Lost with Ghosts

As the bus covered the miles from the town to the village the sun slowly set over the horizon.  The green fields with the small rivulet reflecting the orange colour of the sun.  Very quiet except for the shrill chirping of the birds as they flew to their resting place for the night.  It became increasingly dark and the roads did not have street lights. From between the coconut leaves and the plantain leaves the lights in the houses was barely visible.  This is half a century ago.  The bus reached Giri’s village.  The conductor rang the bell as the door closed with a bang and the bus accelerated into the darkness and was soon engulfed by it.  Giri found himself in the dark.  The few shops around the bus stop had closed down and the road was deserted.  Not a human being or animal was visible. He stood in the darkness and took a 360-degree turn trying to adjust to the environment.  After adjusting to the darkness, he could barely make out the difference between black, dark grey, grey, pitch black and more shades of grey.

2.     It was his ancestral village but Giri was born and brought up in a faraway city.  There was a creepy feeling as he walked apprehensively.  After a turn in the lane, he could see the distant light.  A lamp post with a 40-Watt filament bulb.  In the otherwise dark surroundings, it was a welcome sight, a kind of a lighthouse revealing a direction and was a strong attraction.  Like a strong magnet, Giri felt drawn towards it.  After reaching it and being enveloped by the warm glow, walking beyond was like venturing into unknown territory and the creepy-crawly feeling was back.  Giri stepped on something soft and all kinds of frightening images came up.  Before his logical mind could analyse or reason, he dashed towards what he remembered to be his home. 

3.     After a long run, he slowed down for regaining his breath and some reasoning.  He, however, could not see his house.  Where it should have been there was only an animal shed that too without any cattle around.  No house or light was visible.  Villages can become strangely silent in the night apart from the frogs, the crickets, the occasional bird, the chickens, the swishing of the leaves in the light breeze or a distant bell.  Those times there was no electricity.  Giri felt a little lost.  How could he forget his ancestral house?  The road was not exactly identifiable in the darkness.  A shiver suddenly ran down his spine.  He felt something or someone close.  He stammered a question to which he got no response.  Must be his imagination. 

4.     A faint light was visible and he walked towards it.  It became imperative to enquire and ascertain the directions.  He was now among paddy fields.  The trees had receded.  The stars were visible in abundance but no moon.  It was not entirely dark but visibility was poor.  He continued to walk towards the light.  He had to switch directions to be able to walk on the narrow skirtings or abuttals of each field.  After a few turns left and right he lost his sense of direction or whatever was left of it.  Could not remember from which direction he came from.  The light did appear to come closer but again moved away.  He was tired, confused, hungry and angry.  Something moved near his feet and he turned and ran.  Stumbled and picked himself up, bruised a little and totally at a loss of not only the direction but also what to do.   The light seemed to take him round and round not coming close although he walked towards it.

5.     Old people have strange stories of ghosts and spirits.  They, the ghosts derive some kind of pleasure in confusing humans. The moving light seems to be also in a ghost’s hand or else why should it keep moving without coming close.  Giri felt genuinely afraid and the sense of uneasiness only grew as time went by.  He recollected a story of a ghost wearing white kurta-pyjama narrated by one of his colleagues.  When you went close to it, it moved back and finally went up a tree in the garden.  The mind plays back these stories during such fearsome times.  All unpleasant memories pop up one after another.  Alexa, Google or YouTube picked up this habit of suggesting sites or videos similar to the ones you are viewing or perhaps even imagining from a ghost infected brain. 

6.     Then he saw the black thing moving closer.  He could not clearly see what it was.  It did appear to come closer.  Was it a ghost or an animal or a human being?  It was dark and the moon also temporarily disappeared behind some clouds.  Giri stood mesmerized.  Fear was overwhelming.  There was a tingling feeling and he was sure that all his hair musting be standing up on its end with goose pimples on his entire body. 

7.     There is an overriding body response or mechanism which galvanizes the person into some action for survival.  Usually in trained people like those in the army or any paramilitary organization the body and mind respond based on the training received and the situations faced in actual or in artificially generated training situations.  Here Giri had no such training and perhaps the animal instinct overtakes all logical minds.  The dark thing was in the meanwhile getting closer and closer.  A loud sound came from the creature or whatever it was.  Giri found himself run for all he's worth, till the last ounce of his energy remained.  His body’s objective was to perhaps go as far away from the dark apparition.  No specific direction was taken and Giri had no clue where he ran.  Although exhausted he did not stop or even slow down but continued to run driven by fear.  He vaguely remembers seeing some light before he collapsed.

8.     Was it started raining?  The splatter of water jarred him out of stupor or sleep or unconsciousness?  He had a splitting headache and he could feel a bump on his head.  There were familiar voices around which had a tone of anxiousness.  Giri suddenly recalled his experience and fearfully looked around.  The assuring voices lulled him back into sleep.

*****