"THE SHADOW IN
DARK"
This is a story of
S.Kashyap.A native of Agra who had spent most of his life at Jaipur. Kashyap
happened to become my classmate after his dad's transfer to Warangal(A town at
a distance of 2 hours from Hyderabad). Kashyap's family had moved into a house
just behind our school.His house was one part of a two portioned house which
was being disputed in court amongst the two brother's after their father's
death.The second portion was vacant and divided by a small wall.The other side
of Kashyap's house was occupied by a large trench which had become a drainage
over time and of course in-front of his house was just a huge wall of the
school.Thus isolating the house from all ends.
Kashyap's family
consisted of his parents and two younger siblings, a sister who was two years
younger and brother probably 7 years younger to him, kashyap himself was 13
then.His Father worked in a bank and his mom was a housewife.Everyday the kids
and father would leave to school and come back by evening leaving Kashyap's mom
all alone at home.Most of her time got spent in completing her daily chores
until afternoon, then she would like most of our country's women during that
time got glued to TV for her marathon of
never-ending-over-dramatic-generations-pilling serials.Kid's would return at
around 4:30, safely after the marathon of
never-ending-over-dramatic-generations-pilling serials had ended followed by
their father by 6 p.m mostly.This was the daily schedule and life went smoothly
until,the first no-moon day.
It was a Friday.Kid's
were at school, it had been raining heavily since morning.There was no power in
the whole town.Kashyap's mom had been cursing the power department incessantly
for ruining her afternoon and she kept looking outside through the window
hoping and even praying sometimes for the rainfall to stop but to no avail.It
had past 3:30 in clock, she soliloquized "my last serial has also started
and still this rain refuses to stop, i have to wait till Monday to watch the
repeat!". And then as the clock drew closer to 4:00, her little hope of
getting at-least a glimpse into the episode had ended and she finally made her
peace with it and decided to take a short nap before the kids arrived.She fell
asleep in minutes, few minutes into her sleep she woke up with fear.She
didn't realize of what, it just took few seconds for her to find out.There was
someone on the terrace running at high speed.The sound of foot steps
approaching the stair case was evident, she panicked and tried to shout but
couldn't utter a sound and right then Kashyap entered the house through the
door along with his siblings, the sound of footsteps could no longer be heard.
Since that incident
Kashyap's mom was scared to stay alone in the house.She was always vigilant,
always on look out for anything suspicious but nothing notable happened for a
week.Next few weeks had gone by in a similar fashion.Slowly reducing the fear
in her, there were no rains for another few weeks and then again it started to
pour heavily in warangal.
It was third night in
succession of the downpour.In middle of the night Kashyap's sister had woken up
to drink water, half way through her path to kitchen there was a power cut.It
alarmed her and scared her a little but she decided to go through anyway.As she
took few more steps towards the kitchen, she heard a knock on the door.She
freezed, every second was passing by in fear and anticipation of the next
knock.And it duly arrived.This time more clearer than first occasion, marking
its origins to the connecting door between theirs and the other closed portion
of the house.She screamed and power was back.
The whole family were
now worried about the events taking place in the house.They had decided to
vacate it and were on "house-hunting". Within next two days
they had found a house and decided to shift on the weekend.The nights were
passing in fear for the whole family, all the bulbs in the house were kept
glowing throughout the night.There hadn't been much rains since the day of last
incident and thus power cuts were fewer.But just before the day of shifting
again there was a heavy downpour since the morning, Kashyap's mom had asked the
kids to take a leave from school and stay back at home with her.They obliged
and remained home and helped their mother in packing things for moving into the
new house.The day passed by without any incident with intermittent powercuts
fluctuating with intensity of downpour.The family had dinner together with most
of their conversation circling around "how relieved they will be from
tomorrow after shifting to new house!". After the dinner the parent's
along with their youngest son went into their bedroom while Kashyap and his
sister went to theirs.Kashyap couldn't sleep for a while, his thoughts
wandering around the events that had happened in the house.He was still
of the belief that it was just their figment of imagination and nothing really
could have happened.Slowly his eyes began to feel heavy and within no time he
was asleep.His sleep was short-lived as soon after there was a power cut and a swarm
of mosquitoes had managed to smuggle into the room through the half opened door
and were buzzing into his ears waking him up.He had woken up realizing his
sister had forgotten to lock the door, letting in all these mosquitoes.He then
turned in his bed to face the side the door was on to confirm the same.And
found his mom was at the door, wearing a maxi, staring at him.He stared back at
her for some reason and then suddenly she closed the door while having her eyes
still affixed on to him till the last moment.
As the door closed,
power was back.Kashyap was still staring at the door almost in an entranced
state until his sister intervened by calling his name.He was perplexed and
looked at her.She could guess from his expression that something was wrong.He
again looked at the door and got down from the bed instantly.His sister
followed him as he opened the door and headed into his parent's room.He barged
into their room and switched on the light and stared at his mother.She lay
there on bed clad in the saree.
"HUT OF
DREAMS"
Pradeep Das, presently
working in an MNC in Hyderabad has his roots from a coastal village of
Orissa.He spent most of his summers there.His family of four would never miss
out on a chance to be back to their village,away from frenetic city life to the
peaceful shores of the great Bay of Bengal,only to return at the onset of
monsoons signalling the start of new academic year at school for both him and
his younger brother.
