Bheela’s Blog -068
05 March 2022
Episode 67 Recap
Oshin attends Kayo’s wedding. Kayo accepts this as her fate, trying to forget her past. Oshin meets with Oriki, who helps villagers find employment. Hearing the condition of Fuji, her mother, from Oriki, Oshin visits her village.
Her father and brother mistreat Fuji. Oshin decides to take her to Tokyo.
Please click the link to read the full Episode:
https://bheela-wadehra.medium.com/bheelas-blog-067-d79fa92957c5
Episode 68
FLASHBACK CONTINUES
It is a full-moon night; the moon is shining bright against a dark sky. Fuji is in the shed looking into the sack.
‘What are you doing here?’ Oshin asks as she enters the shed searching for her mom.
‘I wanted to cook some beans for you,’ Fuji replies shyly. She always saves some goodies should her children arrive unannounced.
Oshin had been away for three years. But life was challenging at her home despite the booming economy. This was the life of a poor sharecropper family. Oshin is desperate to take her mother to Tokyo, and she starts this topic as she finds her mom alone, away from her father and brother.
‘Mother, let us go to Tokyo, and we will live together,’ Oshin begins with a lot of hope.
Fuji is startled by this proposal of Oshin. She gets up, goes out to the streamlet, and starts washing the veggies.
‘No, Thanks,’ says Fuji, ‘I came here as a bride expecting to die here. This is my home. We have our fields. We might be poor, but farming gives meaning to my life.’
Fuji continues, ‘I was born into a farm family, and I married a farmer. This is my life. I had experienced going away to work when we had nothing to eat. But I always liked coming back to this life. Thank you for your concerns. And I know you will always be good to me. But I will only be holding you back.’ Words of wisdom come from Fuji.
(When she was speaking, I just remembered how our own grandma, mother, aunts, and all the elderly women of our family said the exact words. No matter how difficult their lives were, they clung to their homes. “Doli pe aai aur arthi pe jaungi” they would say! This means, I came as a bride in a palanquin, and I will depart as a corpse on a bier)
‘No, you won’t!’ Oshin protests.
‘You will have your own family one day. Who would want to marry you if I were around?’ Fuji smiles at her own joke. She looks forward to a good life for Oshin.
‘Mother, don’t say such things,’ says Oshin, now worried.
‘I don’t want to have to mind your husband. If I stay here, and if Shoji finds himself a wife, I would still be the lady of the house. I have worked hard here. Nobody can dislodge me from my place here!’ Fuji concludes with a lot of pride. She is practical too and wants Oshin to touch the sky with her abilities.
‘Don’t worry,’ says Fuji lovingly as she gets up, ‘I am not as weak as you think. Just think of yourself. We weren’t good parents to you, but you have managed to make it yourself. You are a good daughter. I don’t need anything else.’
Oshin is left speechless at her mother’s strong convictions about her life.
***
Post their dinner, Sakuzo works on the straw stack and makes sandals. Shoji lies on the floor under the influence of sake. Oshin comes close to her father.
‘Father, I will send you money every month. I will send as much as I can,’ Oshin says, sitting next to her father.
Sakuzo stops working; he is taken aback and calls his wife. ‘Did you hear that? Oshin wants to help us! Oshin is a good girl!’
‘Pay off your loans with the money,’ says Oshin.
‘What are you saying,’ Fuji tries to protest and stop Oshin do any favors.
‘But be good to mother,’ Oshin wants to make a deal with her father. She continues, ‘with money in your hand, you will not need to fight anymore. All I want is for the three of you to get along. I will work hard and earn money!’
Shoji hears this, and he is puzzled by Oshin’s generosity.
***
Oshin is back in Tokyo; she enters the Cafe Athena. Someko and her friends greet her with welcoming smiles. They all make noise together.
‘I am back,’ says Oshin.
‘You have been gone for a while,’ says Someko.
Oshin has a suitcase in her hand, she says, ‘I am sorry. I just arrived at Ueno station and stopped in to say hello. I will come by regularly from tomorrow. Some Manju cakes for all of you,’ she hands over the cake to the girls.
‘I am so glad she is back,’ says Oyae, the youngest, ‘we missed you, Oshin!’
‘Other hairdressers charge so much more than you,’ says Oshigeko.
‘It is not about the money; I don’t like the hairstyle done by others; it makes me look older!’ Someko says, looking at Oshin.
‘Oshin can make you look younger,’ says Oshigeko.
‘I am not that old yet!’ says Someko, laughing.
‘We are all in the same boat,’ her friend laughs too.
‘I appreciate your support. I will be needing more money now, so please find me more clients,’ Oshin shares with the cafe girls.
‘Of course,’ the girls say in unison.
***
That evening, Oshin goes to Kayo’s flat for cleaning and sorting out. Kayo had asked her to throw all her things as she wanted to start a new life.
