It happened one night
It happened to me on a cold, rainy mid-January night. At that time I was working in an old biscuit factory in small town of Sitapur. I worked there as an overseer, it was a tough job. One fine day I decided to quit the place, go home and be a teacher. Shambhu Master — the old teacher, was nearing 90 and was thinking of retirement, and hence, offered me the job. I was supposed to take-over from the beginning of new session in April. I wasn’t expected till then.
I left Sitapur, just 350 kilometers away from my home, but it took me nearly 15 hours. There was no one to receive me at the bus-station and at 1 in the morning I couldn’t have expected to find anyone I knew. Luckily, the old teashop was still there. I called out to Madho, the owner of the shop. After I shouted his name for the third time, he came out of that little hut he called Assam Tea Shop. He recognised me instantly and gave me some tea mixed with ginger-tulsi. But I was in a hurry to reach my house, so I asked for his bicycle. He looked skeptical. Sensing this, I assured him that I’ll send the cycle back, first thing in the morning. But he said, it is not safe at this time of night, it’s raining and it’s cold. He was worried about the wild animals and the Mound-baba*. But I was in no mood to stay there and ultimately he relented. Though he made me promise that I wouldn’t be stopping near the big banyan tree. I did.
I put the bag on my back and rode on that solitary and winding road. The road was narrow and full with potholes, filled with water. The rain had stopped but wind was still howling. The moon was virtually non-existent because of overcast skies, though it was just two days to the full moon. But still, the sheer presence of the moon, behind those water-laden clouds, gave them a red hue. The night was essentially dark. On the way to my village there is a huge banyan tree, spread in well over half a square mile. No one knows which one of those is the original tree; some say the tree with the temple is the real one. The dark night made it look like a huge mountain, in the middle of the plains. As I neared it, I saw two shiny things on the road. I had promised Madho not to stop, but curiosity made me. I got off the bicycle, and it was a small cat, wet with rain and shivering with chill. I thought it might be hungry, so I offered it the only thing I had, biscuits. It didn’t seem pretty interested in that, I thought maybe milk would help. So I decided to carry it along because leaving it there would surely have meant death. In the hindsight, if only I would have. I put it in my bag, and left it a bit open, so that it could breath. I kept the bag in the front-carrier and rode along.
The warmth of the clothes made it feel better. It looked at me with shiny, star like eyes. Those eyes had a magnetic quality, I just couldn’t take my eyes off them. The eyes, gradually, became bigger and brighter, brighter and bigger like the sun. The whole world became full of light. The two suns were shining brightly in the sky, and suddenly it became really hot. But the suns continued to become bigger and brighter, brighter and bigger and then they were filled with so much light that they explode. Bang! The light was so much that I could see clearly inside me. The beating heart. The digesting liver. The eating stomach. The breathing lungs. The filtering kidneys. The excreting intestines. The supporting bones. The thinking brain. The burning skin. Everything. Everything was full of light. The light continued to increase, it increased so much that nothing could be seen anymore. Everything was white. White as light. But then I heard it again. Bang! I couldn’t see anything anymore. Everything was black. Black as light. Black as night. The cat went to sleep. The warmth made it feel better.
- Ishan Dubey.
*A small village near Benaras, India, is where I come from. The villages in that area have a very similar construction. My point of interest is the temple of Mound-baba or The Saint of the Mound. The temple marks the beginning of the village boundary and the baba is supposed to protect the inhabitants from any magical acts, ghosts, etc. But people generally fear to tread near the place at nights. The belief being that the baba can take any form at night and once his spell is cast, the mind goes berserk. Though baba was never any real person but he can take any form, he is known to have taken forms like an old man, a village girl, an old widow, frog, banana and what not.
Tags: white, black, India, light, realisation, magic realism
Kunal Goel says:
this is your best story yet! excellent!
November 13th, 2005 at 12:03 am
Sujata says:
Hi,
Short, fast and gripping.
November 13th, 2005 at 11:05 am
Isaiah says:
Yes.
November 14th, 2005 at 11:01 am
Deeps says:
Bole to ekdum Jhakkas!!!
Nice one…
November 14th, 2005 at 12:13 pm
Neha says:
Good Work Ishan. I got a few Ghost stories too :):lol:
November 14th, 2005 at 02:28 pm
Isaiah says:
Well, I didn’t start out to write a ghost story but it has come out one.
November 14th, 2005 at 05:19 pm
Kunal Goel says:
liar
November 14th, 2005 at 05:52 pm
payal says:
ok, but i like your previous stories better….
November 14th, 2005 at 08:10 pm
Isaiah says:
What!?
November 14th, 2005 at 08:32 pm
Sheldon Augustine says:
love and luck.:arrow:
:evil::evil::evil::twisted:sheldon.:twisted::evil::evil:
November 14th, 2005 at 08:33 pm
Neha Kaushal says:
tats gud…..ofcourse better than the previous one tat u had written…….gud work done….keep it up.
November 14th, 2005 at 09:49 pm
Avantika says:
shud throw in lil more innovation..this is nice writing but RGV movies’ style..and the footnote takes away all the mystery in the mid of the story…
November 14th, 2005 at 11:36 pm
greatgunz says:
toooo longgg…read it wen i hav nothin else to do…byeee
November 16th, 2005 at 07:52 pm
Lovneet says:
Keep wurkin buddy….going good….:lol:
November 18th, 2005 at 11:53 am
shantanu says:
a good one. :razz:!
November 21st, 2005 at 12:00 am
sapna says:
hi !
enjoyed reading.
more than the matter,the style of writing is appealing.
good luck.
November 25th, 2005 at 11:09 am
Isaiah says:
Thanks to all of u.
November 25th, 2005 at 11:52 pm
angel says:
hmmmmm gud work ishan:smile:
January 20th, 2006 at 05:53 pm