Last year, when the plague entered Prayag and thousands of the poor as well as people in the homes of several merchants, zamindars, lawyers...

Last year, when the plague entered Prayag and thousands of the poor as well as people in the homes of several merchants, zamindars, lawyers and deed writers started dying every day, the populace started abandoning their homes. Even a few of the doctors left town. In one of the mohallas, there lived a famous zamindar called Thakur Vibhav Singh. He too wanted to move back to his ancestral village, which was about five miles from Prayag. He had no family living with him save for his wife and a five-year-old son.
It was Sunday early morning when everybody started preparing for the journey. In her haste, Thakur Sahib’s wife took a bath with cold water. Soon enough, she caught a fever. Hakim Sahib was called and some medicines were administered, but they had no effect on the patient.
Towards the evening, one of her tonsils flared up, and that got Thakur Sahib and the servants very worried. Now an allopathic Doctor Sahib was summoned. He took one look at the Thakur’s wife and pronounced that it was the plague, all of you should leave the house. The doctor left the house right after his diagnosis.