It was night after
Pradeep's 13th birthday that the family had started to go back to their village
from Hyderabad by train.Like always his parents were eager to return to their
roots,expecting to be embraced by their kins and well-wishers,never have they been
disappointed.Their thoughts occupied with images of their village and hearts
filled with nostalgia they could hardly wait for the next morningt.It was 10
mins past 11 at night, his younger brother was asleep in the middle berth
beside his half-asleep mother,while his father occupied the upper one leaving
the lower berth to Pradeep upon Pradeep's own insistence.He wanted the window.
It had been an eventful
year for Pradeep.He had just hit his teens and with hormones kicking in a lot
had changed in him since his last visit to the village.He had made new
friend's,fallen in love with the next class girl who had once offered him an
extra pencil during an exam two years ago.He tried hard to speak to her again
after that but never gathered the courage to, by the end of that year she had
broken his heart by insulting him in-front of everyone during the lunch recess
when he had finally become prey to his friends provocations which lead him to
propose that girl.The girl loathed him, his friends outcast-ed him as a
loser,he was alone.Nothing pleased him anymore, he wouldn't go out to play, he
wouldn't watch tv, all he would do is stay at home and go to school.
All these events were
again playing again and again in Pradeep's head while he sat staring outside
his window seat at the soothing darkness.The cold wind, the cradle-like
movement of the berth, and speeding train heading to his village was all that
Pradeep had longed for since that incident.He kept staring as far as he could
into the darkness,looking at the horizon aimlessly.It was almost midnight by
when Pradeep slowly fell asleep while still sitting by the window.Into a deep
slumber he went, only to wake up finding himself in the cart to his village.
Pradeeps family were
greeted by warm smiles and hugs as they reached their ancestral house by their
relatives.All the customary pleasantries were exchanged between the elders and
every aunt of Pradeep expressed her amazement at how tall Pradeep had grown in
past one year while in reality he had almost not grown at all,not even by the
length of his hair!.He was pleased to see his cousins and they immediately took
him and his younger brother Abhinav along to play cricket by the river as
usual.
The kids played twice
everyday, once in early morning and second time in the evening.There chosen
area for play was usually the empty space with exiguous amount of grass and
shoots some 300 mts from Pradeep's ancestral house which was the last
house of the village.At a walk of 5 mins from this ground flowed a river which
went on to merge with the Bay of Bengal some 20 kms further.
One evening while
Abhinav(Pradeep's brother) was fielding at the River's end, ball raced past him
into the woods.He went chasing after the ball while the batsmen ran their
runs.Their friends did not realize that Abhinav had departed into the woods
until he was almost not visible.But when they did,there were screams from all
of them asking him to come back and stop proceeding, continuous and fearful
screams started to be echoed all around the playing area begging him to
return.But none reached his ears for him to understand it. Right before him he
saw the ball under a large intimidating tree.The 10 year old immediately went
and picked the ball, and when his eyes went up, he noticed a small broken hut
like structure hidden behind the tree's trunk.He started to look inside the
hut,it was dark in there,he couldn't see anything.But he stared,into the
darkness,kept staring until he felt a wide jerk all over his body as though
some unknown force was shaking him.He got back to his senses then and found his
friends calling out his name in utter sense of panic and Pradeep shaking him
vigorously.
That night everyone had
gathered for dinner in the veranda,all of Pradeep's relatives.The ladies had
prepared all the specialties for this night of festivity.Everyone laughed and
talked sharing anecdotes of the past and reminiscing the forgotten
childhood.Pradeep was with his cousins playing around the house hide and seek
while Abhinav lay asleep in the bedroom.He was suffering from high fever since
returning from the ground and his uncle had gotten him tablet to consume and
rest.The party carried with occasional bouts of laughter emerging from Veranda
while the the kids played indoors.
It was Pradeep's turn to
be seeker and he started doing his counting from the his uncle's bedroom.Midway
through his counting his eyes went outside the window and he stared in
disbelief.He saw his brother walking towards the ground.Pradeep immediately ran
towards the backdoor and went after him.It was a full-moons day, but darkness
was still engulfing the entire sky as the passing clouds had covered the
moon,Pradeep ran as fast as he could with cold breeze coming from the river
hitting against his face.His screams returning back to his own ears with the
breeze having given way to wind.Pradeep slipped and fell after hitting a
rock,when he got up he had lost sight of Abhinav.Something told him that
Abhinav would be reaching for the woods again,So Pradeep ran faster through the
shortcuts and reached the ground where he spotted Abhinav.Abhinav was at the
periphery of the woods when Pradeep had given a loud shout.Abhinav Stopped
walking.There was sigh of relief from Pradeep and he started to jog now towards
his brother from one end of the ground with heavy breaths from his earlier
exhaustion's when suddenly he tripped but this time managed to keep his balance
and prevent himself from falling.When he looked backup,his brother was gone.
Pradeep raced towards
the woods,with a hundred of thoughts in his head but only emotion of fear in
his heart.He slowed down as he could barely seeing anything in the dense
covering of trees.He slowly went ahead hearing to the cacophony of the insects
and the hustling river few meters ahead.His eyes searched for his brother but
his senses feared finding something else.And suddenly he saw his brother ahead
of him,walking across towards the tree.Pradeep shouted but to no avail,his
brother continued walking and went inside the hut.Pradeep ran after him inside
and grabbed his brother's hand and started running frenetically.
They were running as
fast as they could with Pradeep still clutching his brother's arm and his
brother started to ask Pradeep to stop.
Pradeep didn't hear
that,he just kept running.His brother again pleaded Pradeep to
stop."Bro,please stop!" and this time Pradeep did hear it but he
didn't bother stopping. He continued running pulling Abhinav along until they
were back in the ground,with Abhinav still pleading continuously asking Pradeep
to stop.
