CHAPTER XVIII
The lease of Ramesh's lodgings in Darjjipara had not yet expired, but it had never occurred to him to set about sub-letting them. For some months past he had been living in a world in which financial considerations carried no weight. Kamala, however, must have a roof over her head when she left school. At daybreak accordingly he repaired to his lodgings, had the rooms swept, provided the necessary mats and coverlets, and re-stocked the empty larder.
Some hours intervened between the completion of these preparations and Kamala's arrival. Ramesh spent the time reclining on a wooden bench wondering what the future had in store for him. He had never visited Etawah, but one north-western landscape is very like another and he had no difficulty in picturing his future home — a bungalow on the outskirts of the town, fronting a broad tree-lined highway; across the road a wide expanse of ploughland dotted about with wells and with the raised platforms on which watchers sit to scare birds and beasts from the ripening crops; the unceasing wail of the Persian wheels, as the patient oxen toiled all day raising water to irrigate the fields ; an occasional ekka dashing along the road raising clouds of dust, the jingle of its harness disturbing the stillness of the baked air. He was appalled at the prospect of the listless afternoons that Hemnalini would spend in the solitude of the bungalow — barred and shuttered against the burning heat — pining for home. Only if she was to have Kamala always at her side could he condemn his wife to such an environment.
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