THE AGENT OF WISH-FULFILLMENT PART 1

THE AGENT OF WISH-FULFILLMENT promises to lead you through the twists and turns of the human psyche, blurring the lines between reality and the supernatural. In this episode, our protagonist, grappling with defeat and humiliation, encounters a mysterious old man with extraordinary claims. This old man, calling himself Ichhapurtidevadutah, or the Agent of Wish-Fulfillment, offers a unique proposition – fulfilling a single wish but with certain enigmatic limitations. How will this unusual offer unfold? What secrets does this angel hold, and what consequences will our protagonist's choices bring?

Join Biswajit Banerjee as we unravel the layers of this mysterious encounter. Is it a mere drunken illusion, or is there a deeper, more profound reality at play? Stay tuned, and let's explore the obscured corners of our world together.

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Listen to the Audio Trailer of THE AGENT OF WISH-FULFILLMENT PART 1:
https://youtu.be/eBKQFJxSHZk?si=kfQC2RoV4a4EHq_o
Watch the Video Trailer of THE AGENT OF WISH-FULFILLMENT PART 1:
https://youtu.be/sT0LyWmt35I?si=izOjkwVXCxf1bCui

Transcript

INTRO 00:00:00

Welcome to OBSCURUS, your weekly dose of paranormal fiction. Every Wednesday OBSCURUS features new short stories and serialized novels written by novelist, screenwriter, and voice-over artist Biswajit Banerjee. The realm of the paranormal stretches far beyond the usual horror story. So, while you will get to listen to lots of ghost stories on this podcast, there will also be many tales of lesser-known paranormal themes. To get us started, here's your host Biswajit Banerjee.

HOST TALK 00:00:47

Welcome back, dear listeners, to another episode of OBSCURUS, your gateway to the enigmatic and the unknown. I'm Biswajit Banerjee and today I bring you the first installment of a five-part intriguing story titled "The Agent of Wish-Fulfillment." This tale promises to lead you through the twists and turns of the human psyche, blurring the lines between reality and the supernatural.

Before we dive into this captivating narrative that will entertain one and all, I invite you to visit my website, biswajitbanerjee.com. Here, you can explore my creative journey and the stories I weave. Also, please check out our dedicated podcast website, obscurus.buzzsprout.com, for all episodes of OBSCURUS, complete with transcripts and special features.

Your support is crucial for us. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel for enjoyable videos, training programs, documentary films, and the latest updates and to share our podcast with others who enjoy delving into the mysteries of the unknown.

Now, let's immerse ourselves in "The Agent of Wish-Fulfillment Part 1." In this episode, our protagonist, grappling with defeat and humiliation, encounters a mysterious old man with extraordinary claims. This old man, calling himself Ichhapurtidevadutah, or the Agent of Wish-Fulfillment, offers a unique proposition – fulfilling a single wish but with certain enigmatic limitations. How will this unusual offer unfold? What secrets does this angel hold, and what consequences will our protagonist's choices bring?

Join me as we unravel the layers of this mysterious encounter. Is it a mere drunken illusion, or is there a deeper, more profound reality at play? Stay tuned, and let's explore the obscured corners of our world together. Remember, in the realm of OBSCURUS, every story takes you on a journey through the unknown.

THE AGENT OF WISH-FULFILLMENT PART 1 00:04:00

Written and Performed by Biswajit Banerjee

00:04:27

I drank all the beer from the bottle in one gulp and ordered more. The bar attendant placed another chilled bottle of beer on the counter. Again, I drank the whole of it in a single gulp. My helpless self craved more, and I was about to order another bottle when someone called me from behind.

"Sir, would you be kind enough to spare a little time of yours?"

I turned around to find a man in his late sixties with a lovely smile playing on his lips.

"Do we know each other?" I said.

"Well, Sir, you don't know me, but I know you."

"Are you doing business with my company?"

"No."

"Has any of my colleagues asked you to see me?"

"No, Sir." The old man said, adjusting his glasses as his smile broadened, making his wrinkles more prominent.

"In that case, one of my relatives might have given you my particulars."

"Yet again, you are wrong, Sir."

"Then how do you know me? I am no celebrity."

After a friendly laughter, the old man said, "I know everyone, dear Sir, not just the celebrities. The so-called celebrities in the material world are not a trickle more important to me than you or, for that purpose, others like you, Sir."

"Don't disturb me, go away. Let me drink in peace."

"Alcohol does not help, Sir."

I looked at him again. Now, he had a still bigger smile on his lips.

"Can we talk for a while?" He said.

"I don't know you."

"Do not worry, Sir. I will tell you all about myself."

