Bheela’s Blog -045
25 September 2021
Episode 44 Recap
Oshin confesses to Ms. Kuni that she cannot marry Mr. Sakuragi and wants to quit her job. Ms. Kuni and Fuji both try to persuade Oshin to re-think her decision. Oshin shares all the secrets with her mom, and then Fuji understands.
Ms. Kuni gives some money to Oshin when she leaves Kaga-ya.
Oshin reaches home to her father and brother. She is full of uncertainties.
Please click the link to read the full Episode:
https://bheela-wadehra.medium.com/bheelas-blog-044-8f582e7b4b45
Episode 45
FLASHBACK CONTINUES
Oshin was home again after eight years. She was reluctant to go inside. She knew that her father and elder brother, Shoji, would not welcome her homecoming.
Oshin looks at her house. It is at the foot of the mountain, surrounded by lush green trees and bushes. A streamlet flows nearby. Her father returns from work, he looks at Oshin briefly. Not recognizing her, he greets her, bowing with respect, and walks on. He stops for a while to take a look, and then he understands. He is surprised and asks, ‘Oshin, is that you?’ He comes closer and exclaims, ‘Oshin, you sure have grown up!
Did you get time off? I figured that you would be home before you get married. Come on inside!’ He smiles and sounds pleased to see her.
Oshin comes inside and sits in front of the plaque, kept in memory of her loving grandma. She folds her hands in prayer and says, ‘Grandma, I’m home. I am sorry I haven’t been home to offer you incense.’
Her father joins her and says that grandma would have been glad to see Oshin. Oshin now has grown up to be a fine woman, he says. Sakuzo feels that grandma would have been happy to hear the news of Oshin’s wedding. He asks Oshin, ‘How long can you stay?’ Oshin divulges her status now and says, ‘I am not going back to Sakata anymore. I have quit my job with Kaga-ya. I have turned down that marriage offer too. They turned me down, actually.’ Hearing this news from Oshin, the father’s face changes. He gets upset and shouts at Oshin.
Oshin comes running to sit close to her dad. She says, ‘I will find another job soon. Let me stay in until then.’ Father composes himself and asks, ‘Why did they turn you down?’
‘A lot happened. I am still 16; there is no hurry. I will find another job right away. It couldn’t be helped. I am sorry,’ Oshin somehow manages to speak in front of her dad. She knows that dad won’t welcome her and feels guilty already. To her surprise, her father is calm. He says, ‘That is all right. Even if that man is rich, it is not as if you can do as you please with his money. To become a wife is to work for nothing! It is ridiculous! I didn’t want you to get married. Keep working, and you can earn good money. I still have debts to pay off. Your younger siblings have gone to work too. We were counting on the money you sent each month.’ Out of extreme poverty and never-ending debt, the father comes out with these thoughts of surviving each day!
‘I will earn money for all of us!’ Oshin promises enthusiastically.
***
There isn’t much food at home. Oshin finds a turnip and starts washing it in the streamlet. Shoji arrives from work too, and Oshin calls out, ‘Shoji!!’ Shoji is also equally surprised to see Oshin. He comes closer, and Oshin watches him. He is carrying someone on his back. Oshin asks him, ‘Who is that on your back?’
‘She is Haru,’ Shoji turns and shows to Oshin. Haru, Oshin’s sister, went to a textile mill to earn wages as a laborer, is extremely sick.
‘Get her bedding out in the shed.’ Shoji instructs Oshin.
‘Why in the shed?’ Oshin is startled with shock.
‘Just do as I say,’ Shoji is now impatient.
‘She is so sick, we will put her inside,’ Oshin disagrees with Shoji.
‘It is all right, I will be okay in Shed,’ Haru, who is weak with sickness, finally speaks. She is embarrassed to have caused this fight between Shoji and Oshin.
