Bheela’s blog-013
13 February 2021
Episode 12 Recap
Naka Sadaji reaches Oshin’s home with her letter. As no one can read, he takes charge and reads Oshin’s letter to Mother and Grandma. They are all delighted to know Oshin can write and gets to eat.
Two Kempei personnel (Military Police) visit the home of the Lumber Mill Owner. They ask for any deserters around.
A coin is lost, and Otsune blames Oshin for stealing it. Otsune finds the coin given by Grandma to Oshin and blames Oshin for stealing. Oshin’s patient is lost, she decides to quit the job.
She takes a walk along the river Mogami towards her home to be with her Mom without looking back. A snow blizzard starts, and Oshin is engulfed in it.
Episode 13
PRESENT TIME
Oshin watches the flowing water from a bridge on the River Mogami. She is appropriately covered with winter gear, as presently it is about the same time of the year. The whole area is surrounded by snow-covered fields; even the river has a snow layer on the water. Kei comes running towards her. He went looking around for the Nakagawa Lumber Mill shop where Oshin went as a child to babysit against one barrel of rice as wages. Kei tells her that no one knows about the Nakagawa shop here. Oshin starts contemplating, ‘Of course, this happened more than 75 years ago. Although I was seven, I still remember all the events so clearly.’
She also feels that childhood memories may not be so accurate and reliable. Kei says that a lot of change has occurred in this area compared to the description Oshin gave from her memories. The aged population has changed their residences, and the place currently is occupied by the new generation. This generation may not know where the older ones went or what happened to them! Kei jokes with her that may be what she told him from her memory could be all wrong. Oshin joins him humorously and feels that so many things were happening simultaneously, so she might have mixed up the events.
Her life has seen so much, the great depression, the bitter world wars, the earthquakes, and the bombs, that any hardships now feel insignificant.
She also shares with Kei that the biggest shops were the first to go bankrupt during the great depression. Kei still wants to find out about the Nakagawa lumber shop; he wants to ask more people. Oshin is tired, and she refuses further inquiries as she did not come with that intent. It is just that after quitting that mill owner’s job, she could never have any opportunity in her life to return to this place. Even if the store had been there intact, the Master, his wife, the school teacher, and others would already have been long dead.
She is happily sharing her feelings with Kei and tells him that she expected to see the little Take-bo whom she watched, would still be alive. She wanted to see him in person just one more time. Although she knows that he was so young, he wouldn’t remember anything about Oshin. It has actually been such long ago, she is unable to find any sign from those times. She can also not spot the exact location and sits on the ground thinking about those hard times. She feels those events to be her long-lost dreams.
Kei hasn’t seen so much snow, and he is surprised to see huge piles of snow all around. He cannot imagine how her grandma took a walk in the middle of the blizzard towards her village with just the river as a guiding direction. He asks Oshin if it was too cold on that day, just like today? Grandma Oshin replies, ‘Cold is an understatement!’
FLASHBACK RESUMES
As a 7-year-old, she had to face humiliation at the tough job. That day, she could not bear anymore as something exploded inside the girl’s heart. Without caring for the harsh condition of the blizzard, she walked on with the only thought in her mind that she wanted to go back to her Mom. That natural and sincere fervor from her childhood, Oshin really longed for it. Her straw snow boot, barely adequate for the several inches of snow, got immersed into the snow dust as she continued walking. She falls and gets up again. Finally, after some steps walking into the deep snow, she cannot get up. She collapses as she is completely exhausted.
She faints, and her body is covered in snowflakes. She talks to her mother in her dream that she is just about to reach her village to her warmth. She sees her village home in her dream, with snow all around, including on the rooftop. She approaches her home shouting, ‘Mama, I am back!’ She sees her mother and father running out of the home to receive her with happiness. In her dream, her father is also thrilled to see her. She can see a healthy grandma without any ailments, running energetically towards her.
