Boom! There was a loud thud from behind the house. A
crunching sound came from the backyard.
Vijay was
reading his favourite Alistair Maclean novel sitting in the front porch. The
weather was cold and dry. It was relaxing to read in the afternoon sun. He was
feeling lazy and sleepy. The rented bungalow where they lived was just below
the highway. There was a forest sloping down the back of the house full of
green tall trees laden with plums and pine cones, a natural playground with
ample scope of fun and pranks.
He instantly knew that his little brothers were up to
some nuisance again when he heard Beeji
shout his name at the top of her voice, “Vijay! Vijay!” she screamed on the top
of her voice. He was sure now that something was wrong. Beeji never disturbed
him when he was reading! It must be something those pranksters had done again!
They were six brothers. Vijay was the eldest. He was
good at studies and was always absorbed in either his course books or the
novels he loved to read. He liked to watch movies and listen to film songs. The
ones younger to him were also staid and quiet but the youngest two were very
naughty and destructive. They kept Beeji,
their mother on her toes all day. There
was always something to be repaired in the house and there was always someone
hurt needing first aid. The other day
the carom game heated up and Daman bust the board on Shekhar’s head.
Vijay loved his little brothers but was always
worried about them. “Why can’t they be a little bit calmer?” he said to himself
often. No amount of scolding or beating helped. The two were incorrigible.
Vijay wondered aloud, “what is it now? What have they
broken?” Thinking about going to the bazaar again and getting whatever was broken
repaired. It was a long trek to the bazaar in this small hill town. He hoped it
was not his new pocket transistor that had faced their wrath. He had bought it
from the money he earned by giving tuitions to Kamla maasi’s little girl. Maasi
insisted on paying him on a monthly basis. It was good to be able to earn some
extra cash. He could now listen to his favourite Mohd. Rafi songs on the new
imported transistor he had bought with that money.
Papaji,
their father was a clerk in the Accountant Generals office. He had eight mouths
to feed and six of them were boys growing everyday and an emergency was always
an added expense. Papaji always had
his ears full of complaints and laments when he returned home from office but
he was a patient and proud father along with being a strict disciplinarian.
All these thoughts were pushed back from Vijay’s mind
when he saw the scene at the back of the massive house they lived in. Dinesh was lying twisted below the big plum tree
in a heap of squashed fruit. His clothes were stained and dirty with the fruit
juice and dirt. Clearly he was not able to get up. Beeji was hitting both him and Daman with a branch of the tree and
shouting her choicest invectives on the top of her voice. “It’s the routine
pandemonium again” thought Vijay.
Then he saw it! Dinesh was not able to get up when
Daman coerced him to run in order to escape the thrashing. He was nursing his
broken leg. They had been trying to climb the tree to pluck some plums. Vijay
asked Beeji to calm down and Daman to get water for her as well as Dinesh. Then
he carried Dinesh in his arms and took him inside the house.
They lived in Shimla. In 1960s it was a small town
with very less vehicular traffic. People preferred to walk. Their home at
Sanjauli was at least six arduous kilometres form the nearest hospital. They
didn’t have any vehicle and it was out of question to call an ambulance! That
was an additional, unaffordable expense. The only option was to carry little
Dinesh all the way to the hospital on foot. Vijay knew it was his burden. He
was the eldest son after all.
He asked Beeji
to stay at home and took some money from her. Asked Shekhar the one younger to
him to wear his shoes and accompany him and sent Daman to inform Papaji who was in his office at the Mall
Road.“Daman should also pay the price of his naughtiness!” He told Beeji. He had the longest distance to
cover. The Mall was at least 10 kilometres away and the route was steep
incline.
They reached the hospital and Papaji came. He was a sweet natured man; he didn’t shout or curse
anyone but his wife. He was proud of his sons and expected one or the other to
cause some mischief in a week or so. After all that’s what all boys did. How
else did you expect them to grow big?
It was evening by then and Dinesh was very weak with
exhaustion and still in pain. The doctor asked Papaji to stay back the night as
the boy was under observation. Shekhar had gone home as soon as Papaji came
from the office and taken Daman back with him. The government hospital didn’t
have a bed or bedding for Papaji to spend the cold night in. It fell on Vijay
again to fetch the bedding and a quilt from home.
Now this was the part he was dreading most. He wanted
to be the one who stayed back. He didn’t want to go home alone in that cold
winter night. Papaji scolded him
mildly and asked him to run along. He didn’t understand why his eldest boy was avoiding
going home. He was his most responsible and unspoilt child.
