Shuli Zhao
Sanjay
Chapter 6
Ever since, Sanjay was addicted to gambling. At first, he only gam- bled within local casino, and then he was pulled to other villages. Some- times, he would gamble outside for 3 months. The neighbor auntie told Damayanti that “You should persuade Sanjay not to gamble. If he really immerses in the abyss, he will ruin your life.” Damayanti followed, but Sanjay said, “I don’t care. I am a loser.”
When he won some money, Sanjay would buy some food for Damayanti and their child; when he lost, he would rather to starve in- stead of coming back home. He knew gamble was wrong and didn’t want his family to suffer. Damayanti understood Sanjay’s idea so she followed him; she herself fed the family. She couldn’t afford cotton when weaving cloth, so she worked for others to make money.
In winter, Damayanti got a piece of cloth as reward for her work when she was pregnant. She decided to use it to change rice. Sanjay came home, losing all money even his cotton-padded clothes. In freezing cold winter, Damayanti felt heart-broken seeing he was only in a crap suit.
On the 20th day in the first lunar month, Damayanti gave birth to their second child. Same as before, they had no rice left and their 4-year- old son cried due to empty stomach. So did Sanjay. Damayanti asked Sanjay to borrow rice from their neighbor and she would work for them to pay back. Sanjay did so. However, he was notorious as he was addicted to gamble so they rejected him. Hearing Damayanti and children’s cry- ing, their neighbor granny asked Sanjay, “I have an errand. Would you like to deal with my dead grandchild?” The first idea that struck Sanjay was “Why did you let me do such disgraceful thing? It’s an insult.” These words were not exported because he knew it was reasonable. “What’s your opinion? Don’t hesitate. It’s better than borrow rice from others.” The neighbor granny pressed. Sanjay agreed. He had lost his face long ago. He went out with a mat (wrapping the body). Sanjay chose byway in case of being noticed. Outside the village, he took a sneak at several person behind him. They were talking about him, but Sanjay didn’t catch
who they were and what they were talking about but his name. Under such circumstance, he had nowhere to hide himself or the mat, so he ran away as quickly as possible.
Sanjay earned 2-kilogram rice. Ever since, Sanjay seemed to be re- garded as a practitioner. Any family losing children would pay Sanjay to deal with the body. Even teenagers in the village would tease that “If any- one of us died, we just need to contact Sanjay.”
In the next Spring Festival, the self-entertainment group refused to act with Sanjay. They think it was shameful.
It seemed a truth: a person without self-respect will no longer care other’s view or personal behavior. Sanjay became such a person. In sum- mer, he would steal some food to fill the belly. If being caught, he would say nothing even being abused verbally or physically. For Sanjay, being full was more important than so-called “face”.
In certain autumn, Vasin’s relative told Vasin that Sanjay was caught in other village and fined 20 yuan because he stole carrots. Hearing the news, Damayanti went to seek help from Vasin. Actually, the reason Vasin’s relative came here was to figure out whether Sanjay had any other belongings. If he had other possessions, Vasin could pay the fine firstly, and Vasin could require Sanjay to write an IOU; if not, he would send Sanjay into prison. Vasin thought although he plowed on Sanjay’s 4 mu land, he hadn’t got the title deed, and Sanjay still had two cottages. All Sanjay’s belongings could cover 20-yuan fine, so Vasin decided to save Sanjay and said, “Damayanti, don’t worry. I will deal with it.” Finally, Sanjay was saved, but he wrote a contact to give his land and cottage to Vasin.
After getting land and cottage, Vasin, together with other relatives, came to teach Sanjay a lesson. At night, around 20 people caught Sanjay and bound him to a tree. Vasin gave orders to whip Sanjay with hemp rope no matter how Damayanti begged. Sanjay’s skin split and flesh pro- truded, so he kept yelling.
It took a month for Sanjay to recover. During the period, they ran out of rice that Damayanti saved for over 6 months.
Chapter 7
Damayanti hoped Sanjay stay at home but Sanjay refuted, “If I don’t seek job outside, what can we eat?” Damayanti had no answer except weeping.
In winter, Sanjay went outside again. Less than a month later, he came back with new clothes and gave Damayanti 5 yuan, better than ever. Damayanti asked how could he earn the money, Sanjay only said “It’s none of your business!” Damayanti bought some food and clothes for children with the money.