‘It’s me, Oshin!’ Oshin shakes the arm of Haru, trying to understand her condition. Haru smiles at Oshin, and it gives some relief to Oshin. Oshin happily tells her, ‘You are home now; I will make dinner right away.’
Oshin runs towards the entrance. Shoji hesitates to take Haru to the house, but looking at Oshin, he gets inside too. Oshin and Shoji join to place Haru on a mat. Oshin touches her forehead and feels that Haru has a very high fever and needs a doctor. She asks Shoji to get a doctor. Haru stops and tells them that she knows that the disease is already in bad condition.
Oshin is not convinced. Haru says that doctor will be a waste. Haru also knows the financial condition of their family too well. Oshin comes close to Haru and tries to shift her to make her more comfortable. Shoji tells her not to be too close to Haru or else she will catch the virus too. Haru tells Oshin that she is feeling better and she will take care of herself. Haru doesn’t want others to get the disease that infected her. Before she could say any further, a spell of cough grips her. Oshin rubs her back to give some relief. ‘It is her lungs,’ the father says, ‘It is now in bad shape; it is said that this illness is highly contagious.’
‘She will die like this. I will get a doctor.’ Oshin cannot wait any more, and she runs towards the door. Shoji stops her saying, ‘It is no use; that is why they sent her home from the textile mill.’ Oshin won’t hear anything, she says, ‘Haru needs a doctor, some medicine and food!’ Shoji then starts shouting. He says, ‘we don’t have money for a doctor! We don’t even have enough to eat ourselves!’
Haru gets up somehow, hearing the noise, taking support from a pillar; she says she will just rest in the shed. She wants to ensure that no one in her family should catch it. Oshin tries to hold her, and she asks Oshin to leave her alone. Haru gathers all her strength and says, ‘I don’t need a doctor or medicine. Eating can’t help me now. It will just be a waste. Just put me in the shed; I will be fine.’
At this point, Oshin loses her patients. She takes the money out from her dress pocket, which Ms. Kuni gave her while leaving Sakata. She shows that to everyone and says, ‘Haru can get better. No one should worry about money. She will definitely get well.’ Oshin hugs her sister tightly. She wants to pass on some energy to her sick sister so that Haru gathers some willpower. ‘You have had it rough,’ Oshin tells Haru, ‘You have worked yourself to the bone. Why didn’t you come home sooner?
Both sisters cry silently.
***
A doctor has examined Haru. He comes out of the door, Oshin follows him, carrying his bag. She thanks the doctor for visiting and tells him that she will go to his clinic to collect the medicines.
The doctor’s face is grim with worry. He decides to share the truth with Oshin; he says, ‘Oshin, I will be honest with you. No medicine can help her now. Let her eat whatever she wants. She has worked hard, let her enjoy herself. Let her see her mother while she still can.’
(In Japan, the industrial revolution before and after the first world war, saw a boom in textile mills. Women were employed in these factories from poor families at meager wages. They were kept in accommodations without basic hygiene. Tuberculosis and other illnesses were rampant. A detailed report by historian Ms. Janet Hunter provides information on working women in Japan in the early 20th Century. Click the link to read more on this subject http://www.mrbuddhistory.com/uploads/1/4/9/6/14967012/japanese_women_at_work.pdf source: Internet)
***
Haru is fast asleep with tiredness. Shoji, Sakuzo, and Oshin discuss among themselves. Shoji says, ‘With Oshin and Haru here, I will never be able to pay off our debts!
‘I told you, I have money that Kaga-ya gave me. I want to be able to help Haru.’ Oshin says and remembers the words of Ms. Kuni when she said that with money, you will never feel small in front of your brother.
‘What a time to get sick like that. Haru can’t work, and she will cost us money!’ Shoji says rudely as always.
‘Don’t talk like that!’ Oshin interrupts him, saying, ‘for whom was she working all these years? It was for all of you!’
‘I don’t want her in here. If we catch it, we will all die!’ Shoji declares.
