The Dream

Som is a good looking man of 30. He was frustratingly walking on a busy road. He was returning from his college. Today, the result of his master's degree programme was declared at college. He did not perform well - a second division in Bengali literature. He was upset. He sat on a bench in a park in front of a pond. He was clueless about what to do in near future . He could still join a private job or appear in examination for some government services. But he did not think about that. Instead he thought that his life was doomed and he had to commit suicide before the pain of life takes over. He was always different from other people. He tried hard but could not perform well even during bachelor degree programme. So naturally he felt really low this time. It was not that he was bad in Bengali. Only problem was that he was always interested in the subjects outside the syllabus. That was the reason he could never put his complete effort in formal study. So after a poor result in MA he felt like committing suicide. It was afternoon. He thought he could commit suicide by jumping into the pond. He did so. But unfortunately he knew swimming. So he crossed the pond and reached the other side. People in the park thought some crazy fellow was taking a bath. He waited on the other side for a long time looking at the water. His outfit got dried up in the afternoon sun. Then he returned home.

At home his mother was waiting. Her name was Suchismita. Som's father used to call her Suchi. When Som entered the house, Suchi asked how the result had been. He said nothing. He went to his room and removed his dress. It was not sultry summer days. But he was sweating. So he went to the bathroom for a bath. Suchi went to his room and saw the result paper and sighed. However she did not say anything. She went to the dining table and arranged food for him. Som came to the table and ate up the food. Suchi asked once, 'Why such a bad result?' He said, 'I don't know.' Then he went to the room and latched it. He looked at the ceiling fan. Suchi went to the bed for a nap. His father still did not return from the office. He opened the door and found a rope from the kitchen. He went again inside his room and latched it from inside. He made a lasso out of the rope and tied it with the fan. Then he wore the lasso around his neck standing up on a chair. After that he pushed the chair aside with one leg so that he got hanged. But again unfortunately the rope got torn. And he fell down on the floor . Suchi woke up and knocked his door. He said, 'Nothing happened. Everything is alright.'

At night his father came. Suchi told him about Som's result. His father also became very upset. And they did not talk much at the dinner table. At night Som could not sleep properly. He had a dream that after death he was knocking the door of deathland. The door opened and a blinding light flashed right on his eyes and he woke up. He thought why committing suicide was so tough. He tried to think about some other method. He switched on his computer and searched about euthanasia. He decided that that was the best way to die. But he thought how it was possible . Next morning at dawn he went to the nearby railway track. He stood by the lines. But he could not do it since he was afraid of the pain. At last he returned home hopeless like never before. Again at night he tried to drink phenyl in the bathroom but he did not like the smell of it. He slept again. And again he dreamt of the deathland, the same kind of dream he experienced before - blinding light everywhere and a female voice was calling him, 'Come my boy. Come Come.' This time he decided that he has to die at any cost. He then went to the market and bought a hard nylon rope. That night he committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan. In the morning his father broke the door of his room and found him dead. He became speechless and Suchi started crying.

The Queen

Som is now bodiless. His soul did not die though. It came near the door of the deathland. It opened naturally. It looked different though, not exactly the way he experienced in the dream. Straight from the door he saw somebody standing in a dense fog. He stood still. The figure slowly approached towards him. When the figure came very close to him, he discovered it was a lady. She asked, 'Why did you come here?'

-'Is it the deathland?

-'Yes'.

He became so happy and asked, 'Who are you?'

-'I am the queen of the deathland. Without my permission you cannot enter this holy land.'

-'You called me in the dream?'

-'No I never call anyone in the dream. It was just a normal dream I guess.'

-'No I saw the door.'

-'That may be a pure coincidence.'

-'Anyway, now I am dead. You have to give me a place in the deathland.'

-'No you did not die a natural death.'

-'So what?'

-'So you are not eligible to enter the deathland. You are an escapist. You did not fight back and enjoy the beauty of life.'

-'I don't want to live anymore. I don't have a future.'

-'Who said?'

-'Isn't there anybody who scored below yours? Isn't there anybody who failed in the examination? Are they dying?'

-'No'.

-'Then?'

-'You are a pure escapist?'

-'But I am dead now. You have no other option but to let me in.'

-'No, escapists are forbidden to enter the deathland.'

-'What do I do then? Should I wait in front of the door till your majesty shows the mercy.'

-'There is no point. There is no place in the deathland for the escapist.'

-'You have to go back and fight back.'

-'But how?'

-'You have to enter the body of a dead man and live his life.'

-'Okay.'

