Chapter – 9
So, Voland’s
activities have started in Moscow. First he occupies flat No. 50 of building No.
302, in which Berlioz used to live along with Stepan Likhodeev.
Voland and his team
stay in this flat for three days and we shall see what all they do; how they
make Moscow feel about their presence.
We shall see what
happens the very next day after Berlioz’s tragic death:
·
Stepan
Likhodeev is thrown into Yalta;
·
A
transformation has started taking place in Ivan’s thinking.
All this happens at around twelve in
the morning.
What
happens in building No. 302?
The
president of housing society of building No. 302, Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoi, was
busy during the intermittent night of Wednesday and Thursday. At around midnight
a committee comes to the building No. 302. Jheldibin, who was going to be the
president of MASSOLIT in place of late Berlioz was also there in the committee.
They informed Nikanor Ivanovich about Berlioz’s death. His papers and other
things are sealed, the two rooms which he was using, were also sealed.
And
the news about Berlioz’s death spreads like wild fire. Everyone is trying to
take advantage of this opportunity. President’s office is flooded with
applications for these two rooms.
From
here we come to know that the action of the novel has started on Wednesday –
Berlioz is killed, Ivan is sent to Stravinsky’s clinic. On Thursday Stepan
Likhodeev is flung out of flat No. 50 and thrown into Yalta.
Coming
back to Nikanor Ivanovich.
From
the applications that Nikanor Ivanovich received, readers come to know in what
circumstances people lived in community buildings, and what all they were doing
to procure some reasonable sort of accommodation.
They
were requesting the president of the housing society to give them Berlioz’s two
rooms; they were threatening him; they were putting conditions; they were
trying to bribe him; they were telling to carry out repairs with their own
money.
They
found that their co-dwellers were thieves and robbers; they were illiterate,
uncultured people.
Nikanor
Ivanovich was avoiding these people and hence he comes to flat No. 50 to hide
himself from them. But he is taken aback when he sees a tall, thin man in checkered
shirt…it was the same person who had met Berlioz in Patriarchy Park.
We
come to know that his name is Koroviev and he is the interpreter for the
foreigner who is going to perform in Variety Theatre in the evening. Nikanor
Ivanovich is informed that Styopa Likhodeev has invited Professor Voland (this
was the name of the mysterious professor) and his team to stay in his flat for
one week and that Nikanor Ivanovich has already been informed about the same.
The letter from Styopa is found in Nikanor Ivanovich’s briefcase…
Nikanor
Ivanovich informs the tourist bureau about this strange foreigner and he is
told that they already have information about him and have no objection to his
staying in Likhodeev’s flat for one
week.
Nikanor
Ivanovich is paid rent towards the flat and another bundle of roubles is also
offered to him for his ‘services’, which he accepts after confirming that there
is no ‘witness’ to this transaction.
But,
then, the roubles get converted into foreign currency; someone informs the
authorities that Nikanor Ivanovich takes bribe in foreign denominations.
The
Secret Service men come to his flat and find the bundle of notes in the
ventilator of lavatory of Nikanor Ivanovich’s flat.
Actually,
Koroviev himself had informed the authorities
using the name of Secretary of housing society, Timofei Kvastsov…NIkanor
Ivanovich is arrested…he tries to explain that he had taken roubles towards
rent for the flat in which the mysterious professor was going to stay for one
week; he tries to show Styopa Likhodeev’s letter, the contract signed between
him and Voland, his passport…but everything had vanished…the contract, the
passport, the money, the tickets for the evening show had vanished in the thin
air.
From
now onwards the things are getting complicated. Many unbelievable and magical,
many serious things happen…those who are guilty in some way or other are
punished…like Styopa was punished for his incompetence and misuse of official
position, Nikanor Ivanovich is punished for taking bribe; interestingly, every
victim of Voland’s gang exclaims in vain that the Devil has entered Moscow…
The
chain of events that started with Berlioz and Ivan Bezdomnyi has now taken
Styopa and Nikanor Ivanovich into its folds.
Next
chapter tells exclusively about the Variety Theatre’s administrative officers,
intrigues between them…
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