One day when they were walking back from the school,
Ramesh had warned Vijay to never go along the Snowdon Hospital –Sanjauli route
at night. He said that along a stretch of the maidaan there, a hand severed from its body and dripping blood asked
for a cigarette from the passersby. If you have one on you and a light too…You
were lucky because ‘it’ will then politely thank you and go away taking the cigarette
with it. But damned you were if you didn’t have it...because it then followed
you and pushed you in the khud.
Vijay was scared to death now. He had avoided that
path since that story day. He didn’t smoke and there was no chance in eternity
for him to have a cigarette on him EVER. He was not a coward but why take
unnecessary risks. He had a life to live and simple dreams to chase. He didn’t
want to end up in a khud. Sometimes a
dead body was never found in there, what with the leopards, foxes and hyenas dragging
the half live men for their dinner deep into the forest.
But today he had to take that dreaded turn and cross
the maidaan where the hand would appear
and ask for a cigarette. He thought of buying one and a matchbox but no paanwallah will give it to him and if Papaji came to know about it, then he
would have had it- not the cigarette but the dreaded spanking. He didn’t hit
them normally but when he did it was all hell turned loose. The dilemma was
looming large now. Papaji would
tolerate no more dithering. He had to go!
He started the long haul home, sure that Papaji and Beeji would lose a son today. His every step was slow and heavy. He
wanted to invoke all the Gods these native hill people worshipped. But no
prayers came to his mind. He was so frightened that he could not even remember
the school prayer that they sang every day in the assembly. He was doubtful
though that it would help.
He was also thinking about Papajis discomfort. He will have to sleep without bedding and quilt
today. Vijay knew that he was never going to be able to get back alive to the
house. Even if he did- maybe someone else would give a cigarette to the hand
just a moment before Vijay reached the turn and it will be gone and busy smoking
giving him the time to sprint across the maidaan-he
still had the return journey to make. No one could be twice lucky; he will
certainly be down the khud on the return trip.
It was October; a cold dry month and the night was
starlit. The sky seemed so close that it looked easy to reach for the stars and
grab a handful. The breeze was whishing through the tall deodar trees and the
woodsy smell of pine trees was exhilarating. Nature was at its beautiful best
but Vijay was oblivious of this dark beauty. All he could see was dark
lightless paths and dreadful shapes in the dark night which shadows of things
cast on other things. The sound of breeze was not sweet to his ears, it seemed
to give him a warning that his dreadful end was crouching behind that wall
where the maidaan started. There was
no cover to run for. The hand will certainly grab his neck and throw him down
the crevice when he would tell it that he didn’t have a smoke.
He suddenly remembered that Papaji had taught him the Gayatri
Mantra and told him to recite the same whenever he was scared. Then a
strategy came to his mind. The maidaan
stretched 200 meters only. He would walk slowly to the turn, start reciting the
Mantra and dash across the ground in a sprint without looking behind. Certainly
the hand will follow him but it will be repelled by the force of the chant and he would run for his
life. Once he was around the bend he would be safe. Thakur had assured that the
hand never crossed the bend. The key would be to run very fast and not look
behind. He looked ahead and behind him.
There wasn’t a soul around who would offer a
cigarette to the hand and make it busy, it would have certainly helped. Nobody
not even a ghostly hand could smoke two at the same time.
Vijay started the Gayatri chant.
Aum Bhoor
Bhuwah Swaha,
Tat Savitur Varenyam,
Bhargo Devasaya
Dheemahi,
Dhiyo Yo Naha
Prachodayat!!
Repeating it aloud constantly, He looked all around
and made the dash across the maidaan. His heart was beating so loud that he
could hear it go thud-thud in his chest. His mouth was dry with fear and pulse
racing beyond normal. He was chanting the Gayatri Mantra on the top of his
voice and didn’t realise it till he reached the turn where after the hand
always turned back according to Thakur.
He was ALIVE! Safe and on the path not in the khud! He
thanked his God and started walking home. A sudden calm washed over his being. He
reached home and told Beeji about Dinesh
and Papaji’s stay at the hospital and
asked for the bedding and dinner. He ate his dinner and started the return
journey, not afraid anymore. He knew he could make any number of trips now. He
switched on his pocket transistor and listened to Mohd. Rafi sing his favourite
song!
“That story spinner Ramesh!” Vijay thought…he
certainly was in for being killed tomorrow at school. Vijay had chanced a look
back when he was dashing across the maidaan;
nothing or no one was behind him. No ghost and no severed hand. No such things
ever existed, Vijay was DEAD sure
now.
.
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