Old Man and River
“Did you catch any fish?” when I asked an
old man on the bed of Narayani river, who was frequently pulling the fishing
string between a few second’s intervals whether a fish came to in his hook, he
glanced me back with refrain. Probably he thought as if I were a most
stupid guy in the world who interrupts someone without a purpose. I could feel
he looked a bit offended by my senseless question. He spoke nothing for a short
while rather he concentrated more on his fishing hook as if he had no concern
to my question.
It was almost six o’clock in the evening and the sun was setting behind the hill. Approximately 200 meters south where this old man was trying to catch a fish, a huge bridge was lying across the wide Narayani river. Several busses, trucks, rickshaw and people appeared to be crawling one end to the other. At the same time I could see in the south west across the river Bhrikuti Pulp and Paper Mill that was belching thick smokes in the sky through its big chimneys; a large part of the sky seemed to be full of black clouds. In the far distance across the river, a group of people were walking beside the edge of the river to cremate a corpus. Not only people look sad but I thought the river was also flowing with tremendous plights.
The old man pulled his fishing hook out from the flowing water but there was nothing except a small ball of dough. This time he looked more panicked.
“Umm. . . really irresponsible people who have polluted the river so much. I suppose fish can’t live in this adulterated water,” I said in order to express my sympathy on his failure to catch the fish and I wanted to share his plight. “Perhaps you hadn’t had this problem long ago, had you?”
“No, I would fish around ten kilos everyday when I first came here. At the time the water in this river was crystal and drinkable but can you see how it is now?” The old man expressed his disgust in the end however he answered my question. In his way of speaking I guessed that he must have been from a good family background. I knew it was not so long the place became a city. I was interested in knowing his settlement in this city since it had been a terrible jungle and a store of malaria. Anyway, I was impressed by his subtle response.
“When did you come to Narayangarh?”
“Ummmm. . . thirty five years ago.”
I guessed his motive behind settling down in this place was to own free land. Long ago, then the king distributed lands for poor people to cultivate and settle them down there. To know more about his background I threw a speculation as if I knew a lot.
“Oh! It wasn’t like now then. There had been dense forest all around but it has turned a clumsy city now. Perhaps at the time you could have owned several Bighas* of land,” I stressed on my point, “at the time the place was notorious for malaria and nobody dared to get settled here.”
“Everything has already been determined like your fate. It is your destiny how much you should get here,” he said, “neither a rupee more nor less. This rule implicates too in the case of owning the land.” He spoke as if he was like a great foreteller like Notre Dame.
“But it was easier than now,” I put a stress on my argument. Meanwhile, he once again threw his fishhook as far as he could in the middle of the river. Then he got a big stone beside him and started to roll up his fishing string around it; he still spoke nothing neither thought it was important on further illustration; he went a little farther and took out his half pant and shirt and dived into the water.
Leaving me alone, he seemed enjoying swimming. I had nothing to do. Across the river people had brought a corpus that was being cremated. I saw the corpus started to burn with high flames. The flames reflected the water and the reflection glittered back to my eyes. I felt the darkness slowly engulfing the half of the earth. The sun had already hidden back itself behind the hill. Without talking and greeting to the old man I came back to my nest.
As usual to last a couple of days in the evening I went to the riverside again. It was only the place where you can breathe cold air and avoid burning heat from Narayangarh city. This time again I met the old man who had already been there fishing at the same place. I sat nearby him. The sun was still far above the hill. The life in the bridge was crawling the same as it was yesterday and everyday. There was no breeze in the atmosphere and I felt hot despite open Narayani river flowing by however, the water flowing downwards gave a little pleasure out from the noisy city.
“Are you able to catch one?” I asked the old man as if I became a friend of him.
“No.” he said without looking at me.
“Hmmmm.... It is really a tough job. Isn’t it? I said.
“If you feel the way then everything looks so...,” said the old man as if he didn’t like being asked while fishing. A few second later he spoke, “This is the world where those who are ignorant like me get nothing out of clever and cunning people. I came here being pledged to get a few Bighas of land. Initially they told me I would be the owner of three Bighas of land. They showed me a big barren plot which I was supposed to be the owner. I cultivated the land with my blood and toil. A few years after I came to know they had already sold the land to some other people. It happened only because I was an illiterate man. I believed in words than papers. But the world runs behind contract papers, affidavits and certificates in which we like ignorant people have nothing to do with except wait where destiny leads to. This is the world for only clever and cunning people.” The old man’s panic exhausted.
He slowly pulled his fishing string in which no fish had been hooked. He rolled up the string and went a little farther of the river edge. I was spellbound by his story. I couldn't speak even a sympathetic word on his behalf either. The sun was almost behind the hill. I stood like a statue for another few minutes. I didn’t know when the old man left the bed of Narayani river. I thought fish also became too clever than human therefore they don’t come in the hooks.
*Bigha= 13 Ropani, 20 Ropani = 1 hector approximately
Narayeni= One of the biggest rivers among other rivers in Nepal.
