Krishan Chander
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Krishan Chander
A red, silk shirt
Reviewed By Syeda Saleha
The title of the book and the publisher’s assertion that the book is a collection of short stories by the great progressive writer Krishin Chander (1913 —1977) will prove incorrect as soon as you open the book and search for an index containing the list of short stories. As you turn the pages, you will find that it is not a selection of short stories but in fact a novella.
This is the first shock. The second shock awaiting the reader is that the novelette was originally titled Jab Khait Jage. It was published in 1952 and the title is symbolic. Khait is a metaphor which Krishin Chander used to present the uprising of the landless farmers in Telengana, now Andhra Pradesh, India. If the present title is the innovation of the publisher then I wonder at the liberty taken. Another irritant, which is not unusual for Urdu publications (of course I am talking about certain publishing houses), is the spelling mistakes and the grammar.
Having said this much about the irregularities, Jab Khait Jage is regarded as a milestone among the novels written by Krishin Chander. As pointed out earlier, the theme is the Telengana movement of the landless farmers. Dr Aijaz Ali Arshad in his book Krishin Chander Ki Novel Nigari regards it as a journey from romanticism to realism. The novella presents the struggle of farmers against the landowners who suppress and exploit them, turning them into bonded labour and depriving them of the fruit of their labour. Sardar Jafri, the noted poet, critic and scholar writes, ‘This novella is also most important in the sense that the helpless farmer (Houri) of Premchand in his novel Gowdaan( The sacrifice of a cow) has returned after a lapse of almost 15 years with a new grandeur. This is not the same helpless farmer but the courageous fighter who is disciplined to fight for the rights of the downtrodden people’.
Jab Khait Jage is the story of Raghu Rao, a young son of a landless farmer who has been sentenced to death by execution at the age of 22. His crime is that he has fought on behalf of the farmers and for this he is charged with sedition. The novella starts with his last night in the cell where he reflects on the events of his life from his early childhood till the day when he was put into prison.
As a child, when he was enjoying a mela along with his father (a landless farmer) he is abused when he tries to touch a roll of silk in a shop. Again, to his dismay, he and his father are picked up by the men of the landowner for forced labour. Raghu Rao resists this high-handedness but when threatened with a gun, his father pleads for mercy. The incident becomes a turning point in Raghu’s life. He runs away from the village and ultimately lands in Hyderabad (Deccan) where he becomes a rickshaw-puller, but because of reckless labour he soon falls victim to tuberculosis.
The father returns to the village to fulfill his son’s last desire: to wear a silk shirt. The villagers do not have silk. Eventually he digs through the dowry box of his late wife and finds her red dupatta which the villagers use to sew a shirt.
He meets a trade union leader, Maqbool, who comes to his rescue by getting him a job in a paper mill and acquaints him with the triumphs of communism in the Soviet socialist republic. Raghu is now a partner in struggle for the rights of the downtrodden.
The comrades grab land from the landowners and distribute it among the landless farmers. By this time Hyderabad is annexed to India by the Congres whose leaders are no different from the former rulers. The manipulations of the feudal class and the new rulers results in the failure of the farmers’ movement. The activists are arrested, put into prison and charged with treason. Raghu Rao is sentenced to death.
On the last night of his life in the prison, his father visits him and Raghu opens his heart before him, asking him not to lament his death because it is for an important cause: Wattiyon (landless farmers) ki duniyan mein virani hai. Kab tuk is viraan duniya mein sannata rahega. Koi oper se aanevala nahin ha. Koi unki haalat tabdeel karne wala nahin hai. Is kaam ko khud Watti logaun ko karna hoga.Varna hazaraun saal ki tarha aaj bhi resham udhar rahega aur uryani idhar rahegi. (The world of the landless farmers is barren. How long it will remain so. No one will come from above. No one is going to change their condition. They will have to do it themselves. Otherwise like for the past thousands of years, the silk will remain on that side and the cloth-less will remain on this side.) The father returns to the village to fulfill his son’s last desire: to wear a silk shirt. The villagers do not have silk. Eventually he digs through the dowry box of his late wife and finds her red odhni (dupatta) which the villagers use to sew a shirt. A procession of 10, 000 farmers gathers at the prison gate and Raghu Rau walks out wearing the shirt feeling as if he is wearing not only a shirt but the flag of his people, the great symbol of their struggle.
The above is only brief summary of the book. There are many more characters, some weak and others strong; the exploiters and the suppressed. Chundri, Raghu Rao’s lady love is a Lambada woman who succumbs to the lust of the landowner’s son, while Jagannath Reddy’s mother, Kashma, joins the band of armed fighters for the rights of the farmers.
The book may be discarded by some as propaganda literature, but Krishin Chander is very vocal about his philosophy of socialism. Today, although the Soviet Union is not the same as when this novella was written, socialism has itself undergone many changes but Krishin Chander was a firm believer in its philosophy of equality, justice and humanity. Revolution in India will succeed but in an Indian way is the message. The reprint of this book will certainly be appreciated by lovers of Urdu literature.
Roti Kapra aur Makan By Krishan Chander Sarang Publications, Lahore 108pp. Rs110