Oshin opens the door using the spare key and switches on the light. She looks at the furniture and artifacts. Suddenly a man enters the room, grabs her, and puts a hand on her mouth. She is startled and screams.
‘Be quiet,’ says Kota, who enters quietly hiding from the police.
Hearing his voice, she recognizes him, and he, too, releases her.
‘When did you get back?’ asks Kota.
‘Late this afternoon, what is going on?’ Oshin is still scared and panting.
Kota opens the curtain slightly and checks the road from the slit.
‘Don’t turn the lights on. It is the police; they are on my trail. Japan is one of the few places where strikes are not allowed. It is the workers’ right to strike! The government shouldn’t suppress them.’ Kota talks passionately about the upliftment of the workers and the poor of Japan.
‘When we first met, you were trying to incite sharecroppers to fight the landlords,’ Oshin sits on the floor near Kota so that she can understand what Kota has to say. She, too, has a keen interest in removing poverty from society; specifically, she wants her mother to be out of the clutches of never-ending debts.
‘There is no difference between factory workers and sharecroppers,’ says Kota.
‘Your task is so demanding,’ Oshin says, full of concerns.
‘Somebody has to do it! Kota replies. He continues, ‘I have nowhere to hide but here.’
‘Shall I make you something to eat?’ asks Oshin.
‘No, I will leave as soon as it is quiet outside.’
‘No, you stay here, I will go instead,’ says Oshin, getting up.
‘How is Kayo?’ asks Kota.
‘She got married in Sakata,’ replies Oshin.
‘That is good.’
‘I didn’t tell her about you.’
‘Good, you didn’t.’
‘I didn’t know if I did the right thing,’ Oshin is still in doubt. She says, ‘Miss Kayo is heartbroken! Maybe I should have told her.’ Oshin regrets her decision and continues, ‘She asked me to get rid of her things. She didn’t want any reminders of Tokyo. That is why I came here, but it is so hard for me!’
‘She will get over it soon,’ Kota remains calm, although Oshin is emotional about Kayo. He says, ‘She has somebody now; he will make her forget.’ Kota looks out of the window and says, ‘I guess it is safe for me to go now.’
Oshin controls herself and says suddenly, ‘We will just hold onto this room for you.’
‘I will be leaving Tokyo right away. I don’t know when I will come back. And I will never come back to this room again. Throw her things away as she asked you to do.’ says Kota thoughtfully.
‘Then at least spend your last night here. I will bring you breakfast early in the morning.’
Oshin turns to go, but Kota calls her; she turns and faces Kota.
‘Maybe we will never see each other again. Forgive me for having hurt you,’ it is evident that Kota is deeply in love with Oshin, but he is too much tied to his cause.
Oshin looks down, unable to hide her feelings. But she quickly collects herself and says, ‘I will be back with breakfast early tomorrow,’ she leaves without saying another word. Kota looks on.
***
Oshin had thought that she had gotten over Kota. Having seen him again, she felt differently. Somehow, she didn’t want this to be their last meeting. As she walks back home, she stops on the way and starts thinking about Kota.
***
Oshin wakes up early the following day. She prepares breakfast for Kota with a lot of care. Her landlady wakes up; she enters Oshin’s room sliding the door open and greets Oshin.
‘Good morning,’ says Oshin.
‘Cooking so early in the morning?’ comments the elderly woman looking at the dishes.
‘I am so sorry if I disturbed you,’ Oshin is always polite and friendly to her elders.
‘We are an old couple; we rise early!’ says the lady; she asks Oshin, ‘Going for a picnic?’
‘No, I have to deliver this food for someone,’ Oshin replies, smiling.
‘Quite a feast!’ the woman sniffs the fantastic smell and then leaves.
***
Oshin stands at the door of Kayo’s room, holding the breakfast box wrapped in a cloth.
‘Oshin hear,’ she says, keeping her face close to the door.
There is no answer, so she knocks at the door. After waiting a second, she takes out the spare key and opens the door.
Kota isn’t there in the room. The bed is neatly made. Oshin looks around and sees a paper, and a pen kept on the center table. She reads the message written on the paper, it says, ‘This is the pen I always favored. Please put it to good use.’
(Originally Japanese used brush and ink to write their text. However, fountain pens became popular in post Meji era sometime in 1912 onwards. To know more, please click this link:
Oshin reads, the paper still in her hand; she is in deep thought. All of a sudden, the door opens, and two men enter.
‘Where is he?’ questions one of them addressing Oshin. The other man looks at the room suspiciously.
‘Where did he go?’ the man shouts at Oshin as she doesn’t reply.
Oshin understands that these men are police detectives. And she knows that they came to arrest Kota. She also knows that she is herself in big trouble. She looks bravely into the officer’s eyes directly.
What will happen next? Will the police arrest Oshin?
We will know in the next episode, no 69, coming soon.