Mysterious village

Strange invitation

Arpan finds a yellowed letter in his old desk drawer. The letter has only his name written on it, no stamp or address. Inside, a strange handwritten message on a thin, unlined piece of paper:

"I need your help. Come to Nishchintapur. There is a real secret here. – A friend"

Arpan's heart races. Who is this 'friend'? He has never heard of a place called Nishchintapur. As he searches on Google Maps, his laptop screen unexpectedly blurs, and for a moment a strange image appears—a village surrounded by dense jungle, with a large pond in the middle, and a dilapidated temple next to it. That's the drawing drawn on the back of the letter!

The next day, he shows the letter to his senior colleague Rahul in the office. Rahul laughs and says, "You must have been the victim of someone's prank!" But Arpan is not convinced. At night, he reads the letter again, and then he gets a missed call from an unknown number on his phone. As soon as I picked up the phone, a voice from the other end said, "Come... Nishchintapur..." and then the line went dead.

The journey begins

Arpan decides to go in search of the village. He boards a train and gets off at Jalpaiguri station. Outside the station, he asks an old taxi driver, who is startled, "Nishchintapur? Does anyone still go there?"

The old man picks Arpan up in his car, but stops the car as soon as he gets close to the village. "I won't go any further," he says, "You also go back, father. Nothing good happens in that village... in that village."

Arpan walks into the village. At the entrance to the village is a broken windmill, its blades turning slowly as if touched by an invisible hand. A wooden signboard next to it reads: "Welcome, but be careful."

Silent village

The people in the village look completely normal, but there is no life in their eyes. No one looks at Arpan, no one answers his questions. As he enters a tea shop and asks for tea, the shopkeeper looks at him blankly, and silently hands him a cup of tea. The tea tastes strangely bitter.

In the evening, an old woman, named Yadavi, offers him shelter in her house. Yadavi's house is small, old, but strangely clean. During dinner, Arpan asks, "Why doesn't anyone talk here?"

Yadavi pours tea into her cup, "Because if you talk, the truth comes out. And the truth brings danger here."

Night sounds

At night, Arpan hears someone crying. The sound is coming from the pond. He comes out and sees a girl in a white saree looking at the pond. The girl slowly turns around—she has no eyes! Just a deep black hole. Arpan falls backwards, and just then the girl suddenly disappears.

The next morning, Yadavi tells Arpan, "You went to the pond last night, right? That girl saw you. Now she will get you back."

Secret history

Yadavi tells him the history of the village. A hundred years ago, a saint lived in Nishchintapur. He knew the mantra of immortality, and he had a secret treasure. The villagers wanted to kill him and loot the treasure, but the saint cursed him before dying: "You will remain silent forever. If anyone wants to know the truth, I will devour him." Arpan realizes that Yadavi sent the letter. Because she has the last writings of the saint—which reveal the secret treasure of Nishchintapur.

The mystery of the temple

Arpan goes to the saint's temple. On the temple wall is written in blood-red: "Want to know the truth? Then tell me, what do you want?"

Suddenly the temple door closes on its own. The saint's spirit emerges from the shadows. Arpan's throat goes dry, but he says loudly, "I just want to know, have you really become immortal?"

The saint smiles, "Immortality is not in any mantra. It is in people's faith. The people of this village believed in me, that's why I am alive. Now if you believe in me too, I will live in you too."

Breaking the curse

The next morning, Arpan sees everyone in the village talking again. Yadavi says, "The Sadhak's curse has been broken. Because you wanted to know the truth, you weren't afraid." But Arpan wonders—did the Sadhak really free him from the curse, or is he now its new bearer?

On the way back

Arpan leaves the village. But while sitting on the train, he sees an unknown note in his bag:

"You have found out, but be careful... Some truths remain unknown even after knowing them. Nishchintapur may call again."

Through the train window, he sees that behind the distant mountains, the windmill of Nishchintapur is still slowly turning...

dear reader,

The story ends, but the words don't—they live on in your imagination, emotions, and thoughts. Thank you very much for your time. If this story leaves an impression on you, raises a question or a feeling, then that is my labor.

See you again in a new story, with a new idea. Until then stay well, dream and make your life colorful like a story.

your author,

[Md. Tanvir Hossain (Tanim)]