Devdas–Chunilal friendship

Devdas Mukherjee and Chunilal’s friendship is shown through reunion and recurring companionship rather than extended conversation: Chunilal hears that Devdas has arrived in Lahore and goes to meet him, and later Devdas takes leave of him before returning to Allahabad. Their association also intersects with Devdas’s drinking. Chunilal’s presence is one of the occasions on which Devdas drinks at home, linking the old friendship to a habit that accompanies his periods of illness and absence.

Reunion in Lahore

After travelling to Lahore, Devdas is met by Chunilal, who is working there and comes to see his old friend upon hearing of his arrival. The scene establishes that their bond persists across separation and travel: Chunilal responds to news of Devdas’s return to his orbit by seeking him out. The account gives no further detail about their meeting, keeping the reunion brief but marking Chunilal as a continuing presence in Devdas’s life.

Friendship and drinking

Devdas usually drinks away from home, but he also drinks at home when Chunilal comes over. The distinction makes Chunilal’s visits a specific circumstance in which Devdas’s private drinking becomes part of their shared social space. It does not establish Chunilal as the cause of Devdas’s drinking; rather, the detail places their companionship alongside a habit that increasingly disrupts Devdas’s ordinary routine.

Illness and parting

Devdas’s drinking and absences become starkly consequential when he fails to return home for two days. On the third day he comes back burning with fever and is unable to get up; Dharmadas refuses food and drink in distress, and several doctors attend Devdas. The account does not say that Chunilal is present during this illness. After Devdas gradually recovers, he packs his belongings, bids Chunilal goodbye, and returns to Allahabad, a departure that confirms the friendship’s continued place in his life without suggesting that it settles his restless movement from one place to another.