Premchand

“ They are eating with delight. Hamid is outside this group. Poor fellow has only three pice. Why doesn’t he buy something to eat? He is just looking at others with greedy eyes.
Mohsin says, ‘Hamid, come, have a reorie. It is so sweet-smelling.’
Hamid doesn’t believe this. It seems a cruel joke, for Mohsin can’t be so generous. But still he goes to him. Mohsin takes out one reorie from the leaf-bowl and shows it to him. Hamid extends his hand to take it. Mohsin immediately puts it into his own mouth. Mahmood, Noorey and Sammi clap their hands and laugh. Hamid becomes shamefaced. ”

“ Who eats so many sweets!
Look, there must be tons of them on each shop. People say that djinns come at night and buy them all. Abbajaan used to say that at midnight a person comes to each shop , buys all the sweets and pays in real rupees, just like the one we see.’
Hamid can’t believe it. ‘How would a djinn get so many rupees?’
Mohsin says, ‘There’s no dearth of money for djinns. They can pick it up from any treasury they like. Even steel doors can’t stop them. What do you know? They possess even jewels and diamonds. If they are pleased with someone, they give him basketfuls of jewels. ”

“ So life-like as if they are just about to speak. Mahmood buys a soldier, one with khaki dress and red turban, carrying a gun on his shoulder. Looks as if he is going on a march. Mohsin likes the water-carrier. His back is bent on which he is carrying a goat-skin water bag filled with water and holding the mouth of the bag with one hand. He looks happy. May be, he is singing a song. He is just going to splash water from the bag. Noorey loves the lawyer, who has a scholarly look on his face. ”

“ Groups of people going towards the Eidgah can be seen. People are wearing very colorful dresses. Some are coming in an ekka or a tonga, others in a motor, all drenched in perfume, all full of joy. And this small batch of villagers is moving along, contented and carefree, quite unmindful of their impecunious existence. Everything in the city looks extraordinary to the children. Their eyes become riveted on whatever they look at. They don’t listen even after repeated horns. Hamid is nearly run over by a motor. ”

“ Hamid says, ‘What’s so great about sweets? Books say so many bad things about them.’
Mohsin says, ‘But in your heart you must be wanting to eat them. Why don’t you take out your money?’
Mahmood says, ‘I know his tricks. When we have spent all our money, he will buy and eat and tease us.’
After the sweets shops come the shops selling things made of metal. Some are selling things made of tin, some are selling artificial ornaments. The boys are not interested. They move forward. Hamid stops at the shop selling iron things. He sees a pair of tongs. ”

“ Law is a thing that comes out of the mouth. Shoving it into the mouth sounds absurd, yet there is something novel in this idea. Hamid had won the fight. His pair of tongs is the Rustum-i-Hind. Now, Mohsin, Mahmood, Noorey and Sammi can’t raise any objections.
The respect that a victor naturally deserves from the losers was given to Hamid. The others had spent three to four annas each, but none of them had been able to buy anything worthwhile. And Hamid had done wonders by spending only three pice. That’s the truth. What are toys? They would break quickly. ”

“ What an extraordinary sight, that fills one’s heart with pride, devotion and bliss through this vast, timeless and collective act, as if the spirit of brotherhood has strung all the souls in a single thread. ”

“ How would they know that, if the Chowdhry turned a deaf ear, the Eid would change into Muharrum in no time? And their own pockets are full with Kuber’s own treasure! They take out their treasures again and again from their pockets, count them with great delight and put them back. Mahmood counts. One, two ... ten, twelve. He has twelve pice. Mohsin has one, two, there ... eight, nine ... fifteen. They will buy countless things with their uncountable money – toys, sweets, bugles, balls, and no one knows what all. And Hamid is the happiest among them. ”

“ Then they would steel money from home and get thrashed. Books don’t tell lies. My tongue won’t be infected. And amma would come running towards me on seeing the tongs and cry out, ‘My child, you have brought this for me!’ She would bless me a thousand times. She would show it to her neighbours. The whole village would talk about it. Hamid has brought a pair of tongs for his amma. What a good boy. Who would bless these boys for bringing the toys? The blessings given by the elders reach straight at Allah’s court and are accepted. I don’t have money. That’s why Mohsin and Mehmood show off. ”

“ All are not boys. Some are men, really, with big moustaches. They are so grown up and still studying! God knows how long they will go on, and what they would do after studying so much! In Hamid’s madarsa there are three grown up lads, all of them useless. They get beaten up every day, for not doing their homework. ”

“ Why are they walking so slowly? It seems Hamid’s feet have wings. How can he get tired! They have reached the edge of the city. The road is flanked on both sides with the walled gardens belonging to the rich. The trees are laden with mangoes and litchis. Occasionally a boy throws a stone at the trees. ”

“ Some among them fasted just for a day and that too till afternoon, and some didn’t fast at all; but the joy of going to the Eidgah belongs to all. The roza-keeping is for the elders and the old, for the boys it is just Eid. Every day they have waited for Eid. Now it is here. They want people to move towards the Eidgah without loss of time. They are not worried about their parents' difficulties. They are unmindful whether or not there is ghee and sugar for the sawaiyan, but they must eat sawaiyan. How would they know why abbajaan is desperately running towards Chowdhry Qaim Ali’s house. ”

“ But the nights have to be dark and Mahmood stumbled against something. The basket slipped off his hands and fell to the ground. The soldier along with his gun hit the ground and one of his legs was fractured. Only today Mahmood realized that he was such a good doctor. He found an ointment that could repair that broken leg. ”

“ The village is bustling with activity. People are getting ready to go to the Eidgah. Someone whose kurta needs to be buttoned is running to his neighbour’s for thread and needle. Another whose shoes are tight is running to the oil man. The oxen have to be watered because it would be noon before they returned from the Eidgah. ”

“ He can’t waste one third of his treasure just for going round a few times.
All alight from the merry-go-round. Now they will buy toys. Here there is a line of toy-shops. All varieties of toys – soldiers and village maids, kings and lawyers, water-carriers, washer men and sadhus. ”