“kab tak ayega nare?, waiting from last
twenty minutes..hadd hai” vibhu was shouting over amit on his mobile phone.
“He’s not even left his room, I’m pretty
much sure..har baar ka drama hai iska” I said loud, so that my words would
reach amit clearly. And after 10 minutes more, amit joined us for the trip to shimla.
It was 5.30 in evening and the best weather to go out. As usual we left
unplanned.
“Best trips are never planned” I said to
worried vibhu who was asking about where we’ll be spending the night. He smiled
and winked at amit, who was texting to someone, of course, his girlfriend. But,
I was enjoying the driving, roads, curves, beauty of the nature. Vibhu was as
usual lost in his business over his phone. And finally, both joined the ride
and me, saying goodbye to their connections.
Spending
the time in eating, drinking, photo shooting, we reached kasauli at 9 pm. It
was raining cats and dogs. It was very difficult to drive in that heavy rain.
We had no idea, where we were heading and which route to follow. So, we decided
to stop and ask someone, where we can spend the night. We saw a canopy by the
road. We stopped and I went out to ask. He was an old man, with thick glasses
on his eyes selling some tobacco stuff. “Baba,
which place is this?” I asked. He looked up expressionless, looked for a
while into my eyes, as if he knew who am I and continued to do his work,
without any word. “Baba, aas paas koi
jagah hai jaha hum ruk sakein?” I tried again. He again looked at me,
expressionless, and denied with his face gestures, that there is no place to
stay here. I looked at vibhu and amit, who were still sitting in car and waved
them, there is no place. The moment I started walking towards the car, “Don’t
stay here, leave as early as possible, it’s a no human land" the old man
said. I turned as if he called my name and looked at him. He was still busy in
his work. I had no idea, what he was doing here, and that in heavy rain.
“So, guys..what should we do?” I asked
adjusting myself to the driver seat and not saying a word what that old man
said. “Let’s drive ahead and search for some place, ourselves” amit said. “Maine pehle hi kaha tha, plan something!”
vibhu said in irritation. “Don’t worry buddy, it’s experience, we’ll drive slow
and will look out for some place for sure” I said not looking at vibhu. We
drove for about 10-15 minutes and suddenly vibhu shouted “Stop the car!”. “What?” I asked. “There, look, I think there’s a lodge, we can ask for a room there”
He said. I stopped the car. “Go then, ask
if there is some room there” I said. “Me?
No way..I am not going, it’s amit’s turn” Vibhu said. “Kaam kar apna..main nahi ja raha” amit said. And it began again, whose
turn it was. While they were busy in “who’s
turn is this” fighting, I peeped my face outside to look at the lodge. It
was old, untidy, with a big banyan tree on it’s left and seemed to be horror in
that heavy rain. “Have you decided, who’s
going?” I asked. “Yes! Amit is going”
vibhu said. “fine, then” amit said and
moved out of the car. The moment he looked at the lodge, he lost his
confidence. “Main nahi ja rahe akele..koi
sath chalo..” he said to me. I looked at vibhu. “Hadd hai..it was his turn, never mind, I’ll go..fattu kahi ka”
vibhu replied in irritation. “Am waiting
in car, engine is still running, in any case, you know” I replied with a
weird smile. “Damn you!” both said.
When
they were in the lodge, I was still looking at the surroundings of the cottage.
Heavy rain, thunderstorm, lightning, a perfect horror movie location. Finally,
both returned. “Chalo, we got a room, but
it’s quite big” vibhu said. “great
then” I said and parked the car along the boundary of the lodge and we
three entered. At reception, there was another old man, lost in his work,
wearing thick glasses and khadi blazer. He stood up, never looking up and
handed over the key to amit. “Thank
you baba” I said with a smile. He
looked up, expressionless, into my eyes not saying a single word. “What’s wrong with this place or what’s wrong
with me” I thought in my head.
“Perfect, I’ll take sofa” I said and
jumped on it. The room was really very big and much tidy. There was a double
bed with white sheets, a long sofa, and white curtains over two windows, a
mirror and a balcony. As soon as, I looked at balcony, I went out. It was the
back side of the lodge. There was a mountain, a river, and lots of trees. I
looked back at room and both of them were adjusting themselves at the bed, opening
bottles of beer. “Hey bhagwan! Ho gye
chalu” I muttered. “Grow up bro..”
vibhu said and laughed. “haan haan,
otherwise I’ll never grow up” I replied and laid down in the sofa. “Enjoy guys! I am tired..see you tomorrow” I said and closed my eyes
covering myself with a white sheet.
