by Sanchit Garg
The next day, Father and I decided to go to Purnima’s place as her letter hadn’t reached us yet. And, after what befell yesterday, we wanted to push things forward and move away from here as fast as we could. In my mind, I necessitated an answer from Tauji for Vijay’s death. As he lived close to her house, it was the perfect opportunity. I knew that there was something which he was not telling us.
We hitched a bullock cart to her town and moved out at 7 in the morning. From our village, we didn’t have any other means of transport, so, this was our only option. It was tiring and time-consuming, but what else could we do? I thought of talking to Father and sharing all the events that I underwent, but then I knew that it would mostly turn towards ghosts and he wouldn’t believe all that shit. So, I kept it to myself for now. Even he didn’t utter a single word in the whole journey.
The days were broiling and the nights, frigid. It took us almost four hours to reach her town.
We reached her home at around 11 am. Our return journey was at 3 pm. So, we had about 4 hours to start with what we came here to do. After 7 pm, it used to get dark, so no one was moving out at that time.
We entered via the main gate, and I banged on her front door. She came out and was startled to see us. We didn’t send a letter to her beforehand that we were coming, so this was expected.
Purnima shouted, “Father! Brother! You both are here? Why didn’t you let me know earlier? Please come inside.”
She made us sit in the drawing-room, which was the first room on the right as one entered from the front gate. After this, she brought us water. I quickly grabbed the glass and drank from it entirely. The journey had made me thirsty.
She inquired, “Is everything all right?”
I answered, “Yes, everything’s good.”
“What about Jai and Amira? Do they still fight?”
A tear was about to fall from my eyes, but I stopped myself and told her, “Yes! They are good.”
Before she could ask anything more, I asked her, “Can I get some more water; I am parched?”
“Yes! Why not!”
She went away to get more water, but something felt off to me. I turned my head to the right where my father was sitting, and he was eyeing at me like he could kill me any minute. I was about to ask Father if something was wrong, but by this time Purnima returned with another glass of water.
“Thank you, Purnima!”
“No problem at all. Father, if you are not thirsty, should I bring some snacks for you?"
He finally spoke, “No! Don’t! In our family, we don’t eat or drink at our daughter’s house; it’s a custom.”
“But father, at least a little water won’t hurt anyone. Please have some. I am already feeling bad about this.”
He yelled, “No! Means No! Please understand. Our ancestors created this custom, and I am not going to defile them.”
Now I understood what the reason was for that strange stare and even when I brought the glass of water to my mouth to drink more, I couldn’t now. What did I do? Father is going to scold me back at home. I moved my head down in stigma.”
I inquired, “Did you get our letter?”
“Yes I did, two weeks back and my husband has already found a perfect house near us. It is hardly 15-20 houses away. If you see it, you would love it for sure. I sent the letter back to you a week back, didn’t you receive it yet.”
I was shocked, “Really! No, we didn’t receive anything.”
This was strange as it mostly took 3 to 4 days for it to travel between our places.
“Once I go back, I will beat the shit out of that postman. Looks like he’s bunking on his job.”
We spent around an hour at her home discussing her new life and family. Father had already, expectably, told me not to tell her anything about our house back, about what has been happening these past few days. She assured us that she was thrilled to be a part of this family, and her husband was caring enough. We didn’t get an opportunity to meet him as he was occupied at work, and he didn’t know beforehand that we were coming. It was better this way, too, as we had a little less time on our hands. We asked her where the house was. After getting a vague idea of the directions, we bid her goodbye.
We advanced in the direction of the house. Just as she said, it was not far. We reached the main gate but found it to be locked.
"Father! At least, we can get an idea from here. It looks huge, but not like ours. Well, we don’t have that many people living with us now, so this would do just fine. Plus, the in-home garden looks nice. I can spend hours gardening here.”
He smirked, “As if you could. As soon as we get here, we need to find work, and regarding the gardening thing, me and your mother will take care of that”.
I responded with a sullen face, “Okay! As you wish. Let’s go to Baijnath Tauji’s house now. We traced our steps back to Purnima's house and then proceeded further to Tauji’s house. Between all the directions, we got baffled and thought to ask someone passing by. I had been to his house before, but I was awful with directions. Well, not much time has passed since he shifted here, so maybe no one knows about him, but there’s no harm in trying.”
I stopped a passer-by and questioned him, “Bhaiya! Do you know where Baijnath Ji lives?
“Do you mean Baijnath SethJi?"
“Yes. I think so.”
“Well, he’s famous here. The most elegant house in the town. They are damn rich.”
I replied in shock, “Really!!!”
“Yes! Why would I lie? So, follow the directions I am giving you.”
He advised us on the path to follow, and I thanked him. It turned out a lot easier reaching his house now.
Now standing, facing the house, I looked at Father and could see that his eyes were wide open, marvelling at its beauty.
“Rameshwar! It looks like we are in the wrong place. That man lied to us.”
“No, Father! This is the right house. I have been here before. This is the right one. Though, since the last time, I can see a bit of construction has been done.”
