The short story Garm Kot ("Warm Coat") is one of Bedi s earliest stories Probably written as early as 1936, it appeared in his first collection Dana-o-Dam (1940) Based on Bedi's own experience as a post office clerk, the story is typical of his earliest stories in its exclusive focus on a small lower middle class character and in its skillful use of a single, telling incident to effectively illuminate the protagonist's situation Narrated in the first person by a nameless protagonist, Garm Kot details the story of a post office clerk who desperately tries to stretch the ten rupees remaining from his salary after all his bills are paid to cover both a new coat he desperately needs and the small extras desired by his wife and two children Putting his own needs second, he heads for the bazaar determined to use his last ten-rupee note to purchase sweets and toys and earrings for his wife About to pay for the sweets he discovers he has lost the note and must return home empty-handed The next day however he discovers the note, which had slipped out of the torn pocket and behind the lining of his old coat In order not to lose the note again he sends his wife to the bazaar with his previous shopping list of sweets toys and earrings She however, returns with the cloth for his new coat, much to his and the children s dismay Within this narrow canvas Bedi draws our sympathy to the plight of the clerk in the story and offers a telling comment on the difficult economic situation of lower level civil servants a situation one suspects has not substantially changed since the story was written This theme is especially effectively brought out through the introspection of the protagonist that the first person narration affords Attempting to balance his need of a new coat with his family s needs for example, he reflects while standing in front of the cloth shop Bolt upon bolt of worsted lay spread open in the cloth shop Looking at them I said If I buy cloth for a coat with the ten rupees left over from this month will I make my wife and children starve9 But sometime later the sinful desire for a new coat arose in my mind "8 The resolution of the story as well, in which buying cloth for the father s coat ipso facto means no extras for the rest of the family, serves to underscore this theme On the other hand except for a brief allusion to the economic situation of Lahore the story does not address at all the possible systemic reasons for the clerk s straitened circumstance nor does it suggest any possible social or political moves that might bring about a change in his situation The characters in this brief story are all relatively flat The first person narrator remains nameless throughout and is developed mainly through his interior monologues Although the protagonist has very little psychological depth, the story does effectively convey his self-sacrificing nature and his desire to put his family s needs ahead of his own to the point that he considers as sinful his desire for the new coat The wife, Shammi, is developed in even less depth than the protagonist Although mostly passive, she is loving to her husband In contrast her economic difficulties as the story obliquely suggests frequently cause her to scold the children When the note is found at the end, however she asserts herself takes charge of the situation and like a dutiful Hindu wife, puts her husband s needs first and returns from the bazaar with the cloth 3 See Bedi (1963 p 56) Annual of Urdu Studies #5 83