Chapter 1: Ringing Up

15th February, 2048, Ushering City.

Radhe Krishna Radhe Krishna

Krishna Krishna Radhe Radhe

Radhe Shyam Radhe Shyam

Shyam Shyam Radhe Radhe!

The kirtan in the nearby temple was the most soul-stirring alarm for Radhika Kar, a 31 year old woman, living on the 7th floor in the Bright Sunshine Apartment in Radha Krishna Anchal. This morning, she woke up listening to the kirtan and silently prayed for her husband, who went out of city yesterday night for attending four wedding ceremonies in his hometown.

Humming a Bengali song, Radhika went to her kitchen to prepare her breakfast. The clock said it was 8'o clock. She hurried in dressing up and taking her breakfast.

Few minutes before she went out, she asked, "LifeAI, any new message?"

"New messages arrived! Firstly, Ayan has said- 'I have reached my destination. Take care.'"

Secondly, you have a new message from Boss in Office Division 4 group. It says- I guess everyone remembers about the wedding ceremony of my daughter at Vrindavan Wedding Hall. We are eagerly waiting to see you all there. As always, your shift will complete at 4pm, so, work hard today too. Well, I am not missing the office even today, so, see you all."

"Thank you LifeAI. Bye."

Radhika locked the door, took the lift and moved out of the 10 floor apartment. She couldn't find any auto rickshaw in the road. Upon seeing her watch, she confirmed herself that it was the office time for the whole city and the city always blossomed with rickshaws at this time. Her eyes then fell on a board, which was there on an electric pole. "Remove AI. Save the nation."

Radhika remembered what she saw in the news notification on her phone in the morning itself. "AI removed by the government from more sectors after huge protests and backlash!" However, she knew that the movement was on and the auto rickshaw association also favoured the worker's association. Many more industries were still suffering from the sudden implementation of AI.

Getting auto rickshaw was going to be a hectic job. She opened a cab app but found it to be closed. The cab company had previously introduced driverless cabs and then implemented AI to control the whole system. This had led to the workers creating a ruckus in their head office and also a huge problem with the customers.

She called her colleague, Sakshi. "Got a cab?"

"No, Radhika, nothing yet. I just contacted a taxi driver, known to me. He is coming. You also need, right?"

"Yup. Can he make it?"

"I think he can. Let me board the taxi and then call you back."

Radhika sat in a nearby tea stall and kept waiting. A forty-aged man, who was his neighbour, standing near her, was scrolling through a social media app, suddenly said, "Congratulations on getting back your job. Waiting for someone?"

"Thanks. And, yes, I am waiting for my colleague to come. This taxi problem is a headache."

"My life became a bit easier the day when I bought a house near my office."

"Quite a nice luck in that case."

A red taxi came and stood in front of her. Sakshi shouted, "Come, let's go."

Radhika took leave from the man and boarded the taxi.

After the taxi started its journey, Sakshi asked, "Though I shouldn't care, but I want to know...."

Radhika- "Neighbour. Leave it."

She knew Sakshi's extreme curiosity just when she heard that punchline "Though I shouldn't care". Typical Sakshi activity!

Sakshi- "You know, your favourite actor, PKS, has been accused in spreading wrong information. He has been arrested yesterday night."

Radhika- "I don't care. Most people don't care. Those who completely idolize him will protest and, at the end, will contribute to the success of PKS's next film, releasing next week. Nowadays, he doesn't even act. The production houses just edits his AI face."

Sakshi- "How can you be insensitive about your favourite...."

All through the journey, Sakshi kept on talking about how difficult it was to get the taxi. Radhika just hummed at all the words and had her eyes outside. In the music player of the taxi was playing Aanaal from Ninaivo Oru Paravai. A key was hanging with the help of the string from the rear view mirror of the taxi, and, to Radhika, the key was kind-of dancing to the tunes of the track.

Ushering city was already six years old. Still, for her, it felt new everyday. The traffic signal went red. She experienced the life in a traffic jam. Few years ago, or even in some developing cities, traffic jams almost tend to drain out all the energy of a human being. Noise and smoke joined hands to create an atmosphere of suffocation. However, since the emergence of electric devices and the pressure of the government over the public to adapt to it occurred, traffic jams started getting a new look.

