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JANUARY NIGHT, , Prem Chand, , , , Dhanpat Rai (1880 - 1936), born in Varanasi on July, 31, 1880 was a prolific writer of both Hindi and Urdu., He changed his pen name to “Premchand” after his, book “Soje Vatan” was banned by the then British, government. He wrote about the realities of life and the, various problems faced by the common man ina, turbulent society. He focussed chiefly on rural India and the exploitation, faced by a common villager at the hands of priests, landlords, loan sharks,, etc. He also emphasised on the unity of Hindus and Muslims. Some of his, well-known works are Godaan, Gaban, Karmabhoomi, Pratigya, etc., , , , , , , , , , A. Answer these questions orally : ., 4. Have you ever heard stories which deal with the life, of animals or birds? Who told you those stories and, what lesson did you learn from them?, , PART -!, , HALKU came in and said to his wife, “The landlord’s come! Get, the rupees you set aside, I'll give him the money and somehow or other, we'll get along without it.’, , Munni had been sweeping. She turned around and said, ‘But there’s, only three rupees. If you give them to him where’s the blanket going to, come from? How are you going to get through these January nights in the, fields? Tell him we’ll pay him after the harvest , not right now.’, , For a moment Halku stood hesitating. January was on top of them., Without a blanket he couldn’t possibly sleep in the fields at night. But the

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SUPPLEMENTARY READER -X, : “2, landlord wouldn’t be put off, he’d threaten and insult him, so what did it, matter if they died in the cold weather as long as they could just take care., of his calamity right now? As he thought this he moved his heavy body, (he gave the lie to his name) and came close to his wife. Trying to coax, her he said, ‘Come on give it to me. I’ll figure out some other plan.’, , Munni drew away from him. Her eyes angry, she said, “You’ve, already tried “some other plan’. You just, tell me what other plan can be, .found. Is somebody going to give you a blanket? God knows how many, debts are always left over that we can’t pay off. What I say is, give-up, this tenant farming! The work’s killing you, whatever you harvest goes to, pay up the arrears, so why not finish with it? Were we born just to keep, paying off debts? Earn some money for your own belly, give up that kind, of farming. I won’t give you the money, won’t., , Sadly ! Halku said, ‘Then, I’ll have to put up with his abuse.’, Losing her temper, Munni said, ‘Why should he abuse you — is this his, kingdom?’, , But as she said it her brows relaxed from the frown. The bitter, truth in Halku’s word came charging at her like a wild beast., , She went to the niche in the wall, took out the rupees and handed, them over to Halku. Then she said, ‘Give up farming this time. If you, work as a hired labourer you’ Il at least get enough food to eat from it. No, one will be yelling insults at you. Fine work, farming someone else’s, land! Whatever you earn you throw back into it and get insulted in the, bargain.’ , :, , Halku took the money and went outside looking as though he were, tearing his heart out and giving it away. He’d saved the rupees from his, work, paisa by paisa, for his blanket. Today he was going to throw it away., With every step his head sank lower under the burden of his poverty.

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JANUARY NIGHT, , 3, , PART - li, A dark January night. In the sky even the stars seemed to be, shivering. At the edge of his field, underneath a shelter of cane leaves,, Halku lay on a bamboo cot wrapped up in his old burlap shawl, shivering., Underneath the cot, his friend Jabra, the dog, was whimpering with his, muzzle pressed into his belly. Neither of them was able to sleep., , Halku curled up drawing his knees close against his chin and said,, ‘Cold, Jabra? Didn’t I tell you, in the house you could lie in the paddy, straw? So why did you come out here? Now you'll have to bear the cold,, there’s nothing I can do. You thought I was coming out here to eat puris, and sweets and you came running on ahead of me. Now you can moan, all you want.’ ., , Jabra wagged his tail without getting up, protracted his whimpering, into along yawn, and was silent. Perhaps in his canine wisdom he guessed, that his whimpering was keeping his master awake., , Halku reached out his hand and patted Jabra’s cold back. ‘From, tomorrow on stop coming with me or the cold will get you. This bitch of, a west wind comes from nobody knows where bringing the icy cold with, it. Let me. get up and fill my pipe. I’ve smoked eight pipefuls already but, we'll get through the night somehow. This is the reward you get for, farming. Some lucky fellows are lying in houses where if the cold comes, after them the heat just drives it away. A good thick quilt, warm covers, a, blanket! Just let the winter cold try to get them! Fortune’s arranged, everything very well. While we do the hard work somebody else gets the, joy of it.’, , He got up, took some embers from the pit and filled his pipe., Jabra got up too.

