Friday, September 5, 2008

The haunted house (Concluding Part)



From the silhouette and the gait I guessed that it could be Bandhu.
“Who is there? Is it Bandhu?” I shouted with as much boldness as I could muster.
“Selam Sab (Sir)! I am Bandhu” the figure in the dark answered in a slurred voice.
“Bandhu?” I gave a sigh of relief. “What are you doing here at this hour?” I enquired

By that time Bandhu crossed the lawn and came up to the gate. He was holding a sickle in his right hand and a small object in his left. He was quite drunk and I could smell Mohuwa Tadi (country liquor). I was a little cautious considering he was drunk and armed. Tribals have a reputation for being temperamental and there have been several instances of unexplained violent actions with the slightest of provocation.

“There is an evil spirit in this house. I had consulted an exorcist in our village and planted a talisman given by him in the kitchen garden” he said. He was barely able to keep him standing. “Since you sacked me, I am taking away the talisman. Don’t blame me, if anything happens to you now” he added and walked away into the dark.

The conversation did not lift my spirit. As I stood there in complete darkness I realized suddenly that I was supposed to enter a house which till the other day no one dared to even look at during the night. “My God! I’ll have to cross about fifty meters to reach the main door, unlock the door and switch on the lights” I thought. Anyway I was able to do all that without fainting.

Once the lights were on, I got back my confidence, at least partially. It was a little warm. So I took a bath, changed and again set out for the club since there was hardly anything to do in the house. I had to go to the club anyway for my dinner.

Conversations at the club also did not go well. All my friends were quite anxious at the thought that I would be spending the night alone in the house but nobody ventured to give me company. All of a sudden I realized that most of my friends were authorities on the paranormal and had several memorable personal experiences with ghosts! By the time I left the club at about 11:00 PM after a few games of Table Tennis and a light dinner I was fully conversant with the modus operandi of ghosts of different kinds!

On reaching home, I dressed for the night and lay down on my bed with a story book in hand. I had the habit of reading at least for an hour before going to sleep. I was engrossed with the book may be for an hour when all of sudden I heard a sound “Dhoop…. Dhoop” as if somebody was walking on the roof with a measured gait! I was tense and had goose bumps all over my body! All of a sudden the sound stopped. After a few minutes again I heard the sound “Dhoop….. Dhoop…… Dhoop” followed by a sound “Garrrrr….Garrrrr” as if something was being rolled on the roof. I also heard some sound as if somebody was moving in the kitchen garden!

I did not know what to do till I remembered my mother’s advice that “if you hear an unusual sound, you must find out the source of the sound immediately. Otherwise it will only add to your anxiety”. I thought “If I do not find out the source of this unusual sound, I won’t be able to stay in this house”. I got up from my bed, took a two-cell torch and the house keys from the drawer and proceeded towards the main door. I searched for a suitable stick but could not find one. As an after thought I took the eight-inch blade hunting cum throwing knife which was hanging from a hook behind my bed room door. I was, however, not very sure whether a knife could give any protection against a sprit.

I recalled my mother’s advice and switched on all the lights in our bungalow. There were lights on all the four corners of the house. However, they were partially hidden by bougainvillea creepers, thereby creating a mosaic of light and shadow.

I came out from the main door, locked it and cautiously proceeded along the cemented foot path encircling the house to reach the kitchen garden. When I was going around the corner at the back, a dark object silently went past my head. I was startled and immediately looked up and directed the torch beam overhead but could not see anything. Suddenly from the middle of the kitchen garden which was quite dark, some dark shadows darted past the fencing. I stopped for a moment to compose myself and again proceeded cautiously to check all the trees and surroundings with my torch all the while holding my knife in ready position.

When I reached the guava tree which was at the middle of the kitchen garden, I found lots of partially eaten guavas on the ground with pug marks of dog like animals. I heard some sound overhead and directed the torch beam there to find lots of bats flying! I also got a feeling that somebody must be watching me from across the fence. You will always have this sixth sense if you have any experience of roaming in the forest. I directed the torch beam towards my right, across the fence and could locate the silhouette of a pack of jackals with their eyes gleaming under the torch beam. Though I was scared, I knew they were not going to attack me. I picked up a twig and threw at them and they ran away.

