Shuli Zhao
Sanjay
Sanjay was finally persuaded to act in the play for 3 days since he re- ceived money from the commune and steamed buns from the audience.
There was a custom in the village–audience should tip those people who act in the opera during Spring Festival. Although it isn’t a big mon- ey, no more than 20 cents, Sanjay got 30 cents since he was a good per- former.
At that time, villagers would gamble for entertainment in the first lu- nar month. On the morning of 17th in the first lunar year, Sanjay who just got 30 cents from the temple, was stopped by a group of teenagers addicted to gambling. They forced Sanjay to gamble with them regard- less of Sanjay’s anxious expectation to go back home. Some thought San- jay was hen-pecked, while others thought he cared too much about 30 cents. Their words were all mean, like “Does 30 cents equal to your life?” or “Sanjay wants to save the money for his own wife”, which embarrassed Sanjay, so he decided to gamble with them. As a smart guy, he knew how
to control himself. When he was still a boy, he would gamble with other children during Spring Festival but he gave up in recent years due to dif- ficulties in life. For a while, Sanjay won over 1 yuan.
Chapter 5
Going back home, Damayanti told Sanjay, “The foreman came to find you. Vasin summoned his employees to work after the 15th day in the first lunar year.” Sanjay answered: “I earn 1.5 yuan a month. I owed Vasin 90 yuan, so he earned 3.6 yuan from us per month under the con- dition that I work for him free of charge. I don’t know how to cover the debts.” Damayanti said, “If you don’t work for him, how can we pay back the money?” Sanjay said, “I can find other jobs.” “The money you earn from those jobs are all given to Vasin.” Damayanti answered, “How can we live our own lives?”. Sanjay yelled, “We have lost our own lives long ago.”
Sanjay thought they would live in tough life whether he worked for Vasin or not. He made the decision to buy some rice first instead of work- ing as land laborer. Then he shared the thought with Damayanti and went to the market with a bag.
When he passed a single man’s home, Sanjay heard the noise of throwing coin[13] so he went into the house–it turned out to be those teenagers who gambled with him yesterday. A boy stopped him and shouted, “Why did you directly leave after winning money? It’s unrea- sonable.” Sanjay replied, “I wasn’t responsible for your loss.”, and wanted to leave. However, the teenage blocked him, patting coins in his pocket, and said, “You will win again if you are really capable.”
Therefore, Sanjay gambled with them and didn’t lose or win. A man came in and laid 1 yuan in the game. Most teenagers were too sacred to play with him (loser will lose a lot in the gamble), only leaving around 4 people. The teenage told Sanjay who wanted to leave that, “Your tricks only work on me. You must fail facing big man.” Sanjay hated being re- garded as inferior to others, so he gambled with that man and won 1 yuan. Then the man laid 2 yuan, and Sanjay followed despite that he thought it costed too much. Luckily, Sanjay won again, which irritated the man who laid 5 yuan then. This time, Sanjay lost. The veteran called him to work but Sanjay only replied, “I will think for a while. Maybe I
won’t work for Vasin.” The teenager told the veteran that “It’s critical mo- ment. If he won, he could earn living expenses for months!” Without say- ing a word, the veteran left.
Soon, a child came in, shouted, “Run! The village head came to catch illegal gambling.” The word shocked everyone, from gambler to observer, and they ran away immediately. Vasin didn’t catch anyone finally.
At night when Sanjay returned home with rice, Vasin let the veteran to teach him a lesson and told him to continue to work. Sanjay proposed a requirement, “If you want me to work for you as long-term land labor- er, you should lend me grains for a year firstly.” Vasin thought to himself-
–Sanjay couldn’t pay back debts even with all the harvests on his own land. How could he return other grains? It’s more worthwhile hiring oth- ers–and then said, “OK. You don’t have to work for me, but you must pay back 7 yuan interests last year now.” Sanjay answered, “Take my 4 mu land! Even if I till land for a year, I still have to give the harvest to you.”
It was settled. Two days later, Vasin asked his employees to till San- jay’s land.
It took Sanjay several years to ameliorate the land which was cultivat- ed by others now. The fact annoyed Sanjay a lot, so he decided no longer went to the land. However, he lived closely to the land. Each time he went out, it would remind him that his land was occupied. Therefore, he stayed in the casino day after day. No matter he gambled or not, Sanjay was a regular visitor there. Gradually, Sanjay became indispensable for the casino too.