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Adapted from “Srikanta” by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
I was very young when I first left home and travelled to my maternal uncle’s village with my elder sister. The journey itself had thrilled me—swaying boat rides, unknown riverbanks, and the distant sounds of ferry bells fading into the twilight. The village, as I remember it, was not particularly large or noisy. It stood beside a dense forest, silent and still, far from any bustling road or marketplace. In the evening, an unspoken silence would descend upon the land, settling into the trees, making even the wind sound reverent.
My uncle’s house was an old building with wide verandahs and wooden beams that creaked in the wind. I was given a small room with a high window. Every evening, I would sit near that window and stare across the vast open field that stretched beyond the house. The grass would sway like waves, and beyond it, the forest stood—ancient and unknowable. I would sit there quietly, filled with a strange curiosity: what lay beyond those woods? Who lived on the other side? Were they kind? Were they dangerous?
That room, those evenings, and that question marked the beginning of something inside me—a kind of inner wandering. I did not know it then, but I was not meant to stay in one place for long. Even as a child, I found myself wondering more about what was beyond my world than within it.
My sister was practical and loving. She would often scold me for sitting idle, telling me to come help with the chores. But I could not explain to her that I wasn’t truly idle—I was watching, thinking, dreaming. There was something beyond the trees that called to me, and I knew I would go there someday.
It was years later that I did begin my real journeys. I traveled from town to town, sometimes for no reason but the desire to move. I met men of different minds—holy men, rebels, poets, beggars, and commoners. Each taught me something, and yet each left me more uncertain than before.
One of the most unforgettable persons I met in my youth was Rajlakshmi. I had known her as a young girl named Piyari, a dancing girl in a provincial town. She had been bright, full of laughter, and bold beyond her years. When we met again after several years, she had changed. She had wealth, poise, and yet a quiet sorrow in her eyes. She still loved me, perhaps more deeply than ever, but life had turned her into something else—something society refused to understand.
Our relationship was never easy to define. Was it love? Was it friendship? Or something more complicated? She gave me shelter when I had none, food when I was hungry, and affection when I was lost. Yet, I could not fully accept her love. Something in me held back—not because I judged her, but because I feared I would lose my freedom, that the wanderer in me would be chained.
Over the years, I kept drifting. My feet took me to spiritual towns like Varanasi, to riverside villages, to cities filled with ambition and greed. With every person I met, I tried to understand life a little better. But truthfully, I only understood that life is vast, contradictory, and ever-changing.
Even as I write these words, I feel I am still on a journey—not of the body, but of the soul. I am still the boy sitting at the window, staring across the field, wondering what lies beyond.
✅ MCQ Questions (1 mark each)
1. What is the central theme of the passage?
a) Religious devotion
b) Political change
c) Personal journey and self-discovery
d) Academic success
2. What is the narrator’s childhood memory related to?
a) A school trip
b) A journey to his uncle’s village
c) A festival in his town
d) His mother’s cooking
3. What emotion did the narrator feel sitting by the window?
a) Anger
b) Joyful excitement
c) Deep curiosity
d) Boredom
4. Who was Rajlakshmi in the narrator’s life?
a) A childhood friend who became a nun
b) His cousin
c) A woman who once loved him
d) His schoolteacher
a) She was married
b) He judged her background
c) He feared losing his freedom
d) She had betrayed him
a) Settled and stable
b) One of constant travel and reflection
c) As a priest in Varanasi
d) Rich and luxurious
7. What is the tense of this sentence: I did not know it then, but I was not meant to stay in one place.
a) Present perfect
b) Simple past
c) Past perfect
d) Future
a) traveled
b) town
c) from
d) to
a) He is loved deeply by Rajlakshmi.
b) He has been loved deeply by Rajlakshmi.
c) He was loved deeply by Rajlakshmi.
d) Rajlakshmi was deeply loved by him.
10.Choose the correct conjunction: He feared he would lose his freedom, and so he walked away.
a) and
b) feared
c) would
d) so
a) gave
b) shelter
c) me
d) none
Vocabulary (4 marks)
12. What does “wanderer” most closely mean in this passage?
a) Soldier
b) Merchant
c) One who travels without a fixed purpose
d) Tourist
13. What is the meaning of “reverent” as used to describe the wind?
a) Scared
b) Loud and wild
c) Respectful and quiet
d) Cold and strong
14. What does “contradictory” mean in context?
a) Consistent and steady
b) Confusing and unclear
c) Involving opposing ideas or feelings
d) Extremely joyful
a) A trip to the mountains
b) Physical adventure
c) Spiritual or emotional growth
d) Escaping from home
✅ Answer Key
c) Personal journey and self-discovery
b) A journey to his uncle’s village
c) Deep curiosity
c) A woman who once loved him
c) He feared losing his freedom
b) One of constant travel and reflection
b) Simple past
c) from
c) He was loved deeply by Rajlakshmi.
a) and
c) me
c) One who travels without a fixed purpose
c) Respectful and quiet
c) Involving opposing ideas or feelings
c) Spiritual or emotional growth
Let me know if you'd like comprehension passages based on Devdas, Palli Samaj, or Dutta next.
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