They are all thanking God for her return. She imagines her mother saying that she will not have to go out to work anymore. Father also says that they had an excellent harvest, and none of them will go hungry. There is no worry.
Oshin is in a deep sleep covered in straw; she is in a room of a hut. The room is warmer with a fire burning on a makeshift burner with water boiling in a pan. She opens her eyes and looks around. As she stirs, a bearded man holding her next to him to keep her warm wakes up too. The man tells her in a kind voice not to worry and asks her to rest more. She asks slowly who the man was. He replies to her, consoling, not to worry, and asks her to sleep well to recover. Oshin wakes up without her clothes on, so she is puzzled and asks the man how she has reached this place. She covers herself with the straw as another older man enters the hut. The older man says that he was worried about the little girl, so he is paying a visit to inquire. By this time, the bearded man has prepared warm soup for Oshin with some herbs and asks her to drink it slowly. The soup smells, so Oshin turns her face away from the bowl. The older man tells her that it is Miso soup, usually a bit bitter, and persuades her to drink.
(Miso soup is a Japanese dish, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miso_soup for more details)
The bearded man again tries to feed the soup to Oshin.
She takes a sip and says, ‘Yummy.’ Both men are relieved. Oshin then tells the bearded man that she can drink it herself. They both seem very happy to see Oshin responding to their efforts. The bearded man tells Oshin that her Kimono is completely wet and dirty. He gives her a cloth made of animal fur cut roughly in the shape of Kimono to wear. He puts the fur cloth around Oshin to cover her, adequately removing the straw pieces.
The old man says that when Oshin was brought to the hut, he thought they would lose her. He says that the younger man saved her life. He took good care of her while she was unconscious. Even they both live in the mountain covered in snow with no habitat around, the bearded man decided to find a way to help her. He says that the younger man was by her side all night and warmed her. He blesses the younger man that he will be rewarded suitably by the almighty for helping Oshin come back to life. The old man then starts asking many questions to Oshin, where is she from? Why was she wandering in this area in the middle of a blizzard? Isn’t anyone elder there to take care of her? How did she plan to go from here to the village? Oshin quietly sips the soup, unable to answer so many questions.
The older man says that Oshin was lying unconscious in the middle of a snowstorm covered in snowflakes. The younger man carried her on his shoulder and brought her here to his hut. Oshin tries to thank the younger man. He interrupts by saying that Oshin was lucky not to be covered entirely by snow. It would have been impossible for the older man to spot her otherwise. It was also early morning before sunrise, so both men feel that she is a lucky child indeed. They both assure her that once she gets well, they will take her to her home.
The old man asks her more questions; where does she live? Does she have a home? Has she forgotten the location of her village? What is her name?
The old man is Mr. Matsuji; the bearded man asks him to let the child rest as she is tired. Matsuji then says that as she is the bearded man’s guest, he can decide what to do with the child, he will not get involved. But he fears that some people must be looking for the child already, so it will be better that she leaves this place as soon as possible. It appears that Matsuji wants to keep their location a secret. The younger man agrees silently.
Meanwhile, at the lumber mill, Naka is looking for Oshin, and he is worried for her. Inside the house, the Master and his wife are afraid and are talking to Otsune. The Master is not happy with Otsune’s strict behavior and tells her that she should have been more patient with the child. Otsune defends her stand, saying she did nothing on purpose. According to her, stealing cannot be overseen as this can become a habit. Master is shocked to know that Oshin stole something; he asks them what did she steal? His wife tells him that it was nothing important, and she was about to say to him once he was back from work. The Mistress also believes that Oshin did not steal that 50 cents coin from Otsune’s purse. Otsune then starts narrating the incident that she left the money in her bag for a while and was inside, and Oshin was the only one there. She blames Oshin that she took advantage and kept the coin. Hearing all these, the Master becomes thoughtful, he says, as a matter of fact, Oshin did nothing wrong. It was actually himself who took the coin. There was a vendor at the door to whom Master had to give money; he was short of precisely 50 cents. He took that coin and gave it to the vendor; he meant to return soon but forgot utterly.
