The Marlok Mystery

This is my first attempt at writing a story. This story will continue for the next 2 or 3 weeks. I hope you like it. Please feel free to tell me how I can make my story better.

I closed my eyes to open them in an alien land. I had no idea about who forced me to travel to this new land. I felt as if my life had been taken from me. I felt lifeless. The reality, however, was that I had faced the phenomenon the world feared --- death.

I am Gitanjali Sarkar, a 25 year-old social worker from Hugli in West Bengal. I was murdered a week back in Pune. I was on my way back from work when I felt a striking pain in my neck. I had no idea about who had killed me. Actually, I still don’t.

I was born in a relatively poor family in Hugli. My mother, Satyaboti worked as domestic help and father, Nishanath had a government job of a clerk. I had 4 siblings. My family found it tough to make ends meet. Sometimes, we hardly had enough food to feed ourselves. I was the eldest of all siblings. I had two younger brothers, Ajit and Tapesh, and one sister, Durga and my youngest sister was Kali. We all struggled a lot to sustain with the food we had.

My parents thought that education was very important. They believed that education would act as a Messiah and lift the curse of poverty from our lives. I was passionate about my studies and took them seriously. I felt really lucky that my parents were sending me to a school instead of marrying me off to some random boy, which is what most families do.

The days went by in the same way. Then, one day a ray of sunshine shone upon us. Baba (my father) was offered a job in a post office in Pune. We definitely felt bad leaving Hugli, but we had no option.

Pune welcomed us with open hands. I was 14 at the time we shifted to Pune. I definitely had difficulty in adjusting with the language and had to learn Marathi and Hindi. I scored 90% in my grade 10 board exams. Due to my excellent grades, I got a scholarship in a good college. I picked Humanities.

I started working as a waitress in various restaurants to supplement the income that my parents earned. I passed grade 12 with flying colors. But, a calamity struck. My father passed away due to cardiac arrest.

We all were shocked. We found it tough to recover from this loss. Our family income reduced incredibly. My younger brother, Ajit had to sell newspapers and Tapesh had to clean cars to earn enough for the family.

Years passed by and we managed to turn from poor to middle-class. I started working for an NGO which looked after poor children. Having experienced poverty, empathy took control and made me enroll for this job. Ajit became an engineer and Tapesh wanted to become a writer. Durga wanted to be a chartered accountant and Kali was going to pass her Grade 12 that year. Maa had become old and we kids didn’t allow her to work any longer.

I had fallen in love with Pune. The city had a life of its own. It was friendly and warm. It welcomed all with open hands and provided loads of love to each inhabitant. Pune had helped me climb the ladder of success. It had helped me to conquer my dreams.

I was really happy with my job and was enjoying it. But one day, a calamity occurred. I was coming home after work. I usually walk back from work. When I was about 100 meters away from the society, I felt a piercing pain in my neck. It was as if someone had stabbed me. I’m not really sad that I died. I have gradually accepted it. All I am worried about is how my family will survive.

For the past week, I have been in Marlok (World of Dead), as a mere soul who is clueless about how her death occurred. I really want to know for what reason I was killed and by whom.

I was told that it was a poisoned sewing needle that cut a vein in my neck and ultimately killed me. I can’t wait to find the truth. A person is officially considered dead once she has spent 2 weeks in Marlok. I guess I will have to wait for another week to find the reason for my death………

(To be continued)

IPL Fever

8.00 a.m.: I wake up with a start. I had a really weird dream. I was attending a cricket match with my school buddies. I have a really awkward set of friends. So basically, we are all cheering for our dear team Pune and Sid blurts out, “ Yaha kuch khaane ke liye milega kya?” (Will I get anything to eat?) At that very moment, the cricket ball falls into Sid’s mouth. I realize that my dear MS Dhoni has hit a six. Parnika suddenly starts talking in her rarely heard childish tone and keeps saying, “Trophy chahiye!” Ronit starts crying for no reason and Shruti starts letting out her sarcastic laugh. Tina keeps blabbering something about Harry Potter and Dibya keeps munching khakhras. Tanaya and Vaishnavi start a conversation that basically consists of pakao Marathi jokes. Palak keeps dancing and Isha just stares at everyone with a blank expression.  The other people (who are perhaps slightly less crazy) try to calm these people.  

The dream then fast-forwards to the end of the match and the Pune team lifts the trophy. Our faces beam with pride and happiness knows no bounds. We start dancing like lunatics. All of a sudden, we see Steve Smith saying, “Having a good time?” We find ourselves in the Kingfisher ad scene. We start running quickly towards our favourite players in order to get a selfie with them. But these players suddenly start dancing on the Jio dhan dhana dhan music. We dance along with them. Thankfully, I wake up and stop this series of idiotic thoughts.

