A Futile Fight For Freedom

It was heavy raining outside. Priya was playing with her cat. Madhubala was busy with cooking. Rohit had not come yet.

"Priya call your brother and ask him where has he gone in this heavy rain? ", Madhubala told.

Priya was trying but Rohit's phone was switched off.

“I have told him a hundred times don’t hang out with Rana. He is such an obstinate boy. But no why somebody has to follow my words? Who the hell am I?” Madhubala muttering to herself.

Meanwhile, Rohit had come to the house. His mother asked him where had he been by this time? But Rohit didn’t answer. He went straight to his room.

Sometimes later Madhubala called both of them for lunch. They all were at the dining table, sitting on chairs and having their lunch.

“Where did you go, Rohit?” Madhubala asked.

“Mom I’m just hanging out with my friends” Rohit replied.

“didn’t you know about the situation? What is going on right now? Have you taken any pledge not to listen to me? Why are you doing this? I don’t want to lose you like your father” Madhubala broke down in tears.

“Don’t cry mom” Rohit wiped her tears.” Mom, I am just feeling stagnant right now in this country. Don’t you feel the same?” He asked

“What can we do my son? It is all in our destiny.” Madhubala replied.

Suddenly the bell rang.

“I guess students have come,” Madhubala said. She opened the door, saw the students, and asked “Did anyone notice you on the streets?”

They said, “No mam”

“Okay. Go to the study room and prepare the homework I had given.” Madhubala told them.

She had started to teach some students of her colony as all the educational institutions are either closed or destroyed by the Mritunjoy party workers. The school where Madhubala was a teacher, was destroyed by these hooligans. And when their principal was requesting them not to do so, they just shoot him on the spot.

The Mritunjoy party was fully against public education or any type of activities that can evolve your thought process. Pitua had around 5 lakhs of population. And only a few are allowed to get an education. So, it is very risky to educate someone in that era of the Mritunjoy party. But instead of this Madhubala decided to teach the students.

After finishing the lunch Madhubala went to the study room. Priya and Rohit also join the class. Madhubala took the class for three hours. Students went to their homes. Rohit came into the backyard of their house. They have an all-season guava tree in their garden. There was guava on the tree throughout all the year except the starting of summer and the start of the winter season. Rohit picked guava from the tree and ate it.

The next day, Rohit met Rana on the streets near the vegetable market. They were going to the esplanade to attend to Mridul’s Sabha. They got on a bus. After 20 minutes the bus arrived at the esplanade. They got off the bus and went through a narrow lane. The place was in a very lonely area. After walking about Five hundred meter they entered the huge room where the meeting was held. Mridul da had not come yet. The room was full of people. There were many teenagers, adult, middle-aged men and women. There are nine towns and three villages in Pitua. Four to five people from every town and village had come here. Mridul had formed a group called Liberation Fouz to fight against the dictator.

Mridul had arrived. He was 6 ft 2 inches tall and had a very deep voice. He started his speech,

“My friends we are in great danger. Our life became such intolerable, we can’t even think freely. There is no place to study. There is no opportunity. There is only outrage, oppression, cruelty in this country. The Mritunjoy party had turned our lives into hell. If we didn’t fight back now, then it will be too late. So, I welcome you all to the Liberation Fouz. Our only mission is to free our people from this dictatorship.”

This Fiery speech had set fire in everyone’s heart. The dictatorship of this government had become unbearable to everyone. So, all they want was to free Pitua from this dictator.

The meeting had ended.

Rohit and Rana on their way home saw a tragic incident. Some workers of the Mritunjoy party had caught the man. The man was alleged of running a newspaper daily. And this was happened to be a big crime to them. So, in the middle of the road, they cut his both hand and then both legs. The man was screaming in pain. But there was nobody to help. Nobody dared to stop them. The scene had made them very perturbed. They returned to their homes in sorrow and anger.

Rohit was very hungry. “Mom, what is in the lunch today?”

“Son I have returned from the market empty-handed today. There was no food in the market. We are again in another food shortage.” Madhubala replied.

“Then what are we going to eat today?” Rohit asked.

Madhubala said, “There is some paneer left in the fridge. I’m gonna make some dish for lunch but don’t know about dinner.”

They somehow managed the lunch. In the afternoon Rohit met Rana. Rohit came to know that Rana didn’t have lunch that day.

It was night. Madhubala and Priya were sitting in the living room. Rohit went to pick some guava.

He brought 10 guavas. They all ate that and went to sleep with hungry stomachs.

