FAIR PLAY
~Summary~
-by Munshi Premchand
Jumman Shaikh and AlguChowdhry were best friends. Jumman Shaikh had an old aunt, and she had some property on her name.The
aunt needed someone to take care of her till her death. So Jumman agreed to do that in exchange for the property. Althoughthings
went well for a couple of years, Jumman and his wife started mistreating the aunt. She asked Jumman for a monthlyallowance to
set up a separate kitchen, and Jumman refused to pay his aunt. Soon after that, the aunt took her case to thevillage panchayat.
The aunt nominated AlguChowdhry as the Head Panch. Algu and the villagers went through the case carefully. AlthoughJumman
was Algu's best friend, Algu decided to stand by justice. He ordered Jumman to pay the monthly allowance, and if not, he should
return the property back. Jumman became unhappy and started treating Algu as his enemy.
A few months later, Algu approached the panchayat for a case of his own. Algu had once owned two bullocks. One of them died,
and he sold the other one to a man called SamjhuSahu. However, the bullock died within a month, before he could get paid for it.
Although the bullock was healthy when he had sold it, Sahu refused to pay him. Algu took the case to the panchayat.
When Sahu nominated Jumman as the Head Panch, the latter realised his responsibilities. He went through the case carefully
and decided that Algu was innocent. He asked Sahu to pay the price of the bullock to Algu. Algu was surprised and was very
happy. Soon after that, both the friends embraced, and they were reunited.
Panchayat turned the friends into enemies, and then turned them back to friends
~Conclusion~
Both Jumman and Algu choose justice over personal biases. Their story concludes that justice and truth
are most important. They should not be comprised with for the sake of personal friendships.