We banged on the main gate.
No reply.
After 2-3 more bangs, someone called from the inside, "Coming!"
We waited patiently for close to a minute.
Father stated, “Well, it looks like the house is big on the inside too if it takes this long between the voice and the person to reach us.”
Suman Taiji opened the door, and she was shocked to see us.
She hollered, “Rameshwar! Madan Bhaiya as well. Is something wrong?”
Before calling us inside, she questioned us. She had definitely changed.
"Well! We had come to meet Purnima and thought that it would be nice to come visit you too.”
Rubbing sweat from over her head, “Ohh! That’s good. Come inside, please…”
After taking some 10-12 steps, we reached the drawing-room, seeing it my father’s mouth dropped open.
He mumbled to me, “What furniture do they have? It feels like heaven, and their living room is so big that our whole family can live in it. I wonder how they made so much money in such a scanty time.”
She made us sit on the sofa and went further inside to call out Tauji. We waited patiently while moving our eyes in a 360-degree fashion.
Some 5 minutes passed; still, no one came out. It felt like maybe they were having a prior discussion due to our impromptu appearance or perhaps Tauji was in the washroom or sleeping.”
Finally, Tauji made an appearance. I touched his feet to receive his blessing and then, he embraced Father.
Tauji inquired, “So, what made you come here?”
Father replied, “Well, brother! We came to this town, so, we thought to see how you were doing.”
“This is good.”
He ordered his servant, who was standing in one corner, “Moti! Bring water and some snacks for our guests.”
At this point, Father didn’t say anything. Well, he was not bound by his ancient customs here.
&
nbsp; They got a servant too!
“Brother, your house is nice. It looks like you are doing great business here?”
“Well, we just got lucky.”
I finally asked, “Don’t you miss Vijay? What exactly happened to him? You didn’t even tell us? Everything happened so fast, one day you were there and the next, everyone was gone.”
“My kids weren’t doing good there. It always felt like we were not in the right place. And when Vijay died…”
He took a brief pause and spoke again, “Our world fell apart. It was time we moved somewhere else, did something new and forgot all about the past.”
Father replied, “It’s good that you did what you did. I think it was the right move. We are even thinking of moving to this town. It’s nice and quiet here. After you left, the whole village turned into a haunted one. Maybe, it’s just my imagination. But living there feels like someone is sucking out our life force day and night.”
I mustered my courage, or maybe I was merely foolhardy and addressed the point with Tauji, “But what exactly happened to Vijay? How did he die? We don’t know anything at all. Please tell us.”
He was about to say something, but then he took a long pause and replied, “Even I don’t have an answer to that. We were taking a stroll during the night. One moment, he was with us and the next, he wasn’t. He kept saying- Someone is calling me; that I need to go. When we asked him- Go where? He just vanished into thin air. It felt like the earth consumed him. We searched nearby but couldn’t find him at all. No clue, nothing. Maybe he ran to the river and drowned or something else. Something terrible happened to him, and we couldn’t do anything. That’s all. It was night-time, so we couldn’t trouble the whole village and ask for their help.”
“But you should have at least asked us for help?”
“No, we couldn’t. Getting someone else involved in something that we weren’t able to digest felt like the wrong thing to do. It’s better he died that way. His mother still thinks he’s alive and went to the city to live a comfortable life. I don’t want to shatter her dreams and hope. So, let it be like that.”
I apologised, “Sorry for bringing back old memories. But, is this the whole story? I felt like he was behaving differently in the days before his demise. Did he tell you why?”
“Perhaps I should tell you the entire story. There’s nothing to lose now. A few days ere he died, he started acting abnormally. He heard some sounds, calling out to him. Seldom, he would go somewhere during the night and then come back in the morning. He even told me that he has found a good lady and is going to marry her soon. When I asked about who she was or what her family was like, he always said that she’s from a wealthy family and her parents are very kind.”
e continued, “One night, we decided to follow him back and saw him entering the old-abandoned house. When we went in, we found nothing at all. We were psyched about what was going on. When we finally got back home, we saw him sleeping on his bed, tranquilly. How was this possible? Was it something wrong with him or with us? That is still a mystery. But this sums it up. And... nothing else...”
“And you didn’t find anything in the old house? Like a pot or something?”
He panicked, “What!!!! What pot? We didn’t find anything. That house has nothing apart from dust and pests.”
My father touched my shoulder and gave me a dead serious look at this point.
“Yes! Yes! Sorry, I asked. What was I imagining? You already lost someone dear, and here I am digging out the past.”
By this time, the servant brought us tea and snacks. We needed something to eat and drink. I quickly picked up the teacup. As I was about to bring it close to my mouth to take a sip, I saw something. A shadow of someone dark flashed in the teacup, and I dropped it.
“Sorry! Sorry! What did I do?”
Tauji inquired, “What happened? Are you ok?”
“Nothing! I just saw something.”
“Who did you see?”
With my face down, I replied, “Just my mind playing tricks on me. I am just exhausted. Sorry for breaking the cup.”
