Wednesday, November 15, 2006

A Horrible Memory.........



I was walking in my past memories, last night, with my awe I woke up at 3:00 in the night.. thats never been a normal time for me, infact I am a late riser. You must be guessing how
wonderful the dream was ? .... Yes it's always nice to recollect the old memories, specially, if it is your childhood experience.... Imagine you are walking through a small rustic village path, nobody is there around, to bug you, not even a stray dog to follow you, and only melancholy sound of night birds and crickets, tearing the silence of a lonely night!!! Sounds Romantic ? No!! certainly not!! At this point the story slightly takes a twist, a kid badly wants someone's company, expects someone to whisper in his ear, and assure, "Hello! You are Alive". So badly he wanted that day ....the day he has never faced before in his life ......

He landed up in a small railway station, it was in the evening 6:00 pm, and was planning to visit his aunt's house. He had visited there several times. It was not a big deal for him, a guy who had grown enough to remember adresses and a long 14 years of experience, he had in this earth, a experience that taught him, how to deal with different situations.

He was bold and was not afraid of anything. He knew he had to travel by bus almost 20 km, that would take two hours, over the muddy roads. Then he had to catch a three wheeler and travel almost 5 km taking a narrow road, a road that runs over craters, some asphalt coating, fields and most interestingly touching two temples. That would surely give him a lot of energy and confidence for rest of the journey. Till that point, he was a positive thinker, and roughly he estimated to reach near his aunt's house round 9:00, provided every thing went fine and he gets the vehicles in time. Then almost 30 minutes walk through the paddy fields, a small hilly jungle, followed by a very sacred place "Grave Yard". ("Sacred" : May be his positive approach of taking heaviest things). He tries to recollect what his mom told just before he started, "if u think of God, nobody can bother you". He felt like believing this statement that night more than ever before, and why not he knew his friends were 'day dreamers' and only believed in supernatural things that had place only in fairy tales.

"But 9:30 is too late and people will not be awake till then."
He was lucky that day so far, and reached near the place called SPJ Colony, by 9:00, now what remained was the thirty minutes walk.
He could easily cross that path, but the only concern in his mind was his heavy weight side bag. He had nothing much in it,apart from a couple of books, some spare dresses and a water bottle. The boy crossed the Grave Yard, thank god , he did not want to look back, "he was not at all scared" but "what's the use of looking back a grave yard?".

He reached near the jungle soon, now he could feel some life around, some one seemed to be near to him , even if it was a wild jackal he wouldn't mind. A
ctually he wanted some one to be with him, to give him company, some one who would be awake so late. Some one living in a place where there was no street light illuminating the roads in the night, like a merciful witch in a city of death. Ackward thinking!!! correct ? but wasn't it a normal idea for a kid like him ?

He increased his speed, the road did not seem to end for him, that was horrible, he planned for just thirty minutes and he had already walked for one hour by then !!!!!! He had no watch to justify his point neither he had a mobile to call up his aunt and ask "Are you still waiting for me?".
He knew he will have all these luxury some day, only if he studies hard. "But what about those people who are living there and cannot change their fate so easily?"

Night seemed to be very cruel and also getting denser and darker. The sharp cry of jackals and wolves started fading around... he came near the paddy field. Thanks to the fire-flies for providing some hope in the form of light. He walked past a hindu samshan (where a corpse is still burning), nobody was near that cremation ground, he stopped for a moment and thought of that unfortunate soul.

Suddenly ! something stuck to his foot, a pair of shoes ..... scattered in a wiered fashion..
Next to it, there was a big crater. He realised that was not a crater, may be a patch of diesel or ... he could not confirm it in such a dark night. He saw some light from a nearby bush ... red constant light, he could not relate it with any worldly material. Then he realised some people were whispering. Whispering like nobody can listen to them, totally unaware of the fact that there was a passer by, a boy of 14 years of age, who was listening to that. A boy who was dying to hear someone's voice. They were talking about how they stabbed a guy, and how his intestines came out ... death... menace... murder .... shattered shoes , clothes ...... unbearable....
May be the patch was clotted blood ... and the shoes ?? "does the victim's family know?"

He started running harder and harder, some stray canines started following him, making unbearable sound, the ground was uneven, he fell down . But did not even get a scratch, may be he did not bother at that moment. Now he could see a hope , some light ,just ten meters ahead, there was his aunt's house.


That too looked like an haunted house for him, but supernaturals were more welcome than the earthly beasts. He was saved , he entered the house when his cousin brother asked "dada , you came running ?".
He told " No" with trembling voice.

He saw the waterbottle was missing , did it fall down?
His jeans was also torn. Thank god he was saved. But he had to lie to his cousin.
How could he, "a matured young man of 14 years tell his little brother that he was frightened on the way"!!!!!!!!

Even he was confused, why was he running? To save his life or to escape from the harsh reality.?????


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

nice story :)