A ghostly meet!

I am Shwetank & this is my story…

I set an alarm for 2:15 AM and climbed on the upper berth. This train, Sealdah-Varanasi express reaches Pakur at 2:35 AM. It is really an odd time to reach home. From station, I take a rickshaw to home which is nearly 2 km away. I generally visit my home at Pakur on weekends. It is about six-hours train journey from Kolkata. So I take a train on Friday night to Pakur and again on Sunday night to Kolkata. It is a kind of routine activity. Pakur is a small town with a radius of approximately 3 km. So as you can guess, my home is not at the heart of the city.

Tring tring! It was 2:15. Damn! I looked outside. The train was standing at a station named Rajgram. ‘Why this train is always on time.’ I always wished it to be delayed by may be 3 hours, so that I reach my station in the morning after a good slumber. Anyway, next station was Pakur. So I started taking out my luggage. Within a few minutes, train reached Pakur.

I came outside the station. Few rickshaws were standing there; but I decided to have a cup of tea first. I moved past them to a nearby tea stall. It was the month of December and at 2:45 AM it was really cold. My jacket and muffler were barely capable of keeping cold away. And my Jeans had already given up at the moment I got off the train. Relief was this hot tea- a kind of elixir to my shivering body.

After paying for tea, I moved back towards the rickshaw stand. To my surprise, none were there. That means other passengers already booked them and left. So I was at the station, shivering, at 2:50 AM, preparing to walk 2 km in cold. Choices & priorities should always be clear in life, howsoever trifle it may be!

I started walking down the road with my back pack on my shoulder. After walking a few steps on the road, I spotted a rickshaw. I was way more delighted to express. It was in a secluded place with no people around. The man was sitting on the back seat with a shawl across his body. With a beard on his face & heavily built, I started to perceive him a threat. But he was calm, sitting there and smoking a ‘bidi’. Not willing to walk in this cold for 2 km, I approached him and said in an ostensible confident accent, “Hey, ready to go?”

“Where to?” He replied in a deep voice.

My confidence went for a toss after listening to his harsh voice. Not willing to look feeble, I looked at my watch. It was 3:00 AM. The time, as shown in many horror movies, is highly inauspicious. So I have another angle of threat. For a moment, I thought ‘I should walk’. But again, how that is going to help!

“Towards K.K.M. College” I said.

“60 rupees”

“OK”

I was sitting there, shivering. He was paddling slowly and steadily. The silence of the road was punctuated by the rhythmic sound of the paddle & chain of the vehicle. Road was intermittently lit with street lamp, some very dim, some flickering. It seemed a perfect stage for something supernatural. My journey was one km on the main road and then a right turn and another kilometer towards college. The road after the turn is called college road. This road does not have any street lamp. To add more, for first half kilometer, on college road, there are houses on either side; but next half kilometer there is a pond (quite big one) situated on one side of the road and a field with big trees like Mango, Banyan etc. on the other side of the road. After a few meters, where the pond ends, is my home. Yes, it is a kind of farm house.

We both were silent, slowly moving towards my destination. The closed shops on either side seemed mute and curious spectator of our journey. I looked at my watch. It was 3:10 AM. He took a right turn to the college road. In some portion of the road, it was lit by bulbs on the verandah of some houses, otherwise it was dark. Once I thought of lighting flash light of my mobile, but I restrained. I didn’t want to take hands out of my pocket. I was about to reach near the pond. The sight of the pond and field was a bit frightening. Now the pond was to my left and Banyan tree was to my right.

“These were once very isolated places” said the man while paddling.

“Hmm” I replied with an anxiety over his sudden curiosity to start a conversation at 3:15 AM

“Even now very few homes are there” He continued.

“Hmm” I was maintaining my resolve.

“Earlier people didn’t come this way at night.”

There was a very creepy tone in his voice. ‘But I must not be weak’ I thought. We were still on the side of the pond, crossing it. I mustered all my courage and asked in a very hard voice, “Why?”

