“I don’t believe what I have seen tonight!” Tejas muttered sitting on his bed, rubbing his head. He was not getting proper words to describe this feeling or the situation. One realization, he was having, that there is something very wrong in this village and he need to report this to the Sarpanch.
“I have to meet Sarpanch tomorrow morning for sure and talk on this!!” he made a mental note of this and went to sleep. But unfortunately, he was not getting the much required sleep as the thoughts of the hanging women was coming in front of his eyes. He woke and sat on his bed at once, as is he saw someone near his bed.
He was very much sweating and was also feeling sick.” How come cold has increased so much at once?” he thought. He went near to the window; outside the moon light was falling on the stretched fields, drops of dew on the leaves were glowing like small diamonds. The scean was mesmerizing by itself and he felt much better in that. His eyes scanned everything in the vicinity and stopped near the well; the same shadow of a lady was sitting on the edge of the well and was looking at him. He could feel the pain in her eyes and the urge to tell him something.
“What she wants to tell me? And could she would be the same lade whom I saw in Sarpanch’s house? He thought. There were endless line of questions coming out of his mind and he wanted answers to all the questions. “There is indeed something, Sarpanch is hiding from me, but how can I go to him and ask about this” he thought. “He would get angree as I have not followed what he said to me “he said to himself. But he wanted to explore and go deep into the situation.
He was not afraid now and thought of communicating with the lady. He planned to go to that well and speak to that lady. Things were not so easy, as it seems. “Why would someone connect with me and start talking? I have to do something to win the confidence on me, but what??” thinking this, he saw his watch; he lost an hour’s good sleep.
“I have to go and get some good sleep, as tomorrow will be a tough day” he convinced himself and went to bed. As soon as he fell on bed, he was in deep sleep.
The day came quickly and tejas was rubbing his eyes sitting on the bed. After finishing all the work he was thinking of going to office or not. He was not getting that type to energy today, as he used to get other days. This might be because of insufficient sleep. After thinking a lot on this, he decided to give today a break and the next 2 days were holidays.
He went out and sat on the veranda, evaluating his next course of action and was also waiting for his breakfast to come. It was almost an hour he waited for his breakfast, but it didn’t come. He thought of going to Sarpanch’s house to check. He quickly took his bath and got ready, he could realize the tiredness appearing on his face.
He started walking to the Sarpanch’s house, he recollected all the incidences happened to him a night before. He saw the abandoned house and also the well, but he neglected that. He went upstairs and knocked the door. After couple of knocks, the door was opened by a lady.
“I want to see Sarpanch sahib!!” he told to the lady
She looked surprised and asked “Who are you? And what is the intention of the meeting?”
“I came here in this village recently and sahib knows me!!” He answered
“Why I am being asked so many questions, all of a sudden?, she should know me, as Sarpanch would have told her” he thought in mind.
She was not sure what to say, after a brief pause, she told, “how is it possible?”
“Why this is not possible? Call Sarpanch and he will tell you who I am and who you to ask me so many questions.” Tejas was getting more and more irritated. “Call him and he will tell you who I am?” Tejas started to shout.
That lady was looking at him with utter surprise and was not having any clue, of what to tell him. She waited him to cool down. After sometime, Tejas cooled down. The lady started telling him, “We have been living here for ages, this house belonged to Sarpanch, but the whole family died in an accident long time back and then we took over this house. It’s being almost 12 yrs we have been living here. We were not here as we had to go to our relative’s house for some days. We returned just couple of days back.” Tejas was listening with cold hands.
The lady saw his condition getting bad and invited him inside the house.