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SUPPLEMENTARY READER -X, 4, , Smoking, Halku said. ‘If you smoke the cold’s just as bad, but at, least you feel a little better.’, Jabra looked at him with eyes overflowing with love., , “You have to put up with just one more cold night. Tomorrow I’ll, spread some straw. When you bed down in that you won’t feel the cold.’, , Jabra put his paws on Halku’s knees and brought his muzzle close., Halku felt his warm breath., , After he finished smoking, Halku lay down and made up his mind, that however things were he would sleep now. But in only one minute his, heart began to pound. He turned from side to side, but like some kind of, witch the cold weather continued to torment him., , When he could no longer bear it he gently picked Jabra up and, patting his head, got him to fall asleep in his lap. The dog’s body gave off, some kind of stink but Haiku, hugging him tight, experienced a happiness, he hadn’t felt for months. Jabra probably thought he was in heaven, and, in Halku’s innocent heart there was no resen.ment of his smell. He, embraced him with the very same affection he would have felt for a, brother or a friend. He was noi crippled by the poverty which had reduced, him to these straits at present. Rather it was as though this singular, friendship had opened all the doors to his heart and brilliantly illuminated, every atom of it., , Suddenly Jabra picked up the noise of some animal. This special, intimacy had produced a new alertness in him that disdained the onslaught, of the wind. Springing up, he ran out of the shelter and began to bark., Halku whistled and called him several times. But Jabra would not come, back to him. He went on barking while he ran around through the furrows, of the field. He would come back for a moment, then dash off again at, once. The sense of duty had taken possession of him as though it were, desire.

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JANUARY NIGHT, , 5, , PART - til, , Another hour passed. The night fanned up the cold with the wind., Halku sat up and bringing both knees tight against his chest hid his face, between them, but the cold was just as biting. It seemed as though all his, blood had frozen, that ice rather than blood filled his veins. He leaned, back to look at the skies. How much of the night was still left! The, Dipper had not yet climbed half the sky. By the time it was overhead it, would probab be morning. Night was not even three hours gone., , Only a: sone’ 's throw from Halku’s field there was a mango grove., The leaves had. begun to fall and they were heaped in the grove. Halku, thought, ‘If I go and get a pile of leaves I can make a fire of them and, keep warm. If anybody sees me gathering the leaves in the dead of night, they’1l think it’s a ghost. Of course there’s a chance some animals hidden, in my field waiting, but I can’t stand sitting here any longer.’, , He ripped up some stalks from a nearby field, made a broom out, of them and picking up a lighted cowdung cake went toward the grove., ‘Jabra watched him coming and ran to him wagging his tail., , Halku said, ‘I couldn’t stand it any. more, Jabra. Come along, let’s, go into the orchard and gather leaves to warm up with. When we’re, toasted we’ll come back and sleep. The night’s still far from over.’, , Jabra barked his agreement and trotted on toward the orchard., Under the trees it was pitch dark and in the darkness the bitter wind blew,, buffeting the leaves, and drops of dew dripped from the branches., , Suddenly a gust carried the scent of henna blossoms to him., Where’s that sweet smell coming from, Jabra? Or can’t your nose make, out anything as fragrant as this?’ :