8.30 a.m.: I freshen up and try to think of the cause of this stupid dream of mine. I become like the person in the Mentos ad ‘cause dimaag ki batti jal jaati hai. I realize that it is the finale of IPL today and my favourite team- Rising Pune Supergiant has finally made it to the finale. The scrappy sister suddenly enters the scene. She tells me about how I was dancing in my sleep last night. Ah, that dream really ruined my silent-sleeper reputation. 

10.00 a.m.: After a typical Puneri breakfast of missal pav, maa says that Pune will win today. The scrappy sister joins in with a piece of jamun pointing out that she loves Pune so much that she is eating a purple fruit (purple is the colour of the Pune jersey). I check my Whatsapp and share my excitement about the evening with my society friends. They laugh at my excitement since they don’t exactly like cricket. One of the craziest ones comments that food is mood. I just stare at my phone with a peculiar expression.

1.00 p.m.: I check my Whatsapp again and observe that my 8A buddies are discussing a lot about the match. I find this eerie because most of my friends from my dream are my 8A friends. I guess I was right when I called them lunatics.

3.00 p.m.: My phone has been producing its irritating ‘beep’ sound for a while now so I decide to find out the cause of this beeping. I find out that my dear 8A friends have come up with a stupid and irritating yet super fun way of conversation. Basically, everyone has to chat using hash tags. So for the past hour, the ‘hash tag’ conversation has been going on in the group.

8.00p.m.: My whole family, including dadu dadi is sitting eagerly to watch this match. We are munching on delicious junk food and basically increasing our calorie intake. But we are also having a blast together. Meanwhile, on the 8 A group, the hash tag conversation is still on and craziness is at its peak. You wouldn’t need Cric Buzz if you were on the group; updates of every minute were on the group. And ya, the hash tag conversation was on.

12.00 a.m.: I am grieving at Pune’s loss by one run. Everyone is disappointed. Though Mumbai the tournament, Pune won hearts by its hard work and never-give up attitude. Pune is the winner for me.  IPL doesn’t just fuel our excitement tanks; it also teaches us so many things. Teamwork, adjustment, battling loss, never giving up, IPL teaches it all. Also, it brings us together. Family, friends, acquaintances, we discuss sports with all! So, Pune may win or lose, I am happy with IPL 10! 

Khane mein kya loge? -2

Summer and food are interlinked. As I mentioned in part 1, food for Indians isn’t just a mode of nutrition. For us, food is respect, happiness, wisdom (a paunch) and even the symbol of a happy person. Summer is that season which provides us perhaps the widest variety of food and an enormous amount of satisfaction. Summer and food is perhaps the best season-happiness combo. So let’s bite into this yummy, full-of masala delicious and hot combo.

The first food item that would come to our minds by the mention of summer is Mango. A summer without Mango is like a sabji without salt, rasgulla without that sticky sugar syrup, Bollywood without drama and childhood without play. Fresh, juicy mangoes are a treat during summers. Keri, badam, kesar, hapoos, dusheri, langda, chaunsa, mulgoba, raspuri, himsagar and totapuri are some varieties of mangoes in India. Each variety is ek se badhkar ek. All the varieties are super yummy. Sipping a glass of aamras or aam panna in the scorching heat is like a small rendezvous with the taste of heaven. The competitions about who eats more mango pieces or who cleans the mango peel most are full of energy and enthusiasm and a spirit of healthy competition. The various mango preparations are to die for.

Another important aspect of summer food is ice cream. Ice cream of each and every flavor is experimented with in this season. Licking the creamy ice cream is an irresistible pleasure. Vanilla with chocolate sauce, mangoes and aloo bhujia (we have awkward combinations) are a treat. Barf ka gola (ice ball) with the syrup of kaala khatta, gulab, nimbu, strawberry, orange, aam, etc are a sumptuous and soothing treat.

All our cool cold drinks, mocktails, milkshakes, smoothies also become very essential for our sustenance in summer. Here comes in the concept of ice. This frozen piece of water is what provides us relief from the deadly heat. Ice has a place with coconut water, normal water, milkshakes, smoothies, cold drinks, etc.

Summer is a season that brings us happiness and food is something that brings smiles to all our faces. When taken together, they bring loads and loads of happiness. The scorching summer heat can be beaten by these sumptuous meals. So, garmi se takkar mein khana avval hai.