Room No. 1601

[Present day]

As I am looking outside my car window, the greenery outside, under drizzle, is bright enough to garner all my attention on it. No doubt I am in Punjab. I am travelling from Chandigarh to Ludhiana in an official trip. Although I have been coming to Ludhiana frequently, but the beauty of travelling on roads between green fields has never faded away. Due to my regular visits, I have developed good acquaintances with people here, like my cab driver, hotel staff etc. Generally I stay at the same hotel (I will refrain myself from using the name of the hotel) each time, as it is near to my office. But I had a very unique experience during my last visit.

[One month ago]

As I entered the hotel, I was greeted with preference. The manager allocated my room and said, “Sir, as you are our regular guest, we have upgraded your room with compliments. Here is your card key, room no 1601.”

“Thank you.” Being a loyal customer has its own advantage.

That room was almost same as other rooms, where I had stayed previously. The only difference I could find out was a couple of paintings hanged on the walls. These abstract paintings… I have never been able to decipher it. It looked like a blind person swayed few strokes of multiple brushes dipped in random colors. Anyway it hardly made any difference to me.

‘Ting tong, ting tong’, the doorbell rang. I opened the door. No one! Maybe someone rang it by mistake. I came back to my bed and switched on the TV. Then I ordered a Biryani and started switching channels to find my perfect time pass. Yes, got it- ‘Zindagi na milegi dobara’. Though I had seen that movie, but travel themed movies have always captured my imagination. So I was glued to that movie.

After almost half an hour, the door-bell rang. ‘It must me my dinner’, I murmured & opened the door. No one… Again! I peeped outside into the gallery. A couple with a small kid was standing in front of the room next to mine. The man, apparently husband, was inserting the key card into the card reader multiple times. It seemed the key was not working properly. His wife was trying to give a different perspective in the way the key should be inserted. Howsoever petite matter be it, women always have a new perspective! The 6 year old kid beside them was standing with an innocent face. But I could see the devil in him. I remember my childhood days, when I, along with some of my friends, used to ring our neighbors’ doorbell and run away. It’s a child’s pleasure to accomplish such crime and I was no exception.

But the kid in front of me did not know who he was dealing with. I frowned and squeezed my eyes and gave him a stern look. He smiled! I knew it. It must be him. I murmured, without actually saying anything, as if I was scolding him, with an ominous look to frighten him. He reverted to his innocent mask and hid himself behind his mother holding her hand.

Sensing the movement, the lady looked up towards me. Pretending as if I just looked at them, I gently smiled at her and asked, “Is there any problem with the key.”

“Yes. It’s not reading the card.”

I walked to them to see if I could help. As the kid saw me approaching, he flung towards his father as far away as possible, from me. Good!! I had instilled enough fear in him, for not to bother me again. I tried that key a couple of times. It didn’t work. I advised them, “These problems do occur quite often. Just go to reception, they will update your key.” They moved towards elevator and I came back to my room.

My childhood was spent in a small town in Bihar. doorbells were not used in those places during that time. One of my neighbors installed doorbell, very first in the neighborhood. I was 7 years old then. When I & my friends first visited them to see how it works, we were astounded by its utility. Adding to that it played a tune of a song, another point of attraction for us. For almost a week we admired and respected that doorbell. But we were infamous for not such good emotions. We would choose very odd hours, like afternoon, to ring the bell & run away. We enjoyed watching the frustration of our neighbor coming out & going back with exasperation. We used to bet on the time taken to open the door; whosoever’s quoted time was nearer to the actual time taken, wins the bet. Next bet was on who comes out to open the door. It was our regular activity. Once daily, after we returned from the school and on Sundays, it was our bell festival. Probably that was the reason, within one and a half month, they removed the bell! Surely, it was a big setback for us.

It occurred to me that now days, kids are more fearless. He was doing this in a hotel, to a stranger. Adding to that he would have taken extra care to avoid any attention from his parents.

‘Ting tong, Ting tong’

'What the hell! This must be that kid. They must have returned from the reception. The kid did it again. Don’t his parents control their kid?' Angry & furious, I jumped out of my bed and rushed towards the door. I wanted to catch him red handed. As I opened the door-

“Good evening sir! Room service; your dinner is here.”

After momentary pause, I said “Oh! OK. Keep it over there”

I was already hungry. So without further ado, I started savoring on delicious Hyderabadi Biryani. But my mind was hooked to the door. I had a feeling that it was not over. That kid would return. And yes in 15 minutes- ‘Ting tong, ting tong’.

'Now I got you little devil.' I quickly got up from my chair. My hand hit the serving spoon in the Biryani pot and it swung in the air carrying some rice with it. While the spoon landed on my shoulder, rice bid good bye to spoon somewhere in the air and sprinkled on my face. But I didn’t care. Right then I was more interested in getting that kid. With the face dotted with yellow rice, I hurried towards the door and opened it. No one! No trace of any other creature. Given the speed with which I had answered the bell, escape for the kid was not possible.

'What’s happening? Who can it be?' I wondered.

Now a fear was started sinking in me. Is it some kind of paranormal activity? I was feeling uncomfortable. I quickly completed dinner and went to bed, under quilt. Now everything in that room seemed evil to me; as if some ominous air surrounded me. The abstract painting suddenly turned into something devil like figure. It was very prominent. To lighten the situation, I switched to music channel. My attention was constantly towards the door. I tried hard to convince myself that these were electronic bells. It was quite possible that it had malfunctioned. The more logic I was preparing to counter my fears, more it grew stronger inside me.

‘Ting tong, Ting tong’

I was stiff. This time, I thought, not answering would be the right call. It was 10:30 pm. I waited for a few seconds, then few more seconds. ‘Ting tong, Ting tong’ I felt like shouting. I mustered all my courage and went to the door and opened it.

“Sir, room service. If your dinner is over, can I clean your table?”

“Yes, of course” I felt a sigh of relief. Suddenly it struck my mind to bring the situation to the hotel manager. I said to that staff, “Can you lodge a complaint at reception, that someone is ringing my doorbell. There is a kid in nearby room. May be it’s him. Or else there can be some electrical fault”

“Sure sir, I will report this to our manger” He left.

Within 10 minutes two electricians came to check for any fault. While they were examining all the electrical stuff, I got a call from reception, “Sir, we have cameras in gallery. No one, other than room service, had been to your door.”

“OK. Thank you!” I put down the receiver.

After five minutes of inspection, they were too answer-less. One of them said, “Sir it seems to be alright. If it occurs again, we will change your room.” They left.

It was 11:00 pm. I was alone in a room, apparently haunted room. I left room lights on; increased TV volume; tucked myself under quilt, fully and forced myself to sleep. I felt like hearing doorbell one more time before getting into slumber, but I ignored. Next morning, I checked out as I had to leave for Chennai.

[Present day]

“Sir, we are here, at your hotel” said my driver. So I am again at this hotel in Ludhiana.

As I approached reception, the manager recognized me and said, "Sir, it's good to see you again. We have upgraded your room. Here is your key. It's room no. 1601"