"You are a strange man. I have no desire to talk to you. Go away."

"Probably, talking to me will help ease the load on your mind, Sir. The load of defeat and humiliation is not easy to carry. Won't you allow me to make you feel better?"

The man looked harmless, and I inferred from how he talked that he meant business. He was here to help me, but who was he? I was sure I had never seen him before.

"Please listen to me, dear Sir, do not drink anymore of that stupid stuff." The old man said as he stepped forward.

"You mean the beer?"

"What else? It is difficult to understand why humans have made their lives so sickening with stuff like those."

"You are speaking as though you are not a human."

The old man had a hearty laugh again.

"Can we sit and talk, my dear Sir." The old man said.

"Okay," I said and walked towards a table. The man stepped close to me.

"Should I uncork this bottle, Sir?" The bar attendant spoke after placing another bottle of chilled beer on the counter.

"Well, I do not need that, I guess. I will order it later if I feel like it." I replied and sat in a chair next to a table. The old man sat across the table from me.

00:08:46

"Now you can tell me what's going on in your mind," I said.

Yet another laugh.

"Dear Sir, we should rather discuss what's going on in your mind."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't murder cross your mind?"

"Murder! Whose murder?"

"The murder of Mr. Frank Jones, your rival in the office."

"Are you crazy? Yes, he is a rival and quite undeservingly got promoted to Chief Financial Advisor. But I don't wish to murder him. What do you think of me? Some criminal?"

"No, Sir, you are not a criminal. Rather, you are a nice young man with great financial prudence. I understand that you were the perfect choice for promotion to the post of Chief Financial Advisor. So, your grudge against Mr. Jones is understandable. And you are also probably right in holding anger for the members of the promotional committee who promoted Mr. Jones instead of you to the coveted position."

"Wait a second; how do you know so much about my office?"

"It is not difficult to know the things happening in your office."

"Well, I understand - news about the events in the corporate world, especially if the things pertain to a big multinational company such as ours, spreads like wildfire. The internet is a cruel thing, isn't it? Everyone interested in such news probably knows by now that the idiot beat me in the race."

"Are you talking about Mr. Jones?"

"Yes."

"So, what do you wish to do now?"

"What the hell can I do now? I have to digest the humiliation silently."

"Are you sure that's what you intend to do? Wasn't something else cooking up in your mind when parking your vehicle in the space adjacent to this building?"

00:11:25

The angry thoughts that crossed my mind when I parked the vehicle rushed past my mind again. Indeed, I had visualized myself walking into Mr. Jones's chamber with a gun, and holding it against his forehead and saying 'you scum of the earth' and shooting his brains out. Those were just stray thoughts, and I wasn't serious about them. But how did this old man know what I thought at the time of parking my car? Did he guess it all? Although he might have inferred my anger from the loss of prestige I was grappling with, how he knew I visualized shooting at Mr. Jones's head as I parked the vehicle was a mystery to me.

"Who are you?"

"Relax, Sir, you can think of me like a friend."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Relax, young friend."

"Come to the point. Won't you tell me who you are?"

"Certainly. I will tell you about myself, but first, throw the anger out of your system."

"Look, don't test my patience."

"Okay, dear Sir, I will tell you who I am. My name is Ichhapurtidevadutah."

"What? What did you say your name is?"

More laugh.

"My name is Ichhapurtidevadutah."

"Are you from Neptune?"

"No, Neptune is just a part of this material universe. I have come from somewhere else."

00:13:19

"You mean you are from some other dimension?"

"Precisely so. Won't you like to know what my name means?"

"I must admit I am curious to know."

"That expression is not just my name; it succinctly explains what I do."

"As usual, I can't understand what you are saying."

"Icchapurtidevadutah roughly means the Agent of Wish-Fulfillment."

We didn't exchange any words for the next minute or so as I waited for my brain to make sense of the old man's strange name.

"So, you are a genie?" I said.

"No, Sir, and please refrain from using such lowly words to describe my role in the overall divine scheme of things."

"What? Divine scheme of things? Do you now want me to believe that God has sent you to me?"

"Dear Sir, for the sake of simplicity, you may think that God has sent me to you."

"Get lost, old man."

I got up from the chair.

"Sit down, Sir. You won't regret spending time with me."

Some inner force stopped me from leaving. Three factors, I guess, caused the force to be and lent strength to it – first, there was no trace of falsehood on his face, and he looked genuinely interested in helping me; second, the old man's presence was comforting for whatever reasons; and the third, I had nothing better to do at that time than to listen to the old man. I sat in the chair again.

