the last night..

“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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