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Adapted from “Devdas” by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Devdas and Paro had grown up together in the same village, their homes separated only by a narrow path lined with wild jasmines. From the earliest days of childhood, they were inseparable—playing under mango trees, splashing water in the pond, and sharing secrets no one else knew. While Devdas belonged to a wealthy Brahmin family, Paro’s family was proud but of a slightly lower social rank. Yet no one in the village doubted that one day they would marry.
But when the time came, the very thing that had united them—their closeness—became the reason for their separation. Devdas’s father, proud and bound by caste and social status, refused to accept Paro as his son’s bride. Devdas, confused and torn between duty and love, was unable to stand against his family. In silence, he left for Calcutta to study law, leaving Paro heartbroken.
Paro, however, was not one to wait in helpless sorrow. She confronted her own family and arranged her marriage into a wealthy household. Her decision was not born of revenge, but dignity. She chose to rise rather than break.
It was only after Paro was gone from his life that Devdas began to feel the true weight of loss. In the nights of Calcutta, beneath the glow of dim streetlamps and foggy skies, he would lie awake in regret. Letters were written and torn, drinks poured and forgotten. The one face that haunted his dreams was Paro’s—calm, forgiving, unreachable.
Devdas returned to the village months later, but it was too late. Paro had already become someone else’s wife, someone else’s daughter-in-law. She received him with quiet poise, her eyes carrying the pain of a thousand questions she would never ask.
Unable to bear her absence, Devdas turned to alcohol. His days became nights, and nights stretched into empty dawns. In the smoky air of Calcutta’s kothas, he found a companion in Chandramukhi—a courtesan whose life was shadowed by social shame. But unlike others, Chandramukhi saw in Devdas not just a broken man, but a soul still searching for peace.
Despite her profession, she showed him kindness, cared for his health, and loved him without asking anything in return. But Devdas, bound by his own guilt and longing, could not return her affection. His love for Paro had burned too deep, and it left no space for another.
Over the years, Devdas drifted—both in body and in spirit. He traveled across towns, sometimes walking for miles without purpose, holding onto the one promise he made to himself: that he would see Paro one last time before he died.
And one evening, true to that promise, a broken Devdas arrived outside Paro’s home. Weak, unrecognizable, and breathless, he lay beneath the neem tree at her gate. He never knocked. He didn’t call her name. He simply closed his eyes, waiting.
Inside, Paro sensed something. A strange pull drew her toward the window, where she saw a figure lying motionless in the dusk. As she rushed to the door, her in-laws locked it, forbidding her to go out. And by the time the door was opened, it was too late.
Devdas was gone.
✅ MCQ Questions (1 mark each)
1. What is the relationship between Devdas and Paro in childhood?
a) Cousins
b) Childhood lovers
c) Enemies
d) Teacher and student
2. Why did Devdas not marry Paro?
a) He didn’t love her
b) His father rejected her due to social status
c) She moved to another city
d) She married someone else before he asked
3. What does Paro’s reaction to rejection show?
a) Revenge
b) Cowardice
c) Self-respect and strength
d) Hatred
4. Who is Chandramukhi?
a) A teacher
b) Devdas’s cousin
c) A courtesan who cared for Devdas
d) Paro’s friend
a) He became successful
b) He lived peacefully
c) He fell into grief and alcoholism
d) He married someone else
6. How did Devdas fulfill his last promise?
a) He wrote a letter to Paro
b) He visited her home one last time before dying
c) He asked Chandramukhi to take him
d) He called Paro and spoke to her
Grammar (5 marks)
7. Identify the tense: Devdas had grown up with Paro.
a) Simple past
b) Past continuous
c) Present perfect
d) Past perfect
8. Choose the correct preposition: He waited ___ the gate.
a) in
b) with
c) at
d) for
9. Convert into passive: She arranged her own marriage.
a) Her own marriage had arranged.
b) Her own marriage was arranged by her.
c) Her own marriage has been arranged.
d) Marriage was arrange by herself.
10. Identify the conjunction: He loved Paro, but could not express it.
a) Paro
b) loved
c) but
d) could
a) anything
b) in
c) return
d) she
12. What does “in-laws” refer to?
a) Family members by marriage
b) Police officers
c) Distant cousins
d) Neighbors
a) Lawyer
b) Classical dancer or entertainer, often of noble patrons
c) Queen
d) Poet
a) Too far to physically touch
b) Hard to understand or emotionally connect with
c) Invisible
d) Behind a curtain
a) Scared him
b) Repeatedly appeared in his thoughts
c) Disappeared forever
d) Talked to him in dreams
✅ Answer Key
1. b) Childhood lovers
2. b) His father rejected her due to social status
3. c) Self-respect and strength
4. c) A courtesan who cared for Devdas
5. c) He fell into grief and alcoholism
6. b) He visited her home one last time before dying
7. d) Past perfect
8. c) at
9. b) Her own marriage was arranged by her.
10. c) but
11. d) she
12. a) Family members by marriage
13. b) Classical dancer or entertainer
14. b) Hard to understand or emotionally connect with
15. b) Repeatedly appeared in his thoughts
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