"Thank you, Sir. Let's get down to the point. I have come to you under the divine scheme of things. My job is to fulfill any one of your wishes. Now, please don't ask me why I have come to you. It will be enough for you to know that your karmic equations necessitated my contacting you."

"But …"

"Okay, you want some details. All I can explain is that you have been a good person in many past lives. Even in the present life, you have been a gentleman. So, I got directions from the realm of demigoddesses and demigods to fulfill one of your wishes."

"You can fulfill any of my wishes?"

00:16:28

"No, Sir. I can only fulfill any one of your wishes that you are capable of fulfilling yourself within the next twenty-four hours. I cannot fulfill any of your wishes that you cannot fulfill yourself within that time span."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"What it means is I can do any one of the many acts that you are capable of doing in the next twenty-four hours. All you need to do is to tell me what you want me to do."

"Sorry, I still don't understand you."

"Okay, let me give you some examples. For instance, in the next twenty-four hours, you can buy a cake for your family, or you can dance in the middle of the road without bothering about the vehicles moving around you, or visit your ophthalmologist for a regular checkup of your eyes, or even plant a tree in your community garden. Since it is within your abilities and reach to do any of the things I just cited as examples, I can do any one of those things for you. You simply have to choose what you can do but rather not do it yourself, and I will do it for you. If any harm results from the deed, I shall bear it all, and you will not have to suffer in any way. However, as a consequence of the deed, if any gains result, they shall all be yours. But remember the rider to what I can do for you – I can do any of the things that you can do without exceeding your abilities. If you can lift a maximum weight of twenty-five kilograms, I cannot lift twenty-six kilograms, should you want me to do such an act. You may have the power to lift twenty-six kilograms or even more in the twenty-fifth hour or at any other time in the future, but I am not concerned about that. I can only do what you can do with your own abilities in the next twenty-four hours."

"Probably, I am making sense of what you are saying."

"Really?"

"Yes, I think so. What if I wish to earn one hundred million US dollars in the next twenty-four hours?"

"Are you capable of earning that sum in the next twenty-four hours?"

"No, at least not by using legal means."

"Well, Sir, then you should appreciate that I, too, cannot earn one hundred million US dollars for you by using legal means."

"What if I wish to earn that amount through illegal means?"

"Although doing illegal things is contemptible, one needs skills to do such things. You need to do some self-introspection. Do you have the skills or the courage to break into a bank and loot all the cash?"

"I don't think so."

"Fine, then I, too, can't do that act for you."

00:20:33

 "How can you decide what I am capable of?"

"Because I am an angel, don't forget that. God has given me those powers."

"So, when I make a wish, you will use your powers to find out if I am capable of doing that act myself in the next twenty-four hours?"

00:20:59

"Precisely! When you make a wish, I will use my divine assessment powers to determine if you can do it in the next twenty-four hours. If yes, I will do that work for you. If not, I will ask you to choose some other task for me. But there's a rider to your choosing tasks for me – you do not have indefinite choices. You will only have three chances to ask me to do something. If you ask me to do things beyond your capabilities on each of these three occasions, I will leave without doing anything for you."

***

And so, we close the first part of our captivating tale, "The Agent of Wish-Fulfillment." As we leave our protagonist in the company of the mysterious Ichhapurtidevadutah, questions swirl like autumn leaves in a gusty breeze. What is the reality behind this Agent of Wish-Fulfillment? Is he a beacon of hope in the darkness, a cunning illusionist, or perhaps a being from a realm beyond our wildest imagination?

The path ahead bristles with intrigue and suspense. What decision will our protagonist make in the face of such an extraordinary proposition? With only three opportunities to make a wish within his grasp, each choice carries the weight of destiny. How will he navigate this complex web of possibilities, and what unforeseen consequences might his wishes unleash?

Join me, Biswajit Banerjee, in the next episode of OBSCURUS as we peel back the layers of this spellbinding narrative. Our journey is filled with twists and revelations, where each turn could lead to astonishing discoveries or deeper enigmas.

In the realm of OBSCURUS, every tale is a portal to the unknown, every conclusion a gateway to a new mystery. Until we meet again, keep your sense of wonder alive and tread lightly through the shadowy paths of the untold and the unseen.

Stay curious, stay brave, and prepare for an odyssey that challenges the boundaries of belief and reality.

OUTRO 00:25:47

Thanks for listening to OBSCURUS. If you like what you heard, please subscribe and visit biswajitbanerjee.com for more information about Biswajit's books, movies, documentaries, and other creative pursuits. We shall see you next Wednesday with another episode of OBSCURUS. Till then, take care!