“Please bhai, don’t, let me sleep, I’m still
tired” I said, not opening my eyes when one of them was sprinkling cold
water on my face. “Stop!” I shouted
and opened my eyes. No one was there. I was not at my sofa. I was astonished. “Where am I?” I whispered. And I found myself,
sitting at the edge of balcony, with my legs hanging out of the balcony. “How did I come here?” I was afraid. I
looked inside room, everything was fine, and both of my friends were sleeping
sound. I came back to the room, thinking about what just happened, sitting on
my sofa. In no time, I was slept again.
Water
was touching my feet. It was as cold as ice. I woke up and found myself lying
at the bank of a river. It was a familiar place, like I was here before. I
stood up and looked around; I was away from the lodge but no very far. I was
afraid. “How, again?” same thought
popped into my mind. My heart was beating like anything. I started walking, but
I was not able to. Something was holding me but was not visible. I wanted to
shout but I had no voice. I wanted to breathe but couldn’t. Somehow, I managed
and started running towards the lodge. I knew, someone was also running behind
me. I jumped from the balcony into the room. My friends were still sleeping. I
tried to wake them up but they didn’t, maybe due to hangover. This time, I
decided to sleep on the bed between both of them. I was breathing heavily,
thinking, sweating and was totally afraid. I covered my face with a blanket and
closed my eyes. I struggled to get some sleep but I couldn’t. Finally, I slept.
It
was a cold blow of air. I was searching for the blanket to cover myself but it
was nowhere. Moreover, the bed was very cold. Like, I am sleeping on an iceberg.
But what I found was not the blanket, it was sand. Same sand of same river. I didn’t
want to open my eyes. I knew, where was I. However, I opened my eyes and again
I was near the river. This time, I was very far from the lodge. And, to reach
the lodge, I had to cross that river. I was afraid again as I’ll get a
heart-attack. I stood up facing the river. I knew, someone was standing behind
me. I could hear the breathing. I didn’t want to see, what it was. I started
running as fast as I could. It was following me. I jumped into the river. I was
losing my breath. My blood was freezing, but I didn’t stop. I struggled to swim
but that thing, held me. I was drowning. There was no chance of escape. I
surrendered myself.
From
nowhere, a hand held me. It was warm and powerful. It pulled me out of the
river. I was on the sand. I tried to open my eyes and wanted to see, who just
saved my life. But I could only see the shadow. A tall man with matted hair
tied in a bun over his head, a steel rod with three spears on it’s upper part
joined together at same point. He was looking at me. I was not afraid of him. I
felt secured. But, the moment I tried to move my eyes up to see him, I fainted.
“Wake up bro! kitna soyega?” amit said
and woke me up. I woke up instantly founding myself on the sofa, covered with a
warm sheet. “teri nautanki band nahi hogi
na?” vibhu said looking at me. “What
did I do?” I replied. I knew, what happened to me was a nightmare. “Nautanki nahi to or kya hai..” amit
joined vibhu. “what happened yaara?”
I replied and sat on the sofa. “You were
roaming out, last night, haina?” vibhu asked. “Me? Nahi..I didn’t but..” I wanted to reply but amit jumped in. “If you were not out, why you are wet from
head to toe. Look at your clothes, these are full of sand” vibhu taunted.
My
heart was in my mouth. Wasn’t it a dream? Did everything happened
to me was real? Who was pushing me towards it? Who wanted to hurt me? If it was
real, who was he, who saved me? Did he bring me here? Thousands of
questions were spinning my head. I wanted to discuss but I couldn’t. This was
not the moment.
“I can’t drive, I’m still tired?” I said.
“ho gayi nautanki chalu fer iski”
vibhu said. “Bhai, hamara hangover utra
nahi hai..you have to” amit said. “Fine,
I’ll drive” I said as I knew I had no other chioce. I started the engine
and we were on the road again. I was silent, still thinking about what happened
last night. Then, I saw the same canopy on the way. I was looking at it, same
old man was sitting there, but this time, he was smiling. A warm smile. A divine smile.
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