Bheela’s Blog -107
11 December 2022
Episode 106 Recap
Tanokura company has grown to have 11 sewing machines. Ryuzo takes orders for middle school uniforms to grow even more. He starts entertaining the clients and taking alcohol himself in the company of Geisha girls.
He wants to double production by employing night shift workers. Oshin opposes, but Ryuzo doesn’t listen.
Genzi shows him the mirror. When Ryuzo proposes to send gifts to his mother at Saga, Genzi reminds Ryuzo to buy presents for Oshin and his mother, too. This brings him to his senses.
Ryuzo decides to give up the idea of the night shift. He gives money to Oshin to send some to her mother back in Yamagata. Oshin is happy and grateful.
Please click the link to read the full Episode:
https://bheela-wadehra.medium.com/bheelas-blog-106-304033abda33
Episode 107
FLASHBACK CONTINUES
Oshin, heavily pregnant with her first child, doesn’t stop working. She takes out boxes from the cupboard. Genzi is alarmed to see her lifting the heavy boxes.
‘What are you doing? You can’t do this in your condition!’ says Genzi.
‘I am being careful,’ Oshin replies, and she arranges the boxes on the floor.
‘You don’t need to do that!’ Genzi pleads.
‘It is almost New Year’s Day. I have to clean!’
‘You can hire someone to clean the house!’
‘That is such a waste; I can still work!’
‘Your husband is worried, too. He wanted to hire someone, but you were against it. What if something should happen?’
‘I have to do what I can. I will stop when I can’t work anymore.’ Oshin somehow gets up to look at the other boxes kept on top of the cupboards.
(I could relate to our systems here in India. Most of us do the annual cleaning of our homes, usually before the festival. It is also the time of season change when the rains stop and the winters are about to start. Also, the belief is that a woman should continue some physical work during her pregnancy, which results in safe delivery. The similarities in Japanese and Indian beliefs keep amazing me!)
‘Oshin! Oshin!’ Ryuzo is at the door, and he calls Oshin from outside.
‘He is home!’ exclaims Oshin, taking off her scarf. She wobbles her way past Genzi up to the front area.
Girls are busy working on sewing machines, and Ryuzo stands among them, shouting for Oshin.
‘Welcome home! You are home early!’ she goes to the door.
‘We have a guest,’ says Ryuzo cryptically.
‘The back room is a mess. I will straighten it up,’ Oshin gets worried about a guest’s arrival.
‘No, don’t worry about the mess,’ says Ryuzo mischievously.
‘You should have called me first!’ Oshin gets worked up.
‘Ha-Ha!’ Ryuzo laughs at Oshin’s concerns and then calls, looking out, ‘Mother! Come on in!’
‘Mother!’ Oshin is shocked. Fuji is right there at the door with a bag on her shoulder. Oshin can’t believe it!
‘Mother, is it really you?’ Oshin shouts with happiness; she runs to her mother and hugs her. Oshin looks up and down at Fuji, holding her shoulders. Suddenly Oshin gets worried; she asks, ‘did something happen at home? What happened?’
‘Nothing, everyone is fine back home,’ Fuji lowers her eyes; she is overwhelmed by emotions. Oshin sighs with relief.
‘Then why did you come without telling me?’ she makes a mock complaint.
‘You can talk inside,’ Ryuzo reminds them as they cannot move in their joyous moment.
Fuji hadn’t seen Oshin for two years. Not since Oshin’s Dad died and Oshin had come to the village. It is Fuji’s first visit to Tokyo. It is her first meeting with Ryuzo, too.
The tailor girls look on as Oshin and her mom go inside; Genzi follows them, carrying the bag Oshin’s mom brought.
Oshin puts the cardboard boxes aside, lifting two at a time to make space for her mom to sit down.
‘If you had written to tell me you were coming, this place would have been cleaner,’ chirps Oshin.
‘Ryuzo wanted it to be a surprise,’ says Fuji softly.
Now, Oshin is really surprised. She asks Ryuzo, ‘you sent for her?’
‘Yes, I figured you would need your mother when you give birth. After all, it is your first baby.’ Ryuzo replies shyly.
‘That is not all; he also wanted me to see how you live. I was curious, too,’ says Fuji, grateful for Ryuzo’s gesture.
‘I had wanted to meet her for some time, too. I wanted her to be able to see the sights here!’ Ryuzo is excited like a child for being able to make Oshin and her mom happy.
‘He sent me money, too. I didn’t have to ask Shoji or anyone else for travel money,’ Fuji reveals all.
‘Sweetheart!’ Oshin looks at Ryuzo lovingly.
‘I had wanted to be with you when you had your first baby. Then I got the letter and money order from Ryuzo. I am so happy!’ Fuji has tears of joy as she speaks; she bows to Ryuzo.
Oshin gets up and formally bows to Ryuzo, thanking him profusely. All of them start laughing.
‘He came to meet me at Ueno station. He said he would be waiting at the exit, but we didn’t know what the other looked like! I was so worried. But he was holding up this sign,’ says Fuji, taking out a folded paper. Ryuzo tries to interrupt, but Fuji continues, ‘I can’t read, but I knew it was Ryuzo.’ Fuji unfolds the paper and says, ‘I will keep this sign for as long as I live. He held it up like this,’ Fuji shows the flyer holding it. Her happiness knows no bound.
She sobs and says, ‘I couldn’t see anything through my tears.’
‘You took a long time coming out of the gate, so I thought you weren’t on the train.’ Says Ryuzo, beaming.
‘Oshin, you are lucky to have a husband like him.’ Fuji says openly with admiration.
Ryuzo feels embarrassed and tries to change the topic, saying, ‘you can bathe first. You must be hungry!’ He then turns to Oshin and says, ‘you haven’t made her tea yet!’