He turned around, while reducing his paddling speed. He kept on ogling me for a couple of seconds with his eyes wide open…

                      ------------------------Paused------------------------

My name is Guru and this is my story…

I heard the chugging of the train. It must be Sealdah-Varanasi express. It reaches Pakur at 2:35 AM.

‘But I have already completed 3 trips. I won’t take any more passengers from this train. Let’s take a fag instead’ I said to myself and took my rickshaw towards the road, away from railway station. In this December, it is too cold. Thanks to my thick shawl, otherwise I would have frozen. And smoking in this cold weather is bliss.

While I was having my nice & hot ‘bidi’, I saw a man approaching. Both of his hands were in his jacket’s pocket. Face was half covered with muffler.  I wondered, why he is coming towards me, given that, there must be a lot of rickshaw near station. He came near to me and said in a stern voice, “Hey, ready to go?”

He seemed a bit suspicious. Yet I got down of the rickshaw and asked, “Where to?”

‘If it’s nearby, I would make some money, or else I won’t go’ I thought

He paused for a moment and without replying anything, took the seat and then said, “Towards K.K.M. College.”

That place is a bit far and less populated. I didn’t want to go, so I inflated the fare to Rs. 60. Yet he said, “OK” in his stern voice.

The college road is a bit lonely and I was feeling scared to go there at this hour. Still I started moving. The man was very silent. He was not even giving direction, although I didn’t need any. Something inside was telling me not to go towards the pond. I was a bit scary and feeling creepy with this man with a muffler covering his face. Generally, I hardly get any passenger towards college at night. And I have heard a lot of stories though.

‘Are his legs inverted?’ As I turned right towards college road, I covertly looked backward.

‘No, it looks fine.’

Lights were poorly lit in this road. But I continued. I thought of starting a conversation, so that I could be sure that I was not dealing with anything supernatural. I was near the pond. Breaking the silence, I said,

“These were once very isolated places”

“Hmm” he replied.

He didn’t speak.

“Even now very few homes are there” I continued.

“Hmm”, he replied

I looked to my left- A pond.

I looked to my right- A Banyan tree

At my back, a grumpy man who brought me here. A sense of shiver ran across my spine. I was feeling trapped. Still with a positive hope, I continued the conversation,

“Earlier people didn’t come this way at night.”

 To this he became angry and said, “Why?”

I lost my courage. I was pretty sure there was something fishy here. ‘Should I run away? Even if I run, where should I head to?' Ghastly, I turned around to see if the man was still there.

                      ------------------------Paused------------------------

Shwetank’s story continued…

My eyes, filled with horror, exchanged the glance. He replied, “Because, people say this Banyan tree is haunted.”

I started to perspire. Few drops surfaced on my forehead. I was pretty sure, I took the wrong vehicle. I was a non-believer of any supernatural things, not anymore! I was figuring my way out. Either I can jump out and run or I can kick this ghost and then run. Kicking a ghost would be the stupidest thing to do. He was not only a well built figure, but also might have some supernatural powers! I picked my bag and tried to get down to my right. On seeing me getting down, he also jumped to his left. We were standing on either side of the rickshaw, quiet & poised.

Suddenly, he closed his eyes and started murmuring something. ‘Ok, as shown in the movies, he is trying to cast a spell on me’ I thought. I started searching my pockets, for what, I don’t know. I found a ten rupee coin. I took it out and hurled it towards him, while moving forward. It hit him directly on his nose. And he ran behind the rickshaw, out of my vision. This was my perfect time to escape. I put my backpack on my shoulders and started running. I felt he was chasing me because I could hear another pair of legs running. Slowly, the sound of running faded away.

After crossing the pond, I dared to look back. I saw the rickshaw, still standing where I left. As quickly as possible, I reached home and got inside. Oh! Saved!

Next Weekend

As I got down the train, clad with jacket and muffler, I directly went to rickshaw stand. I have learnt my lessons last time. At stand, many of them came near me and started shouting, “Sir, where to go?”, “Sir, where to go?”

I said, “Near K.K.M College”

Suddenly all of them went silent. They were looking at me, baffled. I was a bit surprised.

I thought, ‘What happened, have you seen a ghost or what?”