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)