His wife gets alarmed to find the truth. She now accuses Otsune that Oshin had insisted that the coin she had was a gift from her grandma, but Otsune did not believe her. The Mistress feels that after this, Oshin will most probably never come back. Master decided to instruct all the workers to look for Oshin and arrange to return the coin to Oshin’s home. Otsune is still indignant; she says that Oshin will come back since a sack of rice is already paid for her year’s work. Her learning period is not over yet, even if all of these happened. She thinks Oshin shouldn’t have run away; it was a minor matter. Both Master and his wife disagree with her but chose to keep quiet.
Oshin is feeling better now. She is warming herself inside the hut. Outside, the blizzard has stopped, but the area is still fully covered in snow. Matsuji and the younger bearded man enter the house returning from hunting. Matsuji says that the weather is improving, so Oshin should return downhill the mountain the next day. He says that the young man will take her home. They should make use of the clear weather immediately since the snow can return again. The young man says that he will take Oshin all the way to her home. Matsuji gets alarmed, and he tells the younger man not to be out of his mind. He should not enter the village at any cost. Oshin is puzzled why these two men want to hide from other people. Matsuji tries to say in a round-about manner so that Oshin does not get to know their real reason for hiding. They both are happy to see Oshin now improving, and her color is back. The bearded man asks Oshin that her parents must be worried for her. They want to ensure Oshin’s safe return as soon as possible. As Oshin is silent, both men pursue her to get ready to return soonest.
Finally, Oshin speaks up and tells them that she has nowhere to go. Both are surprised to see Oshin’s reaction. She then clarifies to them that she escaped from her workplace. But if she returns home, her Dad will go mad, and all her family members will be in trouble again. She is very clear that she will never return to her workplace even if she has to die. Matsuji tells her that she cannot live in the mountain because of harsh conditions.
The younger man, his name is Shunsaku, understands Oshin’s firm resolve. He tells her that if she can endure the difficult living conditions, then she can stay. He then says to Matsuji that even if we drop her downhill the mountain, she won’t reach her home by herself. The snowstorm is expected to rage again. We have difficulty in accompanying her. Matsuji suggests that someone from her village may recognize her and take her home if she goes down the mountain. Shunsaku says that she has her own problems to return home, so, for the time being, we will let her stay here till the snow melts. Matsuji is concerned, but Shunsaku has taken the decision. Shunsaku puts his hand on Oshin’s head affectionately and asks her to rest and get well soon.
Both men discuss sitting outside the hut about what to do with Oshin. Matsuji reminds Shunsaku about his position and challenges him how we can let her stay here. They both are living clandestinely; they have taken mercy on her. After returning to the village, if the child talks about them, they will be at significant risk. She is a threat to them. Shunsaku tries to shoot a rabbit, but it escaped. Matsuji is more worried about Oshin’s stay with them. He tells Shunsaku that he is taking a huge risk by letting the child stay with him. Matsuji tells him further that he is taking care of Shunsaku for the last two or three years since he considers him his son. He tells him we can live here secretly, which is a gift of God, but Shunsaku is trying to deny that.
Shunsaku does not listen to him and shoots a rabbit with his gun. Hearing the gunshot, Oshin wakes up and walks towards both men.
Shunsaku tells Oshin in good humor that we caught a rabbit and will have a feast! Matsuji is still worried. Shunsaku says that the child arrived here running away from her workplace, same as himself. He cannot ignore her.
Oshin was puzzled by the two lonely men living so far into the mountain; she did not know them. But younger man, Shunsaku, who appeared serious behind his beard at first sight, now seems to be kind and warm. She had no idea what is her future from here, but somehow her heart was filled with a strange tranquility.
Why are these two men hiding? From whom? Will Oshin be able to reach her home?
Episode 14 is coming soon with more answers.