Radhika loved this absence of noise and smoke. People were in a hurry but, in a big six-lane road, no one had to horn. It was blissful. It was alright.

A middle-aged man, over a bike, stopped his vehicle beside the taxi. He had newspapers in two bags he was carrying. Radhika asked him to give her one. It was Madhyam, the most popular, most cheap and probably the only newspaper which contained only the very necessary and important news articles.

Phoolera Duj was here. It was a day when no particular timing had to be followed for a wedding to happen. The country flocked of a record of over eight thousand marriages to be held on that day. Ushering was no exception. She noticed that, after every few intervals, beautiful decorations were there. The city was ready for many couples to get bonded.

Sakshi diverted from her initial topic and said, "Sir's daughter's wedding today! I hope you remember that."

"Yes, why not?"

"And, see, on such an important day, taxis are unavailable."

"Stop crossing over your previous topic with the new one. Taxi committee knew when to strike and put the system on hazard."

"Yeah, ok. Well, what are you wearing today? And, gift?"

"I am wearing a blue saree. And, the gift is a bedcover."

"Oh, I see. And you know, I am going to wear..."

Radhika was already out of the topic. The traffic signal went green. The cars moved front as fast as possible.

Radhika and Sakshi reached the office on time. Just like any other day, most of the male workers wished Radhika a very good morning. She was married. But all of them had a crush on her even before she got married. They knew they could never get her but a sense of love, respect and attraction remained.

Radhika sat in her desk in Office Division 4. The boss came in.

"It's been two weeks since the government took away AI from our industrial sector after facing a monumental failure. After all, AI is a creation of human beings. It can never beat us. It can imitate us to some extent but can't bring the ultimate human emotions. And, here's the big announcement.

A newly built AI bot called We Listening AI has been launched in our offices all across the country.

The Decision Makers Institute of India, which works towards helping people in making decisions smoothly in a world of various choices, has installed this AI programme. Since they also come under The Great Indian Psychology Department, they do have the best knowledge of people's brains and, therefore, have promised to help us out in any way possible.

In all your desktops, you are gonna get that. Now, understand how it's gonna work.

Consider an example. A man has recently arrived with his family in Ushering. He has a list of schools in which he can admit his small kid but he is finding it difficult to choose the best. So, frustrated, he calls you.

Before this AI came, you would be listening to him and his needs and then start searching it up on any search engine or application. But, from now, that has been made easy.

When you search for something on We Listening AI, you can fill all the needs of the customer in the box and search. You will get the best results ever. There's even a how-to box where it would be mentioned how to present the information to the customer, in a pleasant way.

So, get your voice into the job again. And, see you at 7 in Vrindavan Hall."

Everyone geared up. Headphones, checked. Connection, superb. Computer screens, on. AI, tested. First calls arrived.

Nice job was being done. A good mannerism was observed to be coming from the customers. Well, they too knew how these people got back their jobs.

Whenever a call arrived, the computer screen would show the caller's name. It wasn't always true but, in most cases, it was right.

Radhika, after attending to seven customers, got stuck to the name of the eighth caller. Murlidhar Sarkar. She thought, "Familiar name. I hope it's not him."

"Hello, Vishnupriya Banerjee from We Listening. How can I help you?"

"Hi, I am Murlidhar Sarkar. I am a lawyer. I don't really have someone to talk about the things I am thinking now. So, I thought to make a call."

"Yes, sir, you can definitely carry on."

"From the very morning, I am thinking of my first love. I won't take her name. It's just that I am thinking hell too much about her today. Whenever I think of her and the plans I had thought about 'us', I cry. And, yes, tears are coming."

Whatever followed made Radhika cry also.

At the end, Murli said, "Yes. Well, I think I should take your leave. You know, duty calling!"

"Yes, sure. Thank you for calling We Listening. We look forward to serve you in the future too. Have a nice day, sir."

"You too have a nice day, ma'am."

After hanging up the phone, she took her water bottle and drank water as much as she could at that time. She ran to the bathroom and to the basin. She recognized the voice. It was him.