Why Does The Child Cry?

 (A I Patel)

B.Com.-I , Semester – II

MODULE – V

B)Why Does The Child Cry?

- Mulk Raj Anand

About the writer -

Mulk Raj Anand(1905-2004) is an Indian writer in English. He is notable for.his depiction of the lives of the poorest castes in traditional Indian society. He is admired for his novels and short-stories, which have noted for their perspective insight into the l lives of the oppressed and their analyses of impoverishment, exploitation and misfortune. Anand has published nearly forty books-fiction, non-fiction. He was a recipient of the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1966 and he also won Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Morning Face (1968) in 1971. He is also the winner of the International Peace Prize.

About the story -

Anand's Best Indian Short Stories Vol. I was edited by Khushwant Singh. "Why Does the Child Cry?" is one of his best short stories. Although narrated from the third person's perspective, the protagonist of the story is seven-year old Abdul Latif who lives with his parents in a village in Bengal. It is a terribly sad heartbreaking story about senseless cruelty and how the innocent victims suffer most in absurd wars. Abdul was not mentally bright but he is very agile physically. He is all over the village and everybody loves him. He loves hunting birds and fishing with his friend Ali. One day Abdul comes home and finds his house is destroyed, he runs through the village and everywhere there are dead bodies. He has no understanding of the religious wars that were tearing apart the subcontinent. He begins to run through the village in a panic when he sees a tank, looking for his friend Ali who always helped him. The scenes he sees are depicted with great passion and veracity

 

Summary of the Story -

Abdul Latif, a son of a potter, was known as Late Latif in Nandi Nagar village, because the energy of this 11 year old child was of just seven years. What he lacked in physical ability was recovered by his mental ability. He loved birds and would linger in the streets if he saw them. As a result he was always late to reach home from school, one mile away. His father called him an unbaked earthen pot that would leak if filled with water. Ali was his close friend and the only real friend. Abdul always remembered how a friend of his ducked his head in the river and how Ali saved him from drowning. Ali was not well spoken of but Abdul always backed him.

One day his teacher the famous Tagore poem “Amar Sonar Bangla” was recited in the school after the school was over. Abdul was so impressed that he lingered in school to take it down in his notebook. He wanted to learn it by heart and recite it to his mother, who always told him fairy stories. The word Sonar in the song appealed him and he felt that each straw hut of his colony was lifted up. Illyas used to recite poems to the class nearly every day and mother used to tell him fairy stories nearly every night. Every story of his mother ended with a poem she sang :

"Why does a child cry? Oh why, O child, dost thou cry?

 

Oh, why does the ant bite me?

 

Oh why, oh why ant, dost thou bite me? Koot! Koot! Koot!."

 

His mother was illiterate but a devout woman. Her only complaint against her husband was that he had never bought her a mattress to sit and say her prayers five times a day. Father complained against the regular delay of Abdul but she pardoned him.

 

As he trudged back home, he saw Ali ahead of him going to the Padma. Usually Abdul would go to the Padma to catch fish for the evening meal. He called Ali, but he did not pay heed to his call. He called again in louder and long call. Still Ali did not either stop or look back. Abdul was surprised Ali, who always waited for Abdul and his grams at his house, did not stop. Probably he had stolen some sweets from his mother's box and wanted to eat it alone, he thought. He was sure that Ali had heard him and had even looked back. But instead of stopping as usual to go fishing with Abdul, he was seen jumping from one fallen banana tree to another. As he sat on the stump of a newly felled tamarind tree, he wondered about it. He noticed one thing. Most of the trees and plantations were felled "Who felled the trees?" he wondered and there was a pit at a distance. When he peered carefully he saw a monstrous tank near the pit and a couple of dead bodies of soldiers scattered near it. He was frightened. The Jinns of the soldiers would trouble him, he felt, if he did not go away quickly. He saw his friend still ahead, but now receding in the distance.

 

He turned to Nandi Nagar where he lived with his mother and father in a straw hut. The evening light had engulfed the area and visibility was low. The plot where his father made clay pots, was close to the tomb of the Pir close to the mosque. Suddenly he remembered that his father had told him to come home and take the pots to the Bania Mukhiya at Rangpur and he tried to rush home. But his energy failed to support him. When he reached close to the hill on which the huts stood, he noticed that there were no lights in the huts. Was it early? But no, the fishermen took their food before sunset and set out to catch fish at night. Every hut was lighted with a hurricane lantern, he knew and there was not a single in sight.

As he came close to the Nandi Nagar he noted that something horrible had happened. There was a tank close to the hutment and a couple of dead soldiers around. His teacher had told his students that soldiers were razing huts and houses. He noted that there was a big pit on the road that led to the Nandi Nagar settlement. He reached home only to find that his straw hat had fallen and the roof was on the ground. He ran to the place. Where was Ma? Where was Abbu? He feared that they were dead and this made him think of their Jinns. As he closed his house he saw the donkey Begum lying dead under the heap of broken pots. He stumbled and fell. He moved his hand under the roof but found nothing. He got up, feeling injured as a result of the fall. He noticed that all the huts were razed to the ground and not a soul was around. He called his mother. He called his father. But there was no response. Now he remembered Ali again. He was the only one left to help him and he was alive. So he started running to the Padma to look for the only possible support he could seek.