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Story – A sad soul
Jamshed Qamar Siddiqui
Ghosts exist or not – what do you think? Is it true that after someone dies, someone’s soul wanders in this world? Do you think that people who do not die remain involved in the atmosphere of this world like air? Does it ever happen to you that when you are completely alone in the room, you suddenly feel that there is someone behind you… You look back with surprise but there is no one there… Sometimes while going down the road, you feel that Someone has called your name… but when you look towards the road, no one is visible… All these things make some people believe that ghosts exist… spirits exist… But for me, these things were nothing more than mere gossip… I thought they were nonsense… until I went to Bhawanpur, a village in Uttarakhand. (Scroll down to read the rest of the story. Or click the link below to listen to it in audio)
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(Read the rest of the story from here) This happened around 1995… my age at that time would have been around 30-32. I had got a new job… in a private company which used to break rocks in hilly areas and build big hotels there. I was an engineer in the office of that company in Bhawanpur… My job was to see in the area where construction could be done by cutting the mountains. However, the locals also opposed our company…. They said that because of us, the balance of the hilly areas is deteriorating and the incidents of rock slides have started increasing. Companies are destroying hilly areas to earn money… etc etc… but what happens with the protest of those few people. I was just doing my work.
So sir, it was the month of August when I reached Bhawanpur and I had taken a room on rent in a house near the office. I was liking that place because big mountains were visible from the big window of my room, the air was clean… the weather was cold… I used to work hard in new jobs with new enthusiasm. My landlady was an old lady who lived upstairs with one of her sons. His son Prashant worked in a four star hotel nearby. Aunty mostly lived alone, so whenever she got a chance, she used to talk to me, and often told me about Bhawanpur. But one day he said to me, Listen, when you return from office in the evening… then come from the hotel where Prashant works… do not come through that deserted climbing path…
– Why aunty… when I asked she remained silent…
I asked again that that route is a short cut… why not from that side? He looked at me carefully and said… There is a shortcut but it is not safe
Why… because a sad soul wanders there.
The soul wanders… I said smiling… Hey Aunty… I don’t believe in this Rooh Wooh… You too don’t.…
Son… obey as I say… don’t come from there… that sad soul… earlier also… While saying this she stopped. Then she said, Just don’t come from there. I was getting late for office, so I cut the conversation short and said, okay, I won’t come. And saying this I left for the office. But when I sat on my seat in the office, I was remembering again and again what aunty had stopped saying. What happened on that way… I thought and thought of asking Shambhu, who worked in the office, who served us tea and who was a local there. I reached him during the interval. Shambhu was cleaning the tea pot in the small kitchen.
Hello Shambhu ji, how are you? When I told him, he sitting on the ground got shocked and then said
It’s great sir, thanks for your kindness..let me know.
Shambhu ji, I wanted to ask you something.
Yes, don’t ask… He stood up and wiped his wet hands with his dhoti.
Tell me one thing… This is a steep path that climbs from the back side of the mountain… Is there anything special about it… My landlady… She told me not to come from that side. I should do it… because some sad soul wanders there… I don’t have any faith in it… but she was saying something that earlier also there… but she had stopped telling further… earlier Do you know anything about what happened there?
When I said this, a little fear appeared on Shambhu’s face… then he said… Sir, she is right… don’t come from there…
Well, I will not come… but what has happened there before also… When I asked, Shambhu came closer to me and said with his big eyes wide… Even before, three dead bodies have been found there… mutilated bodies… as if someone had chewed them… not even the face was left… that sad soul is very dangerous… just don’t let it be called the rest now… Just don’t go from there…
Look, when someone tells you such a thing, you feel scared… no matter how brave you are. It is a lie that I do not feel afraid, everyone does. I felt it too. But what is it that one thing is fear and the other thing is courage… This courage that a human being has… it only gets him into big troubles… we also had courage…
After that day, we stopped passing through that route for a few days… but could not stop ourselves for long. One evening while returning from office… when it was slightly dark. So I passed by that climbing path. It came to my mind that let’s go from here today… let’s see what happens… I am unnecessarily traveling for so long. From here I will reach home in ten minutes.
Gathered courage, took a deep breath… and walked on the same deserted path. Upwards. There I saw a board on the shore. It was written – This road is not safe. Please go through the next path… I noticed it was not an official board. The locals had imposed it. I also thought that these locals are experts in making stories… Let’s go… I ignored that board and started climbing the hill.
