That day onwards, Satyaprakash started thinking about sending a gift for Gyanprakash. The young make friends very quickly. Satyaprakash had also made friends with many young men. He had gone to the cinema with them several times. There had been many occasions for hemp, weed, liquor, and meat too. A fondness for the mirror, hair oil and comb had also developed and thus he would spend all that he earned. He was speedily hurtling towards moral and physical decline. The loving letter from Gyanprakash halted his pace. The attempt to send a gift began discouraging the addictions. No longer addicted to the movies, he also began avoiding his friends on some pretext or the other. He even pared down his meals. The concern of saving money defeated all his desires. He decided that he would send a nice watch to his brother. ‘That will cost at least forty rupees. If I do not waste even a paisa for three months, then I can purchase a watch. How delighted Gyanprakash will be! Mother and father will also take note. They will realize that I am not starving.’ Obsessed with saving, he would not even light a lamp in the evening on several occasions. Now he left for work very early and worked the entire day, eating sweetmeats that cost him only a few paise. His customers doubled in number almost every day. Apart from writing letters, he now practised writing telegrams also. Within two months, he had saved fifty rupees. When he parcelled the watch with a golden chain to Gyanprakash, he was as excited as a childless man blessed with a boy.7
How soft, pure, and heart-warming are the memories evoked by the word ‘home’. It is where love dwells and it is a boon that love has acquired after much penance. During adolescence, home reminds one of the love of parents, siblings and friends, and in old age, the memories are that of the wife and the children. This is the wave that keeps the human life calm and saves it from getting tossed on choppy seas and smashed on rocks. This is the altar that protects life from all evil omens and hurdles.
Where was Satyaprakash’s ‘home’? What was the power that protected him from the grand attractions of Calcutta? Was it his mother’s love? Or was it his father’s affection? Concern for children? No! The affection for Gyanprakash was his sole protector, refuge and reward. It was for his sake that he saved every paisa. It was for his sake that he laboured hard and thought of new ways to earn wealth. He gathered from Gyanprakash’s letters that Devaprakash’s financial situation was not healthy. He was getting a house constructed, for which the expenses had exceeded the estimates and he had had to borrow money, which was the reason the tutor did not visit any more to teach Gyanprakash. Since then Satyaprakash had been sending at least some amount to Gyanprakash every month. He was no longer just a letter writer but had opened a stationery store as well. This brought him a decent profit. In this manner, five years passed. When his fun-loving friends realized that he was not inclined to frivolous activities any more, they stopped visiting him.8
It happened one evening; Devaprakash was at home, discussing the matter of Gyanprakash’s marriage with Devapriya. Gyanprakash was now a handsome youth of seventeen. Despite being opposed to child marriage, Devaprakash could not let go of the opportunity that had come knocking—a good man was willing to present a dowry of fifty thousand rupees.
Devaprakash said, ‘I am willing but your son should be willing too.’
Devapriya replied, ‘If you finalize the alliance, he will come around. Every boy says no at first.’
‘Gyanu’s refusal is not because of mere bashfulness. It is one based on principles. He has declared that he will not marry until his elder brother gets married.’
‘Who is going to look for a bride for him? He might have kept a mistress. Then why marry? Who keeps an eye on him?’
Irritated, Devaprakash said, ‘If he had a mistress, he would not send forty rupees every month to your son, nor would he send the things that he has been sending regularly since the first month. One wonders why your heart is so full of dirt for him! You won’t relent even if he gives up his life.’
Devapriya left the room in anger. Devaprakash just wanted her to agree that it was proper to first get Satyaprakash married, but she would never allow the subject to be raised. Even Devaprakash’s most heartfelt wish was to have the elder son marry first, but he had never even written a letter to Satyaprakash. After Devapriya left, he wrote his first letter to Satyaprakash. To begin with, he asked his forgiveness for the years of silence and then requested him lovingly to come home at least once. He wrote,
I may live only for a few days now. It is my wish to see yours and your brother’s weddings. It will cause me immense pain if you do not accept my request.
He also wrote of Gyanprakash’s hesitation. Finally he stressed that if not for anything, he must agree to the bond of matrimony for the sake of Gyanprakash.
Satyaprakash was extremely pained when he received this letter. ‘I didn’t know my brotherly love would lead to this.’ But he also felt pleasure at the fact that his father and mother were suffering. ‘Did they ever have any concern for me? Their eyes will not well up
