Question

What did Mr Mukerji say? Did it comfort Bepin Babu, or add to his worries?

Answer 1

Hint: The context of the above question is given in the chapter Bepin Choudhary’s Lapse of Memory written by Satyajit Ray. The story has four parts. It's a humorous story whose protagonist was Bepin Choudhary.

Complete answer:
Mr. Dinesh Mukherji was a friend of Bepin Choudhary. Mr Mukherji told Bepin that he had been to Ranchi in '58 during the same time as Bepin had. This escalated Bepin Babu’s worries and his body became cold. He didn’t even have his lunch as he had lost his appetite and left the office immediately after lunch. He tried hard to recollect his visit to Ranchi.

It all started earlier in the day when Bepin was in the bookstore. A man named Parimal Ghose had approached him and reminded him about their meetup in Ranchi in ‘58. Parimal talked about several intimate details of Bepin’s life which he claimed were shared with him in Ranchi but Bepin failed to recall any such visit. Dinesh Mukherji’s confirmation of such a visit made Bepin more anxious. He became uncomfortable thinking that he might have lost his mind.

Note: The story is about a bizarre funny way of getting even. Chunilal, a friend from school, plays a practical joke on the protagonist of the story to avenge him because Bepin didn’t help Chuni in his time of need. The joke led Bepin to think that he might have lost his mind and might end up in a mental asylum. While in reality, it was just the storyline of Chunilal’s new novel. Despite the humour, it clearly delivers the message that what you do to others, comes to you.