“No! Don’t worry about the teacup.”
Father replied, bewildered, “I think we should go back now.”
“But it’s lunchtime already. Don’t go without eating something.”
“Maybe some other time. These days it’s better to reach home before it gets dark.”
We left Tauji’s house after bidding him goodbye. The entire time we were there, Taiji never came out again. She was never like this. Maybe, she wasn't feeling well.
“Hmm… Let’s go Father.”
We walked back to the bullock-cart person well before time. On the way back home, my mind was mystified by the old-abandoned house. Now I knew that house had something to do with Vijay’s disappearance and judging from how Tauji behaved when I asked him about the money, something tells me that he is hiding a bigger secret. One that he doesn’t want us to know.”
I was deep in my thoughts when Father called out my name, “Rameshwar!”
I didn’t reply.
Father jolted me, “Rameshwar!”
I finally came back to my senses.
“Are you daydreaming again? When are you going to start living in reality?”
“I am, Father. I am trying my best. There's just a lot of things on my mind, and I have lost the meaning of what is practical and what is impractical.”
“Okay! Don’t worry. We all need something new. I have decided to move to that house your sister showed us. It was good and ample enough for us. So, after a few days, I will go back to that town and acquire the house. In the meantime, we need to manage the required funds and make arrangements for shifting.
Your mother better be ready with lots of food. I feel like I can eat a full day's worth of meals.”
“Yes, Father! She will be. Has she ever made you lose face? I can already feel the tasty food waiting for us.”
Father smiled, “Yes, I can too.”
We finally reached home at around 6:30 PM. I couldn’t hear any sounds. It was too quiet. We went in, and everyone was sitting together in the hall, wordlessly. Amira saw us and came racing towards me.
She screamed while running, “Mother! Mother! Father has come back.”
Amira didn’t know what had happened to Jai and we thought it was best not to tell her. So, we told her that he went to stay with an uncle for a few days as they didn’t have any kids.
Nandana’s eyes sparkled on noticing us. It felt like her eyes had turned dry after the death of Jai. But seeing us come back in one piece made her a little happy. Still, no one said anything. They didn’t ask us how the trip was, and we didn’t start any conversation. Whatever we all had been through was too much for us to handle. We ate dinner and then straightaway went to bed. I knew what was going on with Nandana, how much she loved Jai, but what could I do now?
The next few days were very bustling for us. We had a lot to plan and pack. In the meantime, Father went to Purnima’s town and made the deal for that house. When he came back, he asked Mother and Mohan to go to our new home, so that they could make it fit and habitable since it was empty for more than 7 years. Here, Nandana, Amira, Father, and me were left behind.
The days were fully occupied for us, and due to that, we had entirely forgotten about Jai. Maybe the lie that we told to Amira, somewhere deep down our hearts we also felt it to be true.
With the number of furniture and stuff we had, we knew that it would take at least five rounds of a bullock cart to move our possessions from the village to our new home. Father was feeling a bit nostalgic, and I guessed that it was better that he went to our new home too, to mother. Even though I had hardly seen Mother and father talking together, they still loved each other very much. But, he was a little reluctant to go as I was going to be the only man left behind and with what I had undergone, he felt I needed a little more time to come back to my senses. But I somehow convinced him to go. I knew living here each day without Mother was l
ike a hurdle to him, and I didn’t want him to go through that.
From the next day onwards, we got a lot busier with the packing that we couldn’t give ample attention to Amira. Sometimes, she would go away for like hours and then come back. When I asked her where she went, she told me that she had made a new friend. For us, it was the best thing to happen. With her brother gone, she needed something to pass the time and have fun.
At night, Amira woke up and was about to go somewhere, when Nandana felt a faint noise and woke up too.
She stopped her and asked, “Amira! Where are you going?”
“Mother! I think I heard my brother’s voice. He was telling me to come play with him.”
She scoffed, “Amira! It was just a dream. Your brother isn’t here. Go back to sleep.”
And she went back to sleep.
At the end of the next day, we were almost ready with the final packed list. All we needed was to wait for the following day and then we could all go to our new home.
I felt terrible that we were about to leave the house where our family has lived for many generations, but sometimes in life, you need to make tough decisions for the greater good.
We went to sleep early that day as we were a lot tired.
In the morning, Nandana woke me up.
She shivered, “Amira is not here!”
I freaked, “Not here! What are you saying? Have you checked all the rooms?”
“Yes! Yes! I have checked them again and again! I am about to have a seizure. Please do something?”
“No! Don’t worry! Maybe, she just went to her new friend’s house a little early today.”
“But it’s 4 in the morning! The sun still hasn’t come up. Where would she go at this time?”
A tear dropped down from her eyes, and it looked like she would cry at any moment.
“Let me go check in the village and bring her back. I promise I won’t return without her.”
I stepped out of our house and went straight to the old-abandoned house. I needed to be sure that she was safe. A sense of tranquillity caught me after searching the whole house and finding out nothing. There were no clues that would lead to her being there.
