Kei was curious to hear grandma’s life story from herself.
He suddenly asks his grandma about ‘Daikon Gruel”. He heard Oshin telling him once that the family ate this dish. He thinks that it must be a tasty dish.
Oshin laughs and tells him that it tastes awful. As the rice would not last after paying half the rice as rent to the landowner, the family would eat Daikon, a kind of Turnip. It grew in the field in that area; they cut Daikon into small pieces and cook together with the rice. This process would increase the cooked meal volume; the neighbors would do the same, so Oshin and others did not bother the dish’s terrible taste.
Oshin was a happy child and did not know much about the extreme poverty their family was facing. She was born in 1901, and she remembers the time when it was 1907, she had just completed six.
FLASHBACK BEGINS
Little Oshin is filling water in a wooden bucket from a stream-let which has fresh water. A snow-covered area surrounds this water source. She also contributes to household work, although she is so young. In their house, there is extreme poverty. Her parents work as Share-farmers. It is the 34th year of the Meiji era, where there is a system of farmers borrowing land to cultivate. They live in a small village in Yamagata Prefecture, situated in the middle of the northern mountains. Her parents do heavy labor during the day time, doing rice cultivation. During the night, they made sandals using bundles of straw. Poor people wore such sandals to save them from frostbite. Oshin is wearing one such pair.
Oshin’s grandfather was dead, and her grandmother would do some weaving to add to the family income. By this time, grandmother has developed rheumatism and is unable to do any work. During the winter, they would make charcoal or barter their produce from the field. The parents worked hard day and night; still, the income would never be enough. They borrowed rice from the landowner at high-interest rates, resulting in their financial condition getting even worse. More children in the family would mean more mouths to feed. They had to send two of Oshin’s elder sisters to work as servants at the young ages of 11 and 9.
Oshin’s grandmother is unable to sleep. She makes sure all the kids are covered with blankets and are sleeping peacefully.
Oshin grew up in such hard times, unaware of poverty as she felt her family’s love.
However, this blissful state of Oshin lasted only until the fateful day.
A stranger visits their home, seeing him, Oshin clings to grandma and hides behind her. It appears that Oshin’s father, Sakuzo, has run out of their share of all rice they produced; he even exhausted his limit of borrowing. Therefore, he decides to send Oshin off to work as a baby-sitter to a wealthy family, which runs a lumber dealing business.
Grandma and Fuji, Oshin’s mom, both vehemently oppose and are ready to sacrifice their share of meals so that Oshin does not have to go. “Oshin is only 7”, they protest. It seems father has run out of options. Father says he too does not want this situation but is helpless. He puts up a stern face and tells all these to Oshin. Oshin also protests, but the father does not budge. Father tries to lure her that she will get to eat meals that fill her stomach, and here at home, food is always insufficient. Oshin argues that she does not care about food. She also wants to go to school with her friend Kiyo.
She starts arguing with her father and asks why the brother stays at home, and she has to go if the food is less. Father says he is a boy, and fieldwork needs his help. Oshin immediately replies that she too will work in the field as well as look after younger siblings. Father then loses his cool, shouts at her, and tells her that sending her is already decided. Oshin continues and reminds him that she wants to learn reading/writing at school. Father replies in a loud voice that there is no use for girls learning to read/ write.
(This was the mentality in the early 1900's, but have we able to change this? Even now, in rural and some pockets of urban India, patriarchy prevails, depriving girls of their right to education!)
At this point, Fuji tries to calm Sakuzo, her husband and tells him that she will deal with Oshin later. She asks Oshin to play outside.
Oshin starts crying in her mother’s lap; mom tells her not to worry. They will let her stay at home; she will talk to her father. Meanwhile, Grandmother feels helpless that she cannot work and cannot contribute to the family income. She starts crying too. Fuji tells both of them that she would do whatever it takes to stop the father from sending Oshin to work. She tells Oshin not to worry, and she will make sure that Oshin goes to school. Fuji, too, has high hopes of Oshin going to school and doing very well in her studies. Oshin is again happy, and with a sparkle in her eyes, she dreams of school.
At night when kids are asleep, Fuji talks to Sakuzo to reconsider his decision. She persuades him to let Oshin stay and argues that if starving is required, all family members can starve together. She is ready to work more if needed. Sakuzo, Oshin’s Dad, reminds her that she is carrying another child, which means that they will have another mouth to feed. Fuji continues to plead that they will somehow manage. Grandma is awake, and she has now learned that Fuji is pregnant, so she gets even more worried.
BACK IN THE PRESENT TIME…
Oshin is sharing all of these forgotten past events with Kei while lying in bed. It is already late. She tells Kei that with assurance from her mother, she felt happy. She still did not know what it was to be severely impoverished. That is the reason that she was able to protest to her father. Only later she realized the real situation. As she remembers the old times, her face fills with pain. She does not want to continue and asks Kei to sleep.
Meanwhile, the scene changes to Tanakura’s house, where Nozomi has come to inform Hitoshi and Michiko about the latest phone call he received from Oshin. Hitoshi and Michiko understand that Mother will not be back soon. Oshin, as well as Kei, are not ready to divulge their location too.
Nozomi tells them that Oshin mentioned that she did not leave the house out of protest and wanted Hitoshi and Michiko to know about this. Michiko is still upset that neither Oshin nor Kei called them directly. Nozomi tries to reason with Michiko that this is an older woman’s wish. Michiko cannot take this lightly. Hitoshi once again puts a brave face and says that we can manage without her. Let her take these trips. Nozomi is not so worried as Kei is with her, and he will inform them if they face any trouble.
Suddenly, Takeshi Tatsunori (Oshin’s son-in-law, Tei’s husband) arrives in a hurry. He has a worried look on his face. He takes Hitoshi out of the room. Takeshi gives his boss the bad news that the Namiki family, who live close to the railway station, agreed to sell their business and plot to the supermarket chain.
(it seems that the rumor has come true, which was heard on the opening day, that a supermarket chain is trying to open another massive store near the 17th store)
Kei wakes up the next morning. It is another cold day. He can very well imagine that once Nozomi tells Hitoshi that Oshin will take a long time to return, there will be a commotion in the house. Oshin has not disclosed her location to anyone yet. Oshin is not disturbed, as she knows that Hitoshi would have got the bad news by this time, and he would have other, more pressing, worries.
Kei suggests that they should take a rest today as they had a tough time yesterday. Oshin does not want to rest. She is fully dressed up and wants to take a trip up the Mogami River.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogami_River
She wants to call a taxi. Kei gets up to call a cab, but grandma’s childhood events are still in his mind, and he asks if Oshin was able to continue at home. He hopes that Oshin did not have to work as an only six years old child. He questions grandma again. Oshin avoids him and calls for a taxi.
Oshin’s eyes are looking in the past with sadness.
Episode 6 is coming soon, and we will have some answers.