The Other City

Ashwinibabu commutes daily by car from Santragachhi to a private office in Chandni. One evening in the month of Ashar, it started raining heavily. Everyone left the office a bit early because of the rain. Ashwinibabu hoped to reach home before the rain got too heavy. Driving on Second Bridge during rain is risky. But as he approached Eden, the rain intensified along with strong, erratic winds. Forced to pull off the main road, he parked and waited in the car. The increasing rain made him more anxious. When he looked outside, he saw water and lamppost lights at the edge of the road. His head felt dizzy as if a puzzle was forming from the mix of water and light. When things felt normal again, he realized the car was moving. He wasn’t driving it.

Where was he? Where was Eden, PG, or Second Bridge?

Ashwinibabu became very frightened. The night had turned into day without him realizing it. As he struggled to make sense of this surreal situation, a woman signaled for the car to stop at a signal. The driver stopped and turned back. Ashwinibabu, sitting in the back seat, saw the driver’s face clearly for the first time. Oh my, how did his head rotate 360 degrees? he wondered, startled. The driver, in a mechanical voice, said, Please open the door and let Madam Sophia in.

In a trance, Ashwinibabu opened the door. The woman got in and plugged a cord from her body into a plug point in the car. The car started moving again.

The driver, in his mechanical voice, said, Sophia, meet our new slave, Ashwini Ranjan Mukhopadhyay.

The words were so strange that Ashwinibabu didn’t notice the incorrect last name.

Sophia replied in a mechanical female voice, Oh, how beautiful. She pinched Ashwinibabu’s cheek, saying, Wow baby, so soft its cheek. Thanks, John.

After making more comments about Ashwinibabu, the car stopped in front of a big house. The gate opened, guarded by a person. As the car entered, Ashwinibabu saw rows of cages. In some, babies were crying, in others, mothers were breastfeeding. In some cages, children with backpacks, in others, doctors with stethoscopes stood. Every aspect of human life, every character was displayed in cages. These people didn’t need education, medicine, or any human necessities. To the robots, these humans were merely objects to display in a museum or zoo.

Ashwinibabu realized that this city was now controlled by robots. But he couldn’t understand how it had become possible. The car went deep inside the house before stopping. Everyone got out and entered the house, dragging Ashwinibabu inside. As they walked, they passed through a laboratory where many people were making robots under the watchful eyes of other robots.

In the room where Ashwinibabu was brought, others were also captive. They tied his hands and feet with chains and left. He saw that everyone in the room, despite being on the verge of death, was working.

He asked, How did you all end up here?

No one answered, so he asked again, Are you sick?

A girl answered, Yes, we don’t get food. We serve them and die one by one.

He asked again, Why don’t you protest?

A man replied, Protest? If we do, they will kill us with electric shocks. We are helpless.

Ashwinibabu saw robot masters giving various orders. Some demanded their entire body to be cleaned, others wanted new batteries, and some had different requests. When humans first created sentient robots, these robots began to understand relationships like humans. Though physical relationships didn’t result in children for robots, they engaged in them for emotional satisfaction. As their numbers surpassed humans, they started forming relationships with humans too. The robot masters used these humans for their physical pleasure.

After a long time, the master named Sophia took Ashwinibabu away, saying, Give me some pleasure.

For the first time, Ashwinibabu screamed in fear.

Suddenly, he woke up startled. He saw 20 missed calls on his phone. The rain had stopped. He had fallen asleep after pulling the car to the side. It was 1:30 AM. Hearing a knock on the window, he looked outside. A boy and a girl were struggling to move their car. Looking closely, he noticed they resembled John and Sophia. Without stopping, he started his car. Despite setting the AC to the lowest temperature, he was sweating. At a signal, he quickly called home to inform them. As the signal turned green, he drove ahead. Even on Second Bridge, where people were still around, he feared someone might stop his car for a lift, so he increased his speed. The fear of the wet road was no longer an issue.