CHAPTER XI
Ramtanu’s Life in Calcutta
Ramtanu’s pecuniary position now was not at all enviable. The drain on his purse during Navakumar’s and Indu’s illnesses had almost emptied it, and when there were no former savings for him to fall back upon the small pension of seventy-five rupees a month hardly enabled him to make both ends meet. But he was not helpless. Many a friend sympathised with him and came forward to relieve his wants. Among the first to do so was his old pupil, Kali Charan Ghosh, who had before this regularly aided him in various ways. Navakumar had been sent to Bhagalpur and Arrah at Kali Babu’s cost; and this gentleman now hired the house for Mr Lahiri and his family at Champatola. Their daily wants, too, were largely provided for by him. We shall give some account of this benevolent friend in the Appendix.
Mr Lahiri’s second son, Sharat Kumar, having read for the First Examination in Arts of the Calcutta University, thought at this time of giving up his studies and earning something for the family. This became the more necessary as business called Babu Kali Charan Ghosh away from Calcutta, and prevented him from supplying the wants of the Lahiri family as he had hitherto been accustomed to do. Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagara, to lighten to some extent Mr Lahiri’s burden, appointed Sharat as the Librarian of the Metropolitan Institution. This gave the young man a good opportunity for in-