In the evening twilight the sound of my footsteps could be heard far away. Dense trees in the distance and the evening breeze… the chirping sound of wild birds flying in the distance… clouds flying over the hills… I kept walking, kept moving forward. But as soon as I came a little higher, I saw a faint light at some distance.
I blinked my eyes and saw there was the light of a lamp and in that light there was a face. The face of a girl… who was sitting with her head bowed at the very end of the rock. Her hair was open… her clothes were white… her hair were shining in the flickering light of the lamp… she was sitting with her head bowed on her knees. His eyes were shining in the darkness. I trembled. Oh so this is that sad soul… which aunty was talking about. My eyes were fixed on that sad and probably sobbing girl. Many voices were making noise in my mind. Also the voice of Shambhu in which he told that mutilated bodies of many passengers were found here.
I shuddered remembering it but then I controlled myself… I thought it was common for such rumors to spread in small towns. It is possible that someone might have mischievously spread this news. And the dead bodies found may have been attacked by some wild animal… Anyway, once upon a time, there used to be many wild animals here, but since the forests have been cut down due to construction in the hills, now even those animals are no longer left. Convincing myself with these consolations, I gathered courage and started moving towards that girl.
I was walking and my eyes were fixed on that girl. She was far away from me… at one end of the hill in front… I was on this side. She might not even be able to see me. I started moving forward. With fast steps… but then I was startled by a sound.
Listen… I looked around and saw that a little behind me, a boy was sitting on the big stones placed on the side of the slope. Who was carefully looking at the girl with the lamp. Seeing that boy, I felt some relief that I am not alone.
Yes… tell me… When I asked, he said…
Why are you leaving from here? The way is ahead…
I said, Yes, it is from ahead… but this is a short cut… I was in a hurry today so I thought I should leave from here… By the way, tell me one thing… I went to him and said, he… who is he? , do you know what him? I asked pointing towards the girl with the lamp. When the boy looked at me, I tried to hide my fear with a fake smile and said… Someone was saying that he is a Rooh-Wooh.. Is it true?
– Soul... Oh no… He laughed and got up and came closer to me and said… No no, she is not Rumb, her name is Kanak…she lives in the nearby Singraula village. I breathed the night.
– Kanak… oh… so… why… is she sitting here? I asked looking at the girl, she said
– Poor girl is sad…the one she loved has gone to the city. He had promised that he would return after earning a lot of money and get married.
– So? Didn’t he come? When I asked, he looked at the girl sadly, took a deep breath and said… He had come… but… perhaps it was not written in the destiny of both of them to meet. He told that when Kanak’s lover was returning from the city to the village, he was returning through the same route… but perhaps fate had something else in mind. Just when he was coming that way, a rock started slipping. Stones started falling heavily from above. All this happened because the rock was recently cut… to build a four star hotel on the back side. Due to the construction in the hilly area, the ground had started sinking and coincidentally when Kanak’s lover was passing by, a rock slipped at that very moment. Debris of big stones rolled down from the hill and fell on the road and he got buried under the debris at that very moment. From then till today… Kanak comes to the same accident site every week and sits and cries for hours.
– Oh… I took a deep breath…my eyes became moist after listening to the painful story. How unfortunate was poor Kanak. I started getting angry remembering the landlady aunty’s words… what kind of rumors these villagers spread.
– Well… I told the boy Really… very bad happened to the poor girl. Well… by the way… who was that boy who died in that bus accident… My eyes were on Kanak sitting at a distance. I asked a question and kept looking at Kanak… but no answer came… so I turned and turned my head towards the boy. So I was shocked. He was standing very close to me. Said, I… There was a dangerous smile on his face. spoke, I was that boy… Suddenly his eyes turned red… and his pupils white… When he opened his mouth, two teeth on the sides were sharp. He pounced on me… so I got scared and backed away and fell down. He caught hold of my leg. My eyes went to Kanak sitting on the other side of the hill. She was looking at this in a very calm manner… as if she often looks at this. That boy bit my feet with his teeth… but somehow I dodged his blow and started running at high speed. Bad ass… faster and faster… I turned around and saw that sad and ferocious soul standing at a distance looking at me.
I ran and ran straight to my house… my heart was beating fast… I had never run so fast in my life. The chest was about to burst. Blood was leaking from the wound on my leg. I pulled up my pants and saw two dents on my leg which were bleeding. That day I was remembering aunty’s advice… Don’t go from there, a sad soul wanders there.
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