Abhinav was screaming at
him,"Brother Please stop!", "Please, Dont leave me please
stop".When finally Pradeep stopped and looked at Abhinav.
Abhinav looked into
Pradeep's eyes and said "You left my body there Brother".
He felt a huge jerk and
Pradeep suddenly gained conscious,his friends calling out his name in utter
sense of panic and Abhinav shaking him vigorously.
Asking him to throw the
ball for a runout.He was holding the ball in his hands at the boundary of the ground,
he threw it back to them and stared into the woods, lost in his thoughts about
his failed love life and deceptive school friends until his mind weaved out
another similar interesting story to keep him entertained.
“LOOKING INTO ABYSS”
Location:R K Puram
Year:1977
Source:My English
Teacher at school
This incident dates back
to a very long time ago and it was when my english teacher was in school.She
was in tenth class and had a friend named Rekha Biswas.This friend had a
brother in twelfth studying in the same school,Army School of R K Puram.The
school is still functioning to this day and nothing about its infrastructure
has changed much since but its surroundings have,that to drastically.
Back then the school was
surrounded by acres of deserted unmanned spaces.It was almost in midst of a
mini forest with every exit leading to nothing but trees and bushes.The nearest
housing colonies were about 4km away from school at an area called
Sainikpuri.To reach there one had to travel through only a single pathway
available which lead to a railway tracks about a km from school and then
another dangling stretch of uneven pathway covered with thick shred of trees
for next three kilometers.
On one summer day the
school was conducting its annual day celebrations.Rekha and her brother Rajesh
were the school's organizing heads.So they were suppose to complete
all their work and leave at the end way after other students had left.By 4:30
p.m the celebrations had ended,people had slowly started to make a move back
home.Some closely knit mischievous gang of guys stayed back the
longest but even they had left by 5:30 p.m.The organisers who stayed in army
quarters aligning with the school boundary remained along with Rekha and
Rajesh.It had gotten dusky by the time the brother-sister pair had started to
return back home at 6:15 p.m.
They were the only ones
remained who stayed at Sainikpuri and now had no one to accompany them nor were
they in possession of candles or torches.By the time they reached the
railway tracks the sun had set completely and it was pitch dark.They kept
walking and knew it was only a matter of another twenty minutes before they
were home.
The clock had struck
eight times at Biswas's house,the lady looked at it nervously.she went to her
husband for the fourth time in past fifteen minutes and asked him to show some
urgency at-least now.Their children had not come back yet.All the other
kids had returned ages ago but they haven't.The husband immediately took the
lantern and a bamboo stick and gathered a few of his neighbors.They then began
marching towards the school in search of Rekha and Rajesh.
The group was near the
tracks when they decided to split into two and search.They wandered into the
thick forests and began picking up pace realizing something really wrong
had happened.Suddenly one group heard some noises,they turned and looked
towards the side the sound had come and there they spotted something very
strange,two people were walking away from the actual pathway in a curved manner
as if circling something.They went closer and one of the person put lantern
near their face and what he saw left him unconscious for the next two
days.As he brought lantern closer to her face,he saw her eyes and they were
completely white,pale and unflinching staring right into his.
The other guy screamed
and his screamed had gathered others who then carried back Rekha and Rajesh
home.They were both immediately shifted to hospital and ran high fever for a
week.And after their recovery when Rajesh was asked what had happened he told
as they were walking.It was dark and they couldn't see the road much but after
a certain point the road had suddenly disappeared and then they felt some
invisible thing in the dark was asking them to follow it,they followed it and
just kept following before losing their conscious and kept circling the
same area round and round again.
Rekha had far deeper
impact than Rajesh.She did not speak for a month and after that every time she
went past that route she would shiver,her body would go cold and heart beat would
fasten.Thirty years hence even though there is a bridge over the railway track
and whole of area is modernized,Rekha avoids that road were she lost a
part of her soul.
“DON'T TURN AROUND”
LOCATION: Stone Henge
Apartments, Hyderabad
SOURCE: Akshay Singh
(Resident)
This Apartment was built
some 15 years ago.It has 4 floors.Each floor has 5 flats in it.Two flats with
their entrances facing each other at the two corners of the corridor and one
flat opposite to lifts pathway.The Buildings terrace is huge and was under
construction during the time my friend Akshays family occupied their house on
the top most floor.The Apartment was sparsely and unevenly occupied during that
time with only two flats at-most occupied in each of the floors except the top
one where only Akshays family lived.
Things were normal for
fortnight,the whole family was adjusting to the new house until one night when
something strange
happened.The whole apartment was disturbed by it,but Akshays father being an
atheist did not pay any heed to it.He brushed it aside as just an accident.But
it wasn't to be.It wasn't an accident.Because accidents don't keep happening
every amavasya (no-moon days).
Following that day on
every amavasya there would be a group of street dogs gathering
somewhere close to the apartment and crying.And the next morning one of
them would be found dead with its bones smashed under the Apartments, possibly
from a jump from the boundary-less terrace.And the cycle continued for months. With
all residents living in fear until some pooja was performed after the
completion of the terrace boundaries.Soon more families occupied the apartment
and incident was soon forgotten until someone came to remind them about it
again.