Madhubala, in her room sitting beside the windows, was staring at the full moon. She touched the locket on her neck. A heart-shaped golden locket. Two photos inside it. One is Madhubala and the other one is her husband, Pradeep. Pradeep gifted her on their fifth anniversary. It was 10 years without him. Pradeep was murdered by the Mritunjoy party workers. It was the beginning years of the Mritunjoy party. Their atrocious torture had been started. Pradeep was a writer for a newspaper. Once he wrote in his article about the Mritunjoy party’s rise. How they came to power with their false propaganda and fake news. So, the Mritunjoy party became very angry at him. And one day when Pradeep was returning home from his office, the party workers shoot him on the street.

Then Priya was 10-year-old and Rohit was two years younger. Since then, Madhubala raised them as single mother.

Madhubala fell asleep thinking about these.

The next morning, Madhubala went to the market for some food. That day foods are there in the market but in a very small quantity. So, naturally, the rates are very high. There is noise and shoving all around. People are struggling to get some food. Madhubala hardly got two cabbage and half kg. of rice.

While returning from the market she saw two beggars were searching for food in the garbage. They were eating the dirty waste foods. Madhubala became very upset. With a deep sigh, she started walking towards her house.

Meanwhile, Rohit was out for Mridul’s Sabha. He was waiting for Rana beside the tea stole. It was 7.30 AM and Rana had not come yet. Rohit decided to go alone.

Suddenly an old wrinkled hand came on his shoulder. Rohit turned around and saw an old man, with his senile face and worn-out eyes, was looking at him.

“What happened, sir?” Rohit asked.

The old man was not able to talk. He was making some gestures with his hand but Rohit didn’t understand.

“Are you hungry?” Rohit asked the old man.

He nodded his head and trying to tell something. Suddenly he caught Rohit’s leg.

“What are you doing? Leave me.”

Somehow Rohit managed to escape from this man. He got on a bus to the esplanade. He sat on the window side seat. He looked back to that old man. The old man was seemed very familiar to Rohit. But he can’t recall him properly. The bus started moving on its way.

“Have you heard of the news that people are getting older in their early age too?”

“No. where did you get the news?”

“My friend, who lived in Kumartoli district, told me about this. People are getting old in the strangest way possible.”

Two passengers are gossiping.

Rohit was listening to all of this. It scared him. The bus arrived at the esplanade. Rohit gets off the bus and walked down to the Sabha. Roads are very secluded that day. He entered the room. Everyone looked very devised.

Meanwhile, Mridul came immediately after Rohit. He started his speech,

“There is very tragic news for us. A deadly virus had been released in Pitua by our neighbouring country, Kariam. An infected person will become old within just half an hour from the time when the virus enters his body. And then within one day, your brain will get damaged, or you will become mad. You will get infected if an infected person or animal bites you. So, we have not much time. We will start our mission today from here. At first, we are going president’s house. My assistances will select some of you for the task.”

They had selected ten people. Rohit was one of them. They all got into a car, took the guns and grenades and left for their mission. Mridul had contact with some of the president’s security personnel.

Suddenly Rohit recalled that the old man was looking like none other than Rana. He felt very scared.

On their way to the president’s house, they saw many people running from here to there. Some old men were chasing the people. One man came in front of their car got collided with the cars. His body was flying in the air. They left behind it and went on to their mission.

They stopped the car, two hundred meters away from the president’s house. At first, two men went to the backside of the house. They threw three grenades one after one. So, securities came to the backside. And in this time Mridul and Rohit entered the house through the front wall with the help of a security person. The person showed them the path to the president’s room. They noticed from outside the room that the president was looking to the window. Mridul quietly entered the room and showered his bullets on the back of the president. He didn’t even get time to turned around. After killing him they were quickly going back to the car. But unfortunately, other securities saw them and started shooting towards them. They somehow escaped from them and run into another lane.

Meanwhile, the securities had caught the other members. Only Mridul and Rohit was able to escape.

Mridul and Rohit were running into the lane. Suddenly they came into the main road.

Wailing all around. Everyone was running wildly from here to there and biting whoever came across them.

They saw two old women were coming towards them. They started running as quickly as they can. Suddenly Rohit fell onto the ground and the women jumped over him. They were tussling with each other. But eventually, she bit him on his hand. Rohit saw a stone near his hand. He hit her hard on the head with the stone. The women fell aside. Rohit got up and suddenly noticed a locket on her neck. He pulled the locket and opened it. He was astonished. He couldn’t even breathe. It was his mom.

It’s all over. Everything had gone. After a while, he will also finish as his mom bit him. He saw Mridul was lying unconsciously on the road a little farther from him. Mridul had achieved his dream but everything was futile right then.

Rohit laid down on the road with the locket in his fist and closed his eyes.