‘I am family, don’t mind me; we better clean up before it gets dark! I will help you,’ says Fuji, ‘I would like to change first.’
Genzi and Ryuzo look at each other awkwardly and get up laughing. ‘Excuse us!’ says Ryuzo, and he gets up.
Once they leave, Genzi closes the door behind him; Oshin and mom burst out laughing.
***
Genzi touches Ryuzo’s arm and says, ‘you did the right thing! I am impressed.’ Ryuzo laughs with happiness.
***
Fuji ties a scarf on her head and stands on top of a stool. Oshin hands her boxes which she keeps on top of the shelves.
‘Mother, you came at the wrong time,’ Oshin laughs.
‘I didn’t come to play. I came to help you!’ says Fuji.
‘I can still do a lot of work,’ says Oshin proudly.
‘If a pregnant woman doesn’t work, she will have a more difficult time giving birth because the baby will get too big. I had my first two babies out in the fields. I didn’t have time to go home,’ says Fuji, remembering her own time. She pants as she lifts the boxes and places them on the top.
‘This is the last box,’ says Oshin, handing a small box to Fuji.
Fuji continues talking, ‘working makes it easier to give birth. Shoji’s wife wouldn’t listen to me. And Shoji calls me an Ogre, too. He wouldn’t let his wife do anything. So, she had a hard time with her baby. She had it coming! I try to ignore them, but it is hard.’
‘It can’t be helped; times have changed,’ says Oshin, and she starts preparing tea as the mother sits down, removing her scarf.
‘When I came as a bride, I minded my mother-in-law,’ Fuji is in a talkative mood, so she goes on.
‘I guess I am lucky. Ryuzo’s mother still doesn’t recognize me as her son’s wife, but,’ Oshin trails off.
‘You have a good business here. You have a nice husband, and you are having a baby! It must be hard for you two, but at least you have nobody to answer to. That is the best thing.’
‘We had our share of problems. But we are a real couple now. I am grateful and happy you are here,’ says Oshin; they talk like two teenage girls.
‘Always take good care of him!’ Fuji says.
‘Mother, what do you want to eat? I will make you anything!’ Oshin grins from ear to ear.
‘I will be here until you are back on your feet after giving birth. This is so much luxury for me! I feel for Ryuzo.’
‘It is like a dream, the two of us talking like this. After Haru died, I vowed that you wouldn’t suffer through life like her. So, I let you run away before your father could sell you off. I thought then that we would never see each other again. Now, I am in Tokyo with you. Under the same roof! It is like a dream; I don’t want to wake up.’ Says Fuji and starts crying; she keeps a cloth over her eyes.
***
Ryuzo gets a phone call. ‘Geisha?’ he answers, ‘We don’t need Geisha tonight; we are having a family dinner. Yes, two men and two women!’
Oshin shows the front room to her mom, where the stitching is done. Ryuzo comes close to them and says, ‘Mother, were you able to rest?’
‘We finished cleaning, and I showed her the rest of the house.’ Oshin replies cheerfully.
‘I am so sorry you got put to work so soon after arriving,’ says Ryuzo.
Fuji is impressed to see the machines and the work going around; she says to Ryuzo, ‘You sure run a big business here. I had no idea how big it really was. I can brag about it when I go home. Oshin is the most successful one from our village! I am so glad I came to see for myself!’
Oshin continues to laugh with joy.
‘I am not finished yet. I am looking for a space to house 30 machines! I want to do it for our baby!’ Ryuzo shares his plan with Fuji.
‘You sure are a businessman! A man should be like that,’ Fuji is awestruck.
‘Don’t flatter him so much, mother! I already have more than enough. This is just right for us,’ says Oshin.
‘She is always talking like this!’ says Ryuzo. All of them laugh.
‘Oshin, we are all going out for dinner tonight,’ declares Ryuzo.
‘That is wasteful; let me cook us all something!’ Oshin feels energetic with her mother around.
‘Oshin,’ interrupts Ryuzo.
‘Okay, I guess I will let you treat us!’ Oshin gives in to Ryuzo’s wish.
***
Ryuzo takes all of them to a fine dining place. Genzi joins them too. It is the first time Fuji has visited such an expensive restaurant, and she is mesmerized.
‘I have never had such extravagant food,’ says Fuji as she relishes the dish.
‘I wanted you to try it. This place is famous for its cuisine!’ Ryuzo says with pride.
‘Oshin, do you still remember our daikon gruel?’ says Fuji, looking at Oshin.
‘What gruel?’ asks Ryuzo.
‘We stretched the rice with daikon and made gruel. Back then, we could never get enough to eat. When I think about that,’ Fuji cannot complete it, and she wipes her tears with a cloth.
‘It wasn’t just us,’ Oshin tries to make it light, ‘all the sharecropper families ate like that. I didn’t think of it as a hardship. It taught me to be grateful for what I had. It also taught me to appreciate happiness.’
Genzi watches Oshin and Fuji with admiration in his eyes. He straightens himself and says, ‘that was a valuable lesson.’ He laughs and continues, ‘young master grew up in wealth, and that is why he doesn’t hold up well in hard times. Without Oshin, who knows how he would have fared,’ says Genzi with sincerity; he says, turning to Oshin, ‘Please keep taking good care of him!’
‘Genzi!’ Says Oshin lovingly.
‘Genzi is right; I owe Oshin everything,’ Ryuzo speaks up.
‘You are the luckiest woman in all of Japan!’ says Fuji, amidst the flood of tears coming out of her ears.
Oshin thinks so, too, that she is the luckiest in Japan! She wants to have a healthy baby. The future seemed very bright indeed.
We are eagerly waiting for the baby to arrive; let us stay a bit more; the next Episode, no. 108, will come soon!