It was a rainy day and
Akshays father had come home late,there was a power cut because of the rain and
he had to board the steps till the top floor.He started climbing up from the
first floor when he suddenly heard some sound,it was sound of anklets(payal)
from the floor above his as though some women was running across the
corridor.He reached the second floor and gave a glimpse into the pitch dark
corridor to see who was awake at that odd hour of night.He found no one and
continued towards third floor,as he reached the final few steps of third floor
again the sound recurred,this time from very close, he felt something just went
past from before him.He stood numb.His heart had missed a beat.Just staring
blindingly into the darkness.It was all silent around and rain had started to
pour heavily now.He shook his head and hurried up to his house with shivering
legs and distorted thoughts in head as he hurried up the sound followed him
from behind....chasing him.....reaching for his legs......trying to drag him
back and make him hear to it wants to say but he didn't stop and as he reached
his door at the corner of the corridor he heard the sound go strikingly louder
this time towards the terrace and suddenly heard his name called out.
Akshays mom had opened
the door and it was her voice.He went in with sweat falling of his forehead. That
night went past with all sorts of thoughts in head,with so many unanswered
questions and one life changing incident.
And now every time
Akshays out late and wants to return back his used to be atheist dad asks him
to stay back wherever he is and return in the morning.
(the two incidents of
dogs and the sound of anklets are true happenings but the story has
many fictional elements to it which were added to increase the
interest of the reader)
“EMPTY VESSELS”
Location:ECIL X Roads, Hyderabad
Source: Karthik
Bharadwaj
Ravi had a horrible day,with government offices closed due to Telangana bandh he could not get his files passed.He then had to travel all over the way from old city to the next part of the city with regard to his work.The part of the city which he now had become quite accustomed to seemed very different today.There were no buses at the ECIL bus stop that evening with exception of one or two carrying out their usual business without the "Bus-Number" plates put up.The cyber cafe lane was deserted,green-bawarchi closed,so were all the big restaurants,most of the road side stands serving 'bhajis','chai','chat' and various other eatables were non existent that day.It seemed a completely different world,Ravi thought to himself and he was soon to be proved correct.
It was nine when his
work got over.He stepped out and started walking towards the bus stop hoping to
get one of the rare buses that were running.He was now nearing the bus stop
when an old woman came to him begging,Ravi ignored her n started walking
ahead.He then spotted a 'pan-shop' and decided to have a smoke,it was then when
he realised that the old beggar was still following him.He approached the
shopkeeper,had his cigarette lit and turned around.The moment he turned
the old beggar was staring at him in the eyes,she did not say a word but stared
for a second nor did Ravi as he grasped with fear until a spasmodic
response gave way from fear to anger.Ravi shouted at the old lady asking her to
go away.She did,still staring at him without uttering a word walking away
slowly until she was lost in the darkness.
It was 10 now and he was waiting at bus stop,all by himself hoping and wishing to get any form of transport affordable.He had already rejected two 'share autos' as they demanded triple the fare than usual,but by now he was cursing himself for doing so.There was complete darkness all around,no sign of any vehicles passing for the past five minutes when it was suddenly broken by an ambulance passing by followed by a police patrol car.Ten more minutes went past and still no sign of relief.He was getting increasingly restless and was about to start walking when out of nowhere a RTC bus appeared.
Ravi waited eagerly for bus to reach him,the bus stopped.He got in instantly and sat in the seat which was just after the last 'ladies seat'.The bus started moving,Ravi looked in front of him,all the seats were vacant except the second seat on the right on which the conductor was sitting.Conductor was busy counting the change from his bag,creating chinking noises. Ravi then turned behind to realise he was the lone traveler then.The bus had went past two stops already without stopping at any and the conductor was still sitting there still counting the cash.It made Ravi curious that he was not asked for ticket yet,he waited till another stop and finally decided to go up to conductor to buy the ticket himself.
As Ravi took out the money and headed in front towards the conductor he heard a scream from behind him,he quickly turned to see what caused it.He found nothing his eyes still surveyed the place for another second or two to confirm and then he turned putting his hand forth to pay.The conductor was gone.He was nowhere,Ravi quickly turned back and again front searching for him but he wasn't there.Ravi ran to the exit and jumped out of the bus,he was breathing heavily but still kept running until he couldn't run anymore.Finally he stopped,gained his breath back and then lit a cigarette.He had two puffs of it walking slowly now.He then turned to see the road towards which the bus had headed and there stood right before his eyes that old lady beggar staring directly into his eyes once again.Ravi stood still gazing back at her fearfully,she smiled and started to walk back until the darkness had engulfed her.
“THE CONTACT WITH THE UNKNOWN”
Location:Hyderabad
This is a story of a
girl who sits in the bench adjacent to mine. Her name is Shreya. The series of
incidents that I am reporting here happened in the last semester when shreya
did not attend college for one whole week. No body apart from her parents
believed in all that had happened. Let us see if you would?
Shreyas house was a
duplex with steps from within to the upper part of the house. This part of the
house was still under construction and the workers had taken leave for few days
due to some occasion. Shreya’s mother was always skeptical about smallest of
things, she would follow every custom and tradition and would be very
particular about her family doing the same and did not like the idea of
stopping the construction activity half-incomplete. Shreya on the other hand
was complete opposite, a non-believer,daring , ever-ready to go against the
fixed traditions. And it was this contrast in her behavior that resulted in her
facing the horrific incidents.