Now I could understand the mystery of the haunted house! The bats were feeding on guavas. Since the guava tree was covering a part of the roof, some guavas plucked by bats were falling on the roof making “Dhoop…. Dhoop” sound. Because of the slanted roof, some of them were even rolling down to the kitchen garden making the strange rolling sound “Garrrrr’. Jackals who are fond of guavas were feeding on the guavas being discarded by the bats. They were fighting among themselves and that was creating the strange sound of foot steps in the kitchen garden. I was sure that these bats were absolutely harmless fruit eating bats and that there were no vampires amongst them! And surely no werewolf among these harmless jackals!

I did not want to disturb either the bats or the jackals during their dinner and returned to my bed feeling satisfied that I had solved the mystery of the haunted house.

Santosh left for Tisco Growth Shop at Jamshedpur after a couple of months. I stayed in that house all alone for quite some time there after. I used to hear all those strange sounds from time to time but that never bothered me ever again.

21 comments:

  1. No wonder that they say that 'chor-er, bhoot-er & prem-er' goppo are the most interesting ones!

    Now may we hope for a 'puja ispishaal', one on 'chor'?

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  2. jdrhere, no promise but i will try.

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  3. I love the "dharabahik/to be continued" nature of your stories :)) - Here's another idea - maybe you could be a tele serial writer!!

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  4. rini, why not! big ideas are always welcome. only i do not know what i am capable of

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  5. debasis, thanks! was it not slightly more dangerous than mouse?

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  6. Biplab,

    Lovely..enjoyed it thoroughly..

    Indra

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  7. I guess - ALL haunted houses have some such co-incidents/happenings - which make them look haunted - and stories spread everywhere. And I loved the images of the ghost also !!

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  8. indra, thanks that you liked it, though i could not arrange a bhadra gocher bhoot

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  9. milan, since i am no expert on paranormal, i can not swear that all the haunted houses are as harmless as in my blog, particularly after hearing so many blood chilling stories floating around which are all claimed to be true (mr. antia also claimed the same)! the actual sketches of the ghosts are courtesy jdrhere who made them sit in front while making the sketches

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  10. for widely known ghost stories, guess this link is quite interesting
    http://www.angelsghosts.com/famous_ghost_stories.html

    Mind joining the band ? :)

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  11. jdrhere, though i will be using the link during broad daylight, i am too scare of ghost stories

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  12. hcmama, didiar idea ta niei nao...ontoto tahole ma-baba ra ektu bhalo serial dekhte pabe...chobi gulo deoate aro bhalo lagche..
    Tatai.

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  13. So, why not read them inside a police station...like that kid? ha ha:)

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  14. prat, excellent idea. with the publishers and producers controlled by my well wisher it would only be a cake work.

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  15. Feeling very nostalgic sitting in Vashi, Navi Mumbai and thinking of days in Vivekananda cabin near Lansdown Market savouring moghlai with friends from school days who have left me friendless after my retirement.

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  16. I am sure your this comment is related to my blog "Nizam's Roll". As for friendship, you can always count on me

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  17. Hello Biplab Uncle...I am yet another one ,of the lucky lot, who got to spend all of their childhood in that lovely place.Thanx a lot for refreshing us with such a thrilling short story.I work in Mumbai as a designer/Film maker and you know what your writing inspired me so much that I actually started drawing picture panels of the whole story...all credits to you for pushing in the smallest of details and making the story more interesting.Will certainly look forward to reading more and more stuff here...Regards, Subhankar.

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  18. Dear Subhankar, Nice to read your comment which is very inspiring. I am too pre-occupied in enjoying my retired life doing nothing and too lazy writing my blog. But i will again start, i promise.I left L&T in 1990 & KBL i 1978....could you please give me some details about you?

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  19. Hello Biplab Uncle...glad to see your reply..My Father used to work with Montfort School known as Mr. S.K. Dutta,fondly called "Dutta Uncle"..After my grads...baba sent me to Mumbai primarily to sing...kintu fortunately or unfortunately I started my career as a film designer after I studied Animation film Design...today, I work as a Creative/Vfx Supervisor for a post production house in Mumbai n I get to do everything that people do when they are free...n the best thing is M paid for that...hehe....only music is something jeta oboshor shomoy kori....Uncle trust me i have become a true fan of your writing...coz its so simple and yet so effective..please keep writing...
    Regards,

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  20. Dear Subhankar, i was unable to place Mr. Dutta since during my bachelor days in Kbl i didn't any kid to be sent to Montfort School though i always associated myself with its glory. I just returned to-day from USA and as per the advise of my daughter thinking of appointing a secretary to speed up with my writing!

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