‘You are just going to leave her in the shed?’ Oshin is now angry with her brother’s attitude.
‘We have to think of the living first!’ Shoji continues to be aggressive. ‘Don’t blame me,’ he says.
Sakuzo was sipping soup all this while and was quiet. He starts speaking up, ‘The textile mill is a terrible place. They took her services, and now that she caught the disease, they have tossed her out just because she can’t work. They made her sick. They should be the ones to care for her!’ father is equally insensitive. Extreme poverty and the vast debt made many people think only of their own survival.
‘It is no use talking like that now.’ Shoji says.
‘I will go to Sakata. Mother needs to come home.’ Oshin wants to follow the advice of the doctor.
‘She is working,’ father replies, only thinking of the wages she sends home.
‘Mother would want to see her!’ Oshin insists.
‘She is working, don’t bother her.’ Father repeats with anger.
‘You and Haru aren’t working! We can’t have our mother here, too! Shoji thinks the same way as his father.
‘I gave you money!’ Oshin reminds him.
’30 yen isn’t enough! That money will be gone in no time! It is barely enough for your food.’ Shoji continues to shout.
(I checked in internet; 30 yen in 1920 could buy 100 kg of rice, it was indeed a lot of money Ms. Kuni gave to Oshin)
***
It is very early in the morning. The surrounding in the mountains is quiet, except for the sound the small stream which flows near their hut makes. Oshin wakes up early, as usual. She looks at Shoji and her father, who are both asleep and snoring. She comes out and walks to the shed. She can hear Haru coughing loudly with difficulty in breathing. Haru is sitting and has taken support of a wall.
‘What are you doing here?’ Oshin exclaims.
‘I prefer it here in the shed,’ Haru says with a smile on her face. She says, ‘Oshin, do not bother about me. Tuberculosis is bad.
If you catch it, that will be the end of you. I can cough all I want out here in the shed; it won’t disturb others. I am just waiting to die. That is all.’
(In her sickness also, Haru thinks about others. Both Haru and Oshin have learnt the trait of selflessness and kindness from their mother and grandma)
Oshin covers Haru’s throat by pulling and folding her Kimono properly. She goes inside the hut and makes a noise with her foot as she walks past the sleeping men. Sakuzo and Shoji both wake up. Oshin takes a mattress out.
‘Where are you going with the bedding?’ father asks her.
‘Haru insists on sleeping in the shed. She cares about both of you. This is her house too!’ Oshin replies to her father.
‘All sick people go out to the shed. Be careful you don’t catch it! Shoji says; he is defiant.
Oshin walks out with the bedding ignoring him. Both men go back to back to sleep. Oshin makes the bed in the shed for Haru. She helps Haru sleep. Haru thanks Oshin and says that she didn’t expect Oshin to be home. She asks why did Oshin come back. She had heard that they were taking good care of Oshin at Sakata.
‘The Gods sent me back here to care for you.’ Oshin has an instant reply!
Oshin lovingly talks to her sister and says, ‘Don’t mind our father and brother. I will take good care of you! You worked hard and sent home all your earnings. You deserve to take it easy now. I will do anything for you.’
‘My body has failed. I can’t do anything now. I have nothing I want.’ Haru replies in a weak voice. She doesn’t have much strength left, but she wants to share some thoughts with Oshin and says, ‘If I had to live my life over again, I don’t want to be born to a sharecropper’s family. I don’t blame anyone. It is just a shame that I am a sharecropper’s daughter.
I don’t envy the rich. I just don’t want a sharecropper’s life. I had enough of it.’
Haru is tired after speaking so much. Oshin looks at her; she has the same thoughts. Oshin, too never wants to be poor anymore. The poverty of sharecroppers is laden with never-ending debts, which turn them cruel and brutal.
What will happen next? Will Haru’s health improve with the loving care of Oshin?
We will know more in Episode 46 coming soon.