Day 1:
It was morning; Shreya
was heading upstairs to dry her wet hair when her mom stopped her. She scolded
her and asked her never to go open haired upstairs. Her mom went into kitchen,
Shreya went upstairs. She dried her hair and returned to her room. Shreya’s and
her sister’s rooms are attached to each other leading to the hall the kitchen
and parent’s bedroom on the other side. Shreya lay on her bed and she felt some
one’s presence in her room, she turned and suddenly started choking, she felt a
hand around her neck, holding her neck tightly..but she couldn’t see it..she
started to scream calling her mom who was still in kitchen but to no avail..her
voice though loud did not seem to reach her mom,Shreya was losing her
consciousness when out of nowhere her sister called out for her mom and her mom
appeared out of kitchen and the invisible hand had let loose.
Shreya had then asked
her mom as to why she did not answer to her cries and her mom said she never
even heard a word, sister supported her mom’s claims. Then Shreya had reported
all that had happened to her mom who started to get very concerned.
That very afternoon
Shreya had witnessed another incident. Her parents had left both the sisters
alone and gone to bank. Shreya was in her own room watching a movie on the
laptop which was put on charging. She was lying down on bed when something
white flashed into her eyes, she couldn’t see it clearly but it got her up..her
heart now started to beat quickly as she stared out of her room..as she slowly
started gazing suddenly the charger flew out of the charging socket and hit her
on face..she popped out of her bed shivering and almost crying .Her sister
grabbed her till she attained normalcy but nothing was normal any
more.
The laptop charger which
requires you to firmly insert it inside the socket had from nowhere popped out
with great force onto her, Her neck was strangled till she choked and the sudden
appearance of white light was all enough for the day to make Shreya sleep in
her parents room that night. She couldn’t sleep until late but finally the
tiredness gave in and she was sound asleep until the dream occurred.
An old lady was groaning
in her husky voice in dark, scolding Shreya..asking her to return back to her
room. She was slapping her again and again shouting and clutching her
neck..Shreya was choking again..the woman slapped her harder and harder..Shreya
could not breath..She felt she was about die..her body trembling..her knees
falling and suddenly her mom called. Shreya was awake now, sweating heavily.She
had little fever
Day-2
The next day Shreya’s
mom took her to the temple and performed a pooja. They returned home, she was
feeling a lot better now. They spent the day together watching T.V and it was
almost evening when Shreya decided to go to her room to get something when she
heard her sister calling out for her from the upper-part of the house.Shreya
could hear the sound coming from one of the un-constructed rooms upstairs. She
followed her way up to the stairs and then into the room from where she thought
she had heard the voice..the room was empty.
Tonight she was going to
sleep in her sisters room, she had ignored the sound from the room as
hallucination and had slept with clearer thoughts beside her sister. Shreya
fell asleep immediately.
It was past twelve now,
their room completely dark. It looked a little different in dark shreya thought
to herself as she was heading back into the bed and as she lifted the bed
sheet…there was someone else beside her sister on the bed,she was eating her
sisters fingers, blood oozing out with her sister still sound asleep. The girls
face was not so clear, Shreya tried to get a clearer view..she bent her
over..with sweat dropping from her forehead and as that other girl turned..she
was shreya herself.
Day-3
That dream left her
awake the whole night. In fact her whole family stayed up. The next morning they
visited several pandits and temples until they were assured of safety. They
returned late in the afternoon, had their lunch and shreya went to her room and
lay there thinking. Slowly she fell asleep. A knock on the door woke her up,she
thought. But there were continuous knocks and cries of her parents asking
her to open the door. Shreya rushed and opened both the bolts of the door and
let them in. Her mom hugged her and Shreya started crying. She knew what just
had happened and started to feel helpless now, all of this again inspite of all
the assurances from the gods?. Is she going to have to suffer like this
forever, every thought made her cry until her dad interrupted and asked her to
think harder if whether or not she had herself bolted the door and forgotten?.
She denied as before just nodding depressingly.
Her parents had made
calls to everyone they knew who could help and had finally got a contact of
real substance, but it was too late to visit that person so they decided to
wait until the next day.She was to visit a muslim baba who is renowned to get
rid of spirits and expert in black magic.
That night Shreya slept
between her parents. She was dreaming again, she saw a distant rally marching
towards her.There were people in white coming closer and closer,they were
carrying something on their arms when she suddenly recognized the one
infront,it was Navita her friend from college.As they came closer she could
identify all the remaining three, All were her friends, All girls and they were
carrying a dead body on their arms they were driving closer and closer to
her.There were chants of shlokas all around, of a pandit reciting things in
Sanskrit.The chants were growing louder and louder as they came closer.They
stopped before her,put the dead body on the logs and set it on fire…Shreya
started crying aloud..she was dead now her body was burning…It made her tremble
and suddenly made her wake up.
She was completely
shaken with the dream, she was dead in it signifying her end was near…her
health had deteriorated badly over the course of two nights.Her parents took
her to visit the Tantrik,he recited somethings reminiscent of the shlokas in
her dream, gave her a necklace with black clothed pendant.It will protect her
he said and eventually it did.
“THE GHAT ROAD”
Location:
Malegaon-Manmad road to Shirdi
The road was dark with
no lights for several hundred kilometers,no sign of any living being just plain
road with acres of farming land on either side of it.The car was always heading
into path emptiness with with outline of mountains faintly visible and the moon
hiding behind them.They were still few kilometers from the mountain roads so
speed gradually started reducing.They went past a small idol of lord Hanuman by
the tree on the side of road,a characteristic sight on roads of
Maharashtra.These are placed on the roads with the belief of scaring
the evil and protecting the travelers.