Som became very upset. The queen disappeared. Not only the queen but also the whole aura of the deathland disappeared. He found himself near a dead body at a new house. It was the dead body of a very old man lying on the bed and his relatives and some family friends were mourning around. But no body could see Som's soul since he was invisible. He waited for sometime. But he had no other choice as the queen of the deathland told him. So he entered the body of the dead man. As the old man coughed once, people around him became speechless for a moment. Most of them took a little time to understand whether the old man was dead or not. His old wife was crying sitting by him. She held his shoulders and shook him heavily and asked, 'Can you hear me?' Som's soul replied, 'Yes yes, but I cannot remember anything. Who are you?' The old man's wife started crying again, 'What a luck I have. He is alive but lost his memory completely. He cannot even understand who I am.'

The Family

The old man's wife kept on crying. Her daughter held her shoulder's and tried to console her. But she could not even hold her tears. Rest of the people were standing speechless. A man came along from the back and asked him, 'Uncle, how are you feeling?' He said, 'I am okay.' Then the man of 35 asked him, 'Tell me who I am.' The old man said, ' I don't know.' His wife stopped crying and looked at him with no words from her mouth. She held his shoulder and shook him heavily and said, 'I am your wife, Shila. Can't you recognise me?' Som became a bit nervous and did not know what to do. Som became conscious now. He murmured into Shila's ear that he cannot remember anything and requested her to help him. Shila wiped her tears and said, 'Okay. At least you are alive now. You did not die. We thought you were dead. Now let's go to the dinner table.' Rest of the people disappeared slowly. At dinner table Som found there were three people only. The third one was a young daughter of theirs. Shila introduced her to him, 'She is Rima. Hope you remember. She is our daughter.' Som said with a faint voice, 'How are you doing dear?' She did not say anything and started to weep. Som got into an awkward position. He tried to get up from the chair. But he was so weak that he struggled to get up. Shila helped him. He leaned on Shila's shoulder. Then Shila asked, 'What do you want to do?' You sit. Rima will come to you. He sat again Rima came closer. Som touched her face. He said, 'I don't know. I cannot remember anything?' Shila gathered some courage this time and told Rima to go back. Rima sat on the opposite side of the table. Shila served food and said, 'Next month there is Rima's marriage. And your daughter is doing a private job. You selected the groom for her. I called the doctor. He is coming tomorrow. Tell him everything clearly. Hope you get well soon.' They did not talk much at the dinner table. At night Som went to sleep with Shila's help at their bedroom. Rima went to her room. At the bedroom Shila changed her dress. Som turned around on the bed. Shila sighed in front of the mirror. Then she put out the light. At night Som again had the dream of the deathland. He saw the queen of the deathland calling him a 'coward'. Next day the doctor came. He told him that he had a stroke and he was supposed to die. But something happened and his heart started functioning again. Doctor had no clue why he should lose his memory and prescribed some medicines.

The Marriage

During the day of marriage, Som was dressed up in a traditional Bengali outfit i.e dhoti and punjabi. In this one month Shila and their daughter helped him to remember most of the things regarding the family. So now he was more or less comfortable with close relatives and friends. People got to know by this time that he had lost memory. So he smiled at almost every guest and rest of the things were taken care of by Shila. Shila did a hard work for her daughter's marriage. The day of marriage went well and the reception also went well. After that Som became ill again. And this time he died.

The deathland

Again at the door of the deathland Som meets the queen. This time she asks, 'Why did you come again?'

-'I am dead now.'

-'Yes I know.'

-'Can I enter the deathland now?'

-'Yes you can. But remember people come here after the death. It is not a dream land. It is an egalitarian world and everybody enjoys this land equally irrespective of wherever they came from. You will meet a lot of people and you will find a place to stay. I am called the queen of the deathland because I was elected as the queen. I don't have a palace though. Don't expect too much here. Human like greed is prohibited here though you will have enough resources to enjoy. Death does not exist in deathland. You are young forever here.

The door opened and Som entered the deathland. It seemed like a garden in the beginning. Lots of flowers were there here and there amongst those small houses that were there. Far away there was a mountain range. The queen of deathland was coming behind him. She said, 'Not only mountains , we have sea and beautiful beaches and islands here too. Are you feeling hungry?'

-'No.'

-'Yes that's the beauty of this land. No body feels hungry here. Hunger does not exist here.'

-'Okay. That's great.'

After that Som started living there happily.

Som wakes up from the sleep. His mother was calling him. Today was the day of result. Som got ready and ran to the university. He checked the notice board. He passed very well with a high first division mark. He was so happy.

The End.