Many months later, Doctor Sahib visited Babu Premshankar to have a look at his garden. He wanted to get some good cuttings from there. Premshankar also loved gardening and this was the only common interest between them, otherwise they were very different from each other. Premshankar was a contented, simple and kindhearted man. For many years, he had lived in America, where he had studied agricultural science in depth and, after his return, made this avocation his source of livelihood. He held strange ideas on human character and the present social system. As a result, people from civilized society ignored him and considered him crazy. There was no doubt that people had a kind of philosophical empathy with his principles but they doubted their pragmatic veracity. The world is a field of action not a site for debate. Doctrines will remain only doctrines; they will have no relation with direct sensory experiences.
When Doctor Sahib reached his place, he found Premshankar watering the plants. A man stood at the well and was drawing water with the help of a pump. Doctor Sahib recognized him at once. He was Durga the gardener. At that moment, Doctor Sahib felt a strange pang of jealousy towards Durga. How could this detestable creature, whom he had punished and fired, get a job in the first place? Had Doctor Sahib found him shabby and miserable, he would surely have felt compassion for him. Perhaps he may have given him some money, too, and said good words about him to Premshankar. He was kind and merciful towards his servants but this kindness and compassion was not at all different from the kindness he felt for his dogs or horses. The foundation of this generosity was not based on justice but was charity for the underdog. Durga saw him and saluted him from near the well and continued to work. His pride pierced Doctor Sahib’s heart like a spear. He was annoyed that Durga was better off after he was sacked. The smugness he had for his own kindheartedness suffered a dent. As soon as Premshankar shook hands with him and took him on a visit to the flower beds, he asked him, ‘Since when has this man been with you?’
‘He may have been around for six or seven months.’
‘I hope he doesn’t pilfer things. He worked as a gardener at my place. I got so fed up of his thievery that I had to sack him. Sometimes he would pluck flowers and sell them, or else he would steal plants and saplings, and what to say about fruit? Mangoes could never be safe with him. Once I invited my friends over for a party. The Malihabadi Safeda mangoes had borne a good crop. When all my friends arrived and I took them around, the fruit had vanished into thin air! You can’t imagine how embarrassing it was! I gave him a good shouting that very moment. He is a rascal and so clever that it’s difficult to catch him. Only a person with the cunning of an advocate can see through him. He whizzes past you with such ingenuity and brazenness that you are left gaping! Has he ever fooled you?’
‘No, never. He has never given me an occasion to complain. Here he works so hard that he doesn’t even take a break in the afternoon to rest. I have started depending on him so much that I leave the whole orchard to him. Whatever income is made during the day, he hands it over to me by the evening and it is never short even by a penny!’
‘This is his ploy; he will fleece you blatantly even before you know. How much do you pay him?’
‘No one is paid here. All of us share the profits equally. At the end of the month, out of whatever is saved, ten rupees per hundred is given as charity and the rest is equally distributed among us. Last month we made a profit of one hundred and forty rupees. We are seven of us. Each of us got twenty rupees. This time we have a good harvest of oranges. Green peas, sugar cane, cauliflowers, etc., are generating good income. So, this time our share will not be less than forty rupees each.’
Doctor Sahib was surprised and asked, ‘How do you manage within this?’
‘Very easily. I wear clothes like they do, eat food like they do and I suffer from no vices. Here, twenty rupees a month is spent on medicines which are distributed among the poor. This amount is taken out from the joint earnings and no one has any objection to it. The bicycle that you can see has been bought from this common pool of funds. Whoever needs it uses it. They consider me more efficient and trust me completely. I am only their chief. Whatever advice I give is followed by them. Nobody here thinks himself subordinate to another. All of us consider ourselves to be shareholders and work hard to the best of our abilities. Wherever one is a master and the other a slave, immediately there is antagonism between them. A master wants to extract as much work as possible from a servant. The servant wants to work as little as possible and has no concern or sympathy for him. Both of them are actually antagonists. We have already been witness to the ill-effects of such antagonism. People of different dispositions have formed separate groups and there is a terrible feud among them. The signs of the future indicate that this conflict will last only for a short while. It will be replaced by cooperatives. In other countries I have seen the dangerous consequences of this conflict and I hate it.