Inside the car were a
group of five drunk friends who were heading to Manmad after visiting a
political rally in the neighbouring town of Malegoan.It was late but they still
decide to go ahead with the hour and half of journey.They were heavily drunk
except Santosh who was driving and had restrained himself from going high for
the same purpose.Santosh was adamant on staying back at Malegaon till dawn but
others had forced him into travelling.But soon Santosh's stand of wanting to
stay back was to be vindicated in a way he never would have wanted.
The car went past the
idol,it was now heading towards the ghat road.Santosh was driving cautiously
taking the steep turns into account.He could see the light on the top of the
mountain,probably it was a truck he thought to himself.His friends were singing
loudly and enjoying themselves.Santosh kept driving.It was ten minutes since he
had seen the truck light on that turn then,it was more than enough time for the
truck to reappear at the lower level now,santosh thought to
himself.His thoughts gave way to alertness,they were now on the ghat
road,climbing up slowly.
There were atleast five
turns on the way up through the ghat road.The road completely vacant,only
covered with trees on side of road.The width kept varying but the only constant
was the wind.Santosh had seen the truck lights at the third level coming
towards them and now they were on the second level.
The music was high,so
were the passengers.They were screaming and enjoying themselves further
drinking.Santosh had his eyes on road for almost all the time except when he
took his third sip from the bottle.The moment he lay his eyes back on road,at
the far-end he saw a young woman in sari asking for lift.
It took a moment for
others to gaze at her,instantly one of them suggested they take her along and
one other agreed.While still in motion few steps away,the girl smiled.....Santosh
screamed...CLOSE THE WINDOWS NOW! .....car went past the girl...and she was no
longer behind.
She was up..on the roof
of car....screaming vociferously...banging the car,scratching.Santosh sped
faster...she was at the side window now...her face still beautiful but her
smile indistinguishably horrific.She was knocking the window,gliding
swiftly with car in air..throwing her arms one after another..they were nearing
the end of ghat..her desperation had increased,she screamed santosh's name...OPEN
IT!.And suddenly the car took its final turn...And she had left.
They were at the end of
the ghat.The car had just passed the idol.They reached back safely,with all of
them suffering from high fever.The newspaper next morning had read,
"Another truck
met with an accident on the Manmad-Malegaon ghat road"
“A WALK TO REMEMBER”
Location:Hyderabad
Its raining outside but
that hasn't dampened the spirits of all those dancing to the
"Indian wedding" hits by the bandwalas.The whole
building is brightly lit with ropes of small lights covering it from top to
bottom.There is the giggling of young girls,the crying of royally
dressed infants in their tiny sherwanis,the dicussions of the
politicos and the politics with loud thundering in the background.Time in the
clock 10:30.
Imran and Rashid where
bored of staring at every pretty girl that passed them,they were ruing missing
out on Saturday nigh party at their favorite pub for a stupid
wedding.They decided it was time to accomplish their sole motivation of
the visit,eat.All the aunties had already helped themselves to a
second serving so the queue was not long anymore.They feasted like all
adolescents of their age would.Finally after an hour of marathon eating,they
were finished.Time in clock 11:45.
It had stopped raining
mid way into there dinner,"Thank God!",said Rashid.Imran was younger
to Rashid by a year but he enjoyed his cousins company the most.Rashid was a
dare devil,a cool-fun loving guy who could find humour in everything around and
in everyone.Rashid was a smoker,a drinker and now Imran had followed into his
foot steps too.
"Lets get out of
here,I need a smoke!",Rashid.Time in the clock 11:55.
They both strolled out
for the customary smoke walk.The road was wet and
empty,weather cold.They walked till they couldn't hear the
songs being played.Rashid could not risk getting seen smoking by any
of his relatives.Half kilometer away Rashid concluded it was safe.Only the
lights of the terrace were visible now.Time in the clock 12:30.
The road was a
highway,there were no street lights,no shops,no sign of life in the
periphery.All that lay ahead was darkness with large trees on either side of
the road.They covered the road as if forming an arch providing entrance
into some unknown place far beyond a man's reach or sight.
Rashid pulled out a
packet from his pant pocket.A coin fell down,they turned back to search for
it.Imran picked it up and gave to Rashid.Rashid turned front and was confounded
with a strange image sitting few meters in-front of him,It was white
as much as he could make out in the midst of sudden flow of wind. He could
not remember it being there when they first looked front,but now it
was there staring at them with its still eyes.He stepped towards it slowly.He
reached further closer, the women was handi-capped,her arm was stretched trying
to pick up a coin lying few steps away from her,her eyes were on Rashid hoping
he could pick them and give her and he did.
She thanked him "shukria
beta".
He stared and put the
coin from his pocket on her out stretched arm and started to walk back.Few
steps later,again the sound of coin falling occurred,Rashid turned back
and the handi-capped women was no longer there.Time in the clock 1:05.
They reached back not
uttering a word,the sound of songs,the giggles and the crying was pleasant
now,it was even better than being in pub.The feeling of being truly alive is
how Rashid felt,Imran felt lucky to be alive.As they headed closer to the entrance
they heard few of the workers discussing how a beggar was ran over by a truck
that very evening and was killed.
"Darkness is mysterious, it blinds you of the
existent and displays to you the non-existent"-sankirt
"KNOCKING ON COFFINS DOOR!"
Location:Hyderabad
The story goes back to
the early nineties.Its location near the most famous monument of Hyderabad.Its
authenticity,the very location itself.The story was told to me by my friends
back then in nineties,they were Muslims and happened to have their
ancestral house in the same area though they lived like me back then in
Maharashtra.
Every cemetery has a
care taker so did this one at Charminar.The care taker was an old lady
Razia,she was in her late 60's then,her husband was the previous care taker and
after his death she was inherited with the job.Ironically Hamid got buried in
the same grave yard he took care of..Razia and Hamid had once lived some blocks
away in a small two roomed house,Hamid would work at grave yard all night at
its entrance,guarding while Razia took care of it in the
mornings,cleaning,cutting the weeds,sweeping it etc.But the sudden death of her
husband had left Razia debt ridden she had no money to pay her rents and was
forced to stay inside the grave yard's store room.This was her new home and she
had happened to like it in there during her initial weeks of stay,it gave her
time to dedicate herself to the all mighty in complete stillness.She would
spend most of her day that way,reading Quran or mourning on her husbands grave
with occasional disturbances during the burials and few odd visitors.
Her first two weeks
passed by peacefully.Then another sad incident occurred,her beloved cousin had
died.The news made her loner than before,he was the only one who cared to show
his condolences upon Hamids demise,the only one who visited her and cared to
enquire about her,it seemed as though every one she ever had known were no
longer alive.
It took every bit of
will in her to live now,she would spend her sleepless nights all alone reading
Quran.Another week had passed for her at the rate of her whole life time.One
day a kind visitor who had come to visit his grand mothers grave had approached
Razia.He had a candid talk and she liked him.He had asked "How do you live
all alone here?aren't you ever scared of the dead's around
you?".To which she had replied "I am just waiting for my time to join
these dead's beta,i am already dead in my heart so have nothing to be scared of
here".
Another usual night she
said to herself and started reading the Quran.Hours passed she was still into
it and was slowly beginning to feel her eyes grow heavy,she had
decided to finish the little left of her page and sleep.Then suddenly she heard
a knock on her door.She stayed still and was wide awake now,then came another
knock.Amavasya she told herself with her eyes widened,a chilling
drop of sweat had passed down from her forehead.The knocking increased now and
the whole rusted door started to shake.Razia just sat there grabbing the Quran
tightly dumbstruck.The knocking continued for five minutes and then suddenly
stopped.
She breathed still
sitting upright holding Quran,she could feel her heart beating heavily but slowly
slowing down to normal.She got up,placed the Quran down.And suddenly there was
a loud cry,a dog crying in the nearby street.It scared her at first but she in
a way welcomed it.Minutes later,another dog joined in,and one more there was an
unusual chorus to there cries now,it made her nervous again,the dogs
stopped abruptly,she still waited for something out of instinct and then came
the Knock,another Knock..Knock...It grew faster and faster,dogs had started to
cry again but now it seemed right outside her door.
She woke up in the
morning with sun rays falling on her face.She found herself at the corner of
the house with the Quran hugged against her.She touched the Quran to her
forehead and got up.She had eased herself up by now and thought to
herself about what she had told "I am just waiting for my time
to join these dead's beta,i am already dead in my heart so have nothing to be
scared of here" and opened the door.There was a dead dog lying right
outside the door.
This continued to happen
every no-moon day and Razia would just read her Quran louder
and louder on all these days.It is still a folklore in the area though Razia is
no longer alive to confirm so.
“
PASS ME THE SMOKE, PLEASE!”
Location: IIT Madras
IIT campus fests are the
most popular amongst all the engineering students of India.Many from all
over the country send their applications to participate in the competitions but
only a few get the invite.Those lucky few get to visit the prestigious campus
and experience the top talents from around the country.But in this incident the
three participants got to experience something very rare.
Faraz,Abhishek and
waleed from hyderabad got one such opportunity to participate in the Madras
fest.They reached Madras in the morning and the moment they put their foot on
the ground,realised two things characteristic of the city,lingual
chauvinism and the unbearable humidity.They could never get used to
either .They had resorted to phrases and signs to
communicate.And finally with an English speaking/partly
speaking auto driver they safely reached their location.
Faraz had friends at IIT
and were received by them at noon.The group ate at the mess
and didn't like it one bit.All in all the stay thus far had been
a forgetful one but little did they know what lay ahead would make it
unforgettable all their life.
They where given hostel
rooms by the college to stay in.They put their luggage,locked the room and
started to explore the campus.After an hour or so of exploration they realised
they haven't even covered half of it! and also understood that vast areas
of adjoining forest runs along the symmetry of the campus.
They met up with their
hosts for dinner and returned to their room and killed time endlessly.But the
nocturnal breed of superhuman that they were never could fall short
of time to kill.It was well past 12 at night that Waleed suggested they go for
a walk,others acknowledged.
They had already walked
for forty odd minutes and were only just able to see their hostel buildings.The
forest on either side of an empty path and the endless darkness ahead of them
made Abhishek little nervous,but he hid it.They continued walking when Faraz
wished they could be back in Hyderabad eating biryani.Abhishek
said"Ciggrate would do for me" and Waleed smiled.Five minutes
passed,Waleed asked for Water,bottle was empty.
Wind had started to flow
heavily now,the insects night time roaring had become louder in the surrounding
forests and the endless dark path never seemed to end with no sign of
human or animal anywhere.The three decided to turn back.Two steps backwards and
they heard something human finally.Not at the time or the
place they wanted to hear it though.
They had heard a man
coughing and immediately turned to see who it was,with more fear than
curiosity,a reflex reaction of sorts.And there stood an old man just behind
them,his clothes of a rag picker,his cloth bag heavy and his smile sly.
He coughed and started
searching for something in his bag.
