The Doll : Chapter 5 - A New Family

'Shall I pack the doll Sir ?' the sales girl asked enthusiastically.

'Do you have something else .. Actually my daughter loves new things to play with. She already has such kind of single she dolls'.

'We do have some real cool concepts .. What about a small family .. husband, wife and daughter ? They have different dialogue catalogues and voices matching with their ages. You can adjust the age. And each one looks real. You can have a demo of all tasks they've been programmed for. There is an improvisation from the previous models. Now the dolls can walk and you can control them through a mobile app. You can make them carry out small household errands too.

'Wow. I think that's great. My daughter will be able to relate well to her family. But I'm afraid I won't be able to stretch my budget that much'.

'Don't worry, this sale is under promotion by the company .. You get three dolls for the price of one. I'm sure no other company has offered such deals before.

I nod as all three of us are taken down from the shelf. We've been tired of acting like inanimate objects inside boxes. Now I won't need to wait for the night to talk to my wife and daughter. Now my family will get a home once again.

* * * * *

In one of the most gruesome murders in the history of Kolkata to be reported of late a 42 year old man is said to have hacked his wife and only daughter to death before committing suicide in their house at Ballygunge. A missing person report for their daughter, aged 9 had been filed a day before at the South Kolkata P.S.. In the afternoon two men, tortured with foul smell emanating from their neighbour's house had gone to inspect and later reported the mishap to the P.S. The bodies are believed to have been incinerated in a micro oven after mutilation and could be identified only on the basis of charred remains of cloth attached to them. Police are yet to find any leads in the case.

In another incident, a woman aged 62, identified to be the teacher of a local convent school has been murdered and her body incinerated in a godown near Joka on the outskirts of the city. It was found that the godown belonged to a shopkeeper named Raghavendra Yadav (nickname 'Raghu) selling dolls at a shop near Ballygunge supermarket. The police have retrieved around five hundred dolls from the godown. Raghu is absconding from the place of crime and the police are on his trail. A special force team has been sent to his native place in Rajasthan where he is believed to have fled.

The murders at these two places are similar in pattern and the police are investigating whether they are connected to each other.

In a recent development this afternoon the police have arrested a footpath peddlar in relation with the murder of the school teacher at Joka. The police have also raided a house in Bowbazaar where queer rituals were reported being practised in its basement. Mutilated remains of dolls were found scattered on the floor, smeared with vermilion; along with green chillies and lemons. A huge number of dolls were also found to be stacked at a corner in boxes of the same make as those found at Joka. The case initially believed to be an open and shut one has now ..

'Oh Shit .. Such appalling incidents during festival times'. Anirban switched off the radio with a frown. Tora, his beloved daughter .. his world .. would turn nine the next day, the auspicious day of Sasthi, when the Goddess Durga comes to visit the earth. And she just loved dolls. Her fancy with each one lasts hardly for a few months, though.

Their store room abounded with lame dolls made of plastic and rubber, with an eye or ear missing in some, sitting on the shelves like clowns; leaving her in laughing splits whenever she saw them. But he was sure that this birthday gift would be beyond her expectations. And he could hope that it would keep her engaged for long.

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