Sanjay
Shuli Zhao
trans Moon
This novel tells the story of Sanjay, a poor farmer in China. In order to hold the funeral of his mother and his own wedding, he borrowed 30 yuan from the local landlord Vasin. Within five years, although he worked hard for Vasin, his wages and annual output of his own land were far enough to pay off the debt because of high loan interest rate. Sanjay's family even failed to satisfy their basic need. The cruel real life made the young man gradually give up himself-stealing, gambling, and finally becoming a jerk that villagers hated in the old society. Since Sanjay did something disgraceful, Vasin united with other villagers to bury him alive. Therefore, Sanjay fled outside. After liberation over seven years later, he came back home to move his family. Although the story is short, it talks about inequality in that era and the poor people's…
Shuli Zhao
Sanjay
SANJAY
SHULI ZHAO
Published by Moontrans, 2023.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
For permission requests, write to :
moontrans@mengchenchina.com
ISBN: 978-3-75468748-2
SANJAY
First edition. January 31, 2023.
Copyright © 2023 Mengchen Cultural Communication Group Co., Ltd.
Written by SHULI ZHAO.
Translated by NAOMI HAN.
www.moontrans.com (http://www.moontrans.com/)
Introduction
Sanjay was notorious in the village for his bad habits. The first one was pilfering. When he visited a fellow villager, the house owner would stare at Sanjay until he left. When he passed farmland, people who were ploughing the land should look after their clothes and tobacco pipe in case of being stolen. Anyone in the village who lost domestic animals or something would firstly visit Sanjay’s home and check whether Sanjay was at home or not. However, Sanjay was an important figure when someone died–preparing graveclothes, carrying the coffin and digging the grave couldn’t be done without him.
Sanjay was also proficient in cultivating lands, and he could do the work of two. Even so, no one would like to hire him because Sanjay would gamble even if he only had twenty cents. People whose terrace edge subsided were willing to pay double to Sanjay since the weir that he mended was solid. However, employers must supervise him in case of los- ing something. Later, Sanjay served as a bugler[1] for which his elder fam- ily member Vasin wanted to bury him alive[2], so he ran away and didn’t come back until the National Revolutionary Army liberated the village after the end of World War II[3]. Seeing Sanjay’s poor situation, the vil- lage cadre wanted to help him but was told that Sanjay was a bad guy. After most righteous people who were misunderstood as undesirable el- ements were redressed, the story of Sanjay was known by village cadres.
1
Chapter 1
When Sanjay was 12 years old, his father died. His mother fed the family by weaving cloth. Sanjay was a hard-working and smart boy who could weed and plow seed at the age of twelve. He could also do the chores like an adult when he was around 16 years old but he was less ca- pable in carrying a load. It was at that time when his mother arranged him a nine-year-old child bride[4] –Damayanti who also came from a poor family. Her parents died and her brother couldn’t feed her, so she was sent to Sanjay’s family.
Sanjay’s mother treated Damayanti fairly[5] –the wise woman who only had a son, so she treated her daughter-in-law as her own children. Sanjay joined the village self-entertainment group[6] in which he learned opera. Sanjay was a remarkable performer in the group since he was a boy. In the second year she came to the village, Damayanti went to watch the play performed by self-entertainment group. Other children would joke that “It’s your husband, Damayanti!” when Sanjay came out, which em- barrassed Damayanti. Gradually, people were accustomed to it and no longer teased her. In terms of watching the play, at first, Damayanti only enjoyed the lively atmosphere but later she found that her husband was very handsome compared with other actors. Therefore, she would go to watch the opera even though she was busy. After watching Sanjay’s per- formance, she would come back home in case of being reprimanded by mother.
There was a time when Sanjay played to the end, so Damayanti was
late for preparing dinner and was scolded. She just broke into snigger. Sanjay knew the reasons so he also smiled and said “Why not come back earlier” instead of blaming her.
Chapter 2
When Sanjay was 23 years old, his mother was sick, vomiting all she ate. She knew she couldn’t survive the disease, and their neighbor auntie also advised Sanjay to prepare the funeral. Sanjay’s mother saw the doc- tor at Vasin’s medicine shop many times but she didn’t recover despite taking many medicines.
One day, Sanjay’s mother told the neighbor auntie: “I know I couldn’t survive the winter.” “Don’t think negatively.” The neighbor aun- tie interrupted “No one is immune from disease.” Sanjay’s mother said: “I know myself best. I am not afraid of death. However, there is only one thing that concerns me–Sanjay and Damayanti. Damayanti is 15 years old so it’s time to hold the wedding. There are few members in my fam- ily so I hope you can help us in the process.” Hearing this, the neighbor auntie asked for wedding date and promised to help.
Their wedding was held on 26th July. Damayanti’s brother also par- ticipated in the wedding. Vasin, as the elder family member, entertained guests at tangwu room[7] Sanjay’s mother cooked chicken instead of tofu on the special day.
The wedding finally ended. Sanjay’s mother was satisfied with the sound relationship between Sanjay and Damayanti since they knew each other for a long time.
However, Sanjay’s mother was on the verge of death with the de- creasing temperature after harvest–she even put on cotton-padded jacket in September but still felt cold. Same as before, Sanjay’s mother had stomach ache and vomited all she ate. She had livid rings round her eye and she was so skinny that her cheekbones were prominent.
Sanjay was told by the neighbor auntie again that “I’m afraid that your mother couldn’t make it through. You’d better prepare the funeral.” Actually, Sanjay knew the situation clearly so he went to seek help from Vasin.
Vasin whose medicine shop sold medicine and sundry supplies like coffins made of polar, said: “We have all things ready.” However, Vasin
had a rule that people must write an IOU to him no matter what they used. He told his children that lending money for interest made more profits than doing business.
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