On A Winter's Night - Munshi Premchand

On  A Winter's Night - Munshi Premchand

About the Author 

Munshi Prem Chand (1880-1936) was the most renowned figure of Hindi literary world. He enriched Hindi-Urdu literature by writing numerous books in the genre of story and novel. He centred his writings to village and people of lower class. He used simple language which was used by the villagers in day-to-day conversation. He took birth at Lamhi village in Banaras. His stories are the mouthpiece of problems of peasant class. 

About the Lesson 

The lesson 'On a Winter's Night' is a story which takes us into the first quarter of twentieth century. How peasants used to suffer by the atrocity of landlords, is the subject-matter of this story. The story is the English version of Prem Chand's Hindi story 'Poos ki Raat'. Halku was a poor Indian farmer in pre-independence period. He worked hard but he and his family had to suffer a lot. These people had to remain poor throughout their life. 

Halku and his wife lived in a village. They were poor. They owed money to Sohna, the money-lender. Though it was a cold winter, Halku had not bought a blanket. He said to his wife, "Give me some money. Sohna, thể money-lender, has already come twice. We should give him the money. That's how we can get rid of him." "As there are only three rupees", said Halku's wife, "we cannot return his money. We should buy a blanket instead. Since the harvest is not yet done we should wait" Although Halku needed a blanket badly, he did not buy it. He had no woollen clothes, no quilts or blankets. Halku did not like Sohna to curse him. He again begged his wife, "Give me the money, please. I must get rid of him. I will think of some other way of buying a blanket." Halku's wife had tears in her eyes. She said, "Who will give you a blanket ? you cannot pay your debts, why don't you give up farming and become a labourer ? We work so hard, yet we have no comfort. We have to sweat all our Since lives." Halku said, "Do you want me to listen to Sohna's abuses ?" This made her angry and she shouted, "Why should he abuse you ? Is he a king ? Are we slaves ?" But she knew that Halku was right. She did not like anyone abusing her husband. She thought she should give the money to her husband. She took out the three rupees and put them in his hand and said, "Since farming does not give us enough to eat, you should give it up. We do not get any money to spend. The land needs all the money. We are always in debt. What do you get in return for all your hard work ? Only abuses !" As Halku was going to the money-lender, he thought of the money. He did not like the idea of giving up his hard-earned money. He could easily buy a cheap blanket with his small savings. It would keep him warm. But how would he pay his debts then ? No, he would pay his debts first. It was a cold dark night, even the stars seemed to shiver with cold. Since Halku had no woollen clothes, he wrapped himself in an old cotton sheet. He lay on his cot in a corner of his field. His dog Jhabra lay under it. Neither Jhabra nor Halku could sleep. Halku smoked his clay-pipe for the tenth time to keep away the cold. As he smoked, his thoughts went to the rich landowners who were sleepig in their warm beds uder woollen blankets. Where did they get the money from to buy these blankets ? Surely, it was from poor people like him who worked hard and suffered, while the landowners kept on getting rich. Halku lay down again. He tried to sleep. But just as he stretched himself he shivered. The cold went deep into his bones. Since he could think of nothing else, he took Jhabra and made him sleep next to him. This kept both of them warm. They were both happy. As they were about to fall asleep, Jhabra started barking. It was very cold outside, yet Jhabra ran into the field. He barked and ran from one corner of the field to another. Some animals had entered Halku's field. The wind was icy cold. Jhabra had been away for an hour. Halku was cold again. He looked at the sky. It was not yet midnight. Halku thought of the mango orchard and went there. The ground was covered with dry leaves. Halku' shands and feet were numb. Since he had no other way of keeping warm, he made a pile of dry leaves and lit a fire. Jhabra was barking in the field. Halku was alone. Soon the fire died out and the orchard was dark again. Although Halku was warm now, he didn't go out into the field. He felt extremely lazy. As it became colder, his laziness increased. Jhabra was barking loudly. It seemed to Halku that a herd of cattle had entered his fields. He called out to Jhabra. Jhabra did not listen. He kept on barking. Halku thought : "I shouldn't imagine things. When Jhabra is there, no one can enter my fields." Again Halku heard the cattle chewing. As he was cold and lazy he did not move. He stopped worrying about his field and the cattle kept on eating his crop. It was a good crop that year. Halku lay down and slept. When he woke up the next morning, he saw his wife. She said, "Aren't you going to get up today ? Look, the cattle have eaten up all the crop. You should have kept watch." Halku replied, "You can only think of the fields. I had a stomach-ache. That's why I came here, lit a fire and lay down." Everything was lost, yet Halku and his wife went into their fields. His wife was sad. She said, "Now you will have to work as a labourer." "Yes, and I won't have to sleep in the open on a bitterly cold night like this any longer," replied Halku with a sigh of relief.