"I am a cook
here,my father was a cook too",He said in flawless Hindi."I see you
are new to this place".
"Yes"replied
Waleed.
"Oh,so
are you tired walking for so long?Do you want water?",removing a half
crushed bottle from bag.He smiled looking at Waleed.Waleed refused.
"I see you
smoke,want Ciggrates?"He asked
Abhishek,Abhishek stammeringly refused.
Human brain worked
astonishingly in a synchronous manner.All at once started to drift away
already.
"Atleast have
little of chicken biryani,its my special",he frowned this
time.They were back to communicating in signs(like in
morning),nodded their heads stating no,giving up their reverse walk they ran.
They ran for next five
mins,run gave way to jog and then to walk finally.Three steps further,Faraz
glanced behind,found the empty pathway still leading to endless
darkness.But wind was no longer heavy....
“HAUNTED RESIDENCE”
Location:SR Nagar, Hyderabad
Vishnu's family
had to move to Nagpur from Chennai.His Dad and Vishnu had come before hand to
look for a place to move into but couldn't find an appropriate one despite
looking for three days of search.Finally they found a house at SR Nagar which
suited their needs.The house was located at the end of a street with an empty
road beside it.It was a two storey building with a small veranda consisting of
several tall Asoka trees,masking the whole house in their shadow.The family
were given upper portion to stay-in of this two storey building while the lower
portion was ,though occupied but mostly empty as the owners were living in
America.
The family moved
into the new place in a fortnight.The kids, Vishnu and his brother were quite
happy to get a room which wasn't beside their parent's for this once.It gave
them all the freedom required to play computer games till late night
without their parents interference.Their mom settled into the new place quite
quickly, mingling with neighbours and hosting kitty parties within a month of
stay, which even by her usual standards was fast!.Overall the family was happy
with their new surroundings and had gotten integrated well with the city in
general.
The first few
months passed by quickly.The rains had given way to winter and with it the
nights started growing longer by each passing day.On one of these
evenings,Vishnu was playing on his computer in his room after coming back from
the school.He had been so engrossed in playing that he didn't even realize that
it had become dark outside.His room was the last of four rooms,beside his room
was the washroom followed by his parents bed room and the whole connecting
passage leading to a long and large drawing room having the entrance door, with
the kitchen lying to the far end, opposite to Vishnu's room.
As Vishnu stayed
engrossed into the game there was knock on the door.His mom shouted from
kitchen asking Vishnu go and address the knock.Vishnu just ignored her shout
and continued playing, there was another knock and this time Vishnu decided to
get up and open the door and as he reached the drawing room he saw the door
open right before his eyes with his Dad,brother and Mom entering.
Shocked out of his
wits, Vishnu ran into the kitchen to check, it was empty.He then came out and
told his parents about the whole incident.But his dad laughed it off and
ignored him switching on the TV immediately to catch the last few overs of
Indian Innings.His Mom got slightly worried but blamed it on his Computer games
addiction for such hallucinations and went into their bed room .His brother
started teasing and embarrassing him,calling him a coward.Vishnu himself felt
that probably he was mistaken and started watching match with his dad.
That night while
sleeping Vishnu's mom couldn't sleep for long with this thought lingering in
her head.She then woke her husband and told him that today's incident with
Vishnu was still bothering her and that she had only acted normally before kids
to avoid them from being scared.Vishnu's father wanted to ask her to forget it,
and sleep.But before he could do that she told him something which startled him
as well.She said that she had heard from her locality friends about this house
being haunted.But she had ignored it as a hear-say so far until today when this
incident happened.Her Husband told her to relax now and assured her that he
will try to find the details about that rumor tomorrow.
The next few weeks
went by normally and family had almost forgotten about the last incident when
something strange happened again.It was a saturday afternoon, kids had returned
from school early as it was a half day.Vishnu's brother had gone to play
outside with his friends while Vishnu remained indoors trying to study for his
board exams.After an hour of effort to study Vishnu finally gave in to his
sleep and decided to take a short nap.As he lay down to sleep his mom came to
his room and informed him that she was going to for shopping with the
neighbor.And asked Vishnu to close the door from inside as she left.Vishnu did that
and then went back to sleep.He was then woken up by a knock on the door.He got
up and walked out of his bed towards the hall. As he went past his
parent's bedroom, his heart beat suddenly rose, he felt had seen somebody
sitting on his parents bed ,He dared to not have a second look and ran
immediately to the door.Upon opening it, he saw his brother and instantly took
his brother along and went down stairs to the main gate and waited their till
their mother came back.
After the latest
incident Vishnu's parents had made up their mind to shift to a different
house.They had even found one in the next lane which had been vacated only the
previous month.It was a Monday when the deal was finalized with the owner of
the new house and the family was going to move to by that weekend.There was a
nervous energy around the house all the time after that incident, even the kids
could feel that there was something seriously wrong which had prompted their
parents to decide to move into a new house so quickly.The usually un-noticeable
shadow of the Asoka trees began to feel a lot threatening now and time seemed
like taking ages to pass by for the family.
It was Friday
morning,Vishnu was taking a shower when he realized he had forgotten his towel
on his bed.He called out for his mom to get him the towel and continued
bathing.Few minutes later,Vishnu's mom pushed her hand inside the bathroom door
holding the towel.He grabbed it,placed it on the holder.He finished his
bath,dried himself up and pulled the door.The Door did not open.Thunder had
struck Vishnu,he opened the bolt and went screaming to his mom and asked her
"DID YOU GIVE ME THIS TOWEL?".
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