She had lost her voice by that time. Rathi saw his mother for the last time and tears silently trickled down her eyes. His father asked all his sisters and brothers to go to the second floor for the night. An unknown anxiety haunted them throughout the night and they passed a sleepless night. Early in the morning, they tried to see the red-coloured building from the verandah. The whole house was covered in darkness and there was a pin-drop-silence. No sign of life was visible. They felt from the core of their heart that their mother was no more. She had been taken away to burning ghat.
It was unbelievable that even the eldest son Rathi was not allowed to go with his mother's dead body.
Mrinalini Devi was married at the age ten, on 9 December 1883 when Rabindranath was 22. She was married for 19 years less 17 days when she died at the age of 29 years.
Hemalata Devi (second wife of Dipendranath, son of Dwijendanath) narrated the story after the death of her aunt-in-law. In the next night her husband (Dipendranath) came and said that their aunt had died. Uncle (Rabindranath) went to the roof alone and asked to be alone. It was learnt that the poet passed the whole night walking about the roof. His father Maharshidev was still alive . On hearing the news of the death of his son's wife, he said that he did not worry about Rabi, who would go on with his writings and readings. He felt sorry for the young children.
On the next day many people came to condole the sad demise. Rathindranath described that his father replied patiently to every body calmly and controlled himself with great difficulty. When every body went away, Rabindranath called Rathi and offered him the slipper which his mother put on regularly and asked him to keep that with him and then he silently went to his room.
