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His mother was in the same state. With her husband’s death all joy seemed to have gone out of her life. The house became unbearable to her, she felt like she was living in a cage. She considered moving to Varanasi; but she couldn’t go without getting Devdas married first.
She told him, Devdas, get married; let me see you settled--- then I can die in peace.”
But it wasn’t so easy. The period of mourning was still on and they would also have to find a suitable girl. These days she felt a little sad—sometimes she felt that perhaps it would have been for the best if they had got him wedded to Parvati when the matter had come up.
One day she called Devdas to her and said, “Devdas, I can’t stand this any more. I want to go to Varanasi.” Devdas was of the same mind. He said “I agree with you. Go there for six months and then come back.”
“Yes, my son, make the arrangements. After I return we can complete his annual rites, I can get you married and then move back to Varanasi for good.”
Devdas agreed. He went and left his mother in Varanasi and then returned to Calcutta. Back in the city, he spent three or four days hunting for Chunilal, but apparently he had moved out and gone somewhere else.
Then one evening Devdas remembered Chandramukhi. He could look her up, couldn’t he? In all these days he had never once thought of her. He felt a trifle abashed. That evening he hired a buggy and arrived at Chandramukhi’s house. After much calling and hollering, a voice spoke from within, “Not here.”
There was a gas lamp close by. Devdas went and stood below it and shouted, “Could you tell me where that woman has gone?”
Someone opened a window and stared at him for a while, “Are you Devdas?” a woman’s voice said.
“Yes.”
“Wait, I’ll open the door.”
She opened the door and said, “Come in.”
He felt the voice was familiar, but couldn’t quite place it. It was quite dark as well. Suspiciously, he asked “Could you tell me where Chandramukhi has gone?”
The woman smiled, “I could. Please come upstairs.”
Now Devdas recognized her, “You.”
When he went upstairs, Devdas saw that she was dressed in a black bordered plain white sari which looked quite worn. There were two bangles on her wrists and no other jewellery besides that.
Her hair was disheveled. Taken aback, he asked, “What happened?”
He noticed that she had lost a lot of weight. He asked, “Have you been ill?”
Chadramukhi laughed and said, “Not physically, no, have a seat.”
Devdas sat on the bed and noticed that the room had changed a fair bit. Like it mistress, it looked worn out and frayed. The furniture was gone; there was just the bed. Even the sheets were shabby. The pictures on the wall were gone; the nails on which they had hung stuck out. Some of them still had bits of thread hanging from them. The wall clock was still there, but it had fallen silent. Spiders had woven their webs to their heart’s content all around it. A lamp burned in one corner and gave enough light for Devdas to take in the new look of the room. A little shocked, a little outraged he asked, “Chandra, how did this disaster happen?”
Chandrmukhi smiled wanly and said, “You call it a disaster? I’d call it a stroke of luck.”
Devdas was puzzled. “Where are all your ornaments?” he asked.
“I’ve sold them.”
“The furniture?”
“Sold those too.”
“Have you sold the paintings as well?”
This time she giggled and pointed to the house across the road.
“I gave them away to the maid.”
Devdas gazed at her for some time. “Where is Chuni?” he asked finally.
“I don’t know. He squabbled with me a couple of months ago and left. Never came back.”
Even more surprised Devdas asked, “Why the squabble?”
“Don’t they happen?”
“They do—but why?”
“He was touting and so I threw him out.”
“What was he touting?”
Chandramukhi smiled, “Jute.” The she said, “Don’t you know what? He brought a rich man , two hundred rupees a month, hordes of jewellery and a guard at my door, do you understand?”
The penny dropped and Devdas laughed, “But I don’t see all that anywhere?”
“You would have if they were here. I showed them the door.”
“What were they guilty of ?”
“Nothing. I just didn’t like it.”
Devdas mulled over the matter for a long time, “And since then no one has been here?”
“No. Not just since then, but since the day you left, no one has been here. Only Chuni-babu came and sat around sometimes. But for the last two months even that has stopped.”
Devdas lay down on the bed. He was quite, in a world of his own. Slowly he asked, “Chandramukhi, have you closed the business?”
“Yes—I went bankrupt.”
Devdas hedged, “But how will you survive?”
“Didn’t I just tell you, I have sold my jewellery.”
“That can’t be much.”
“True. I have about eight or nine hundred rupees. I have kept the money with a grocer. He gives me twenty rupees a month.”
“But earlier, that wouldn’t have sustained you?”
“No, and I doesn’t do very well now either. I still have three month’s rent to pay. So I think I’ll just sell these two bangles, pay off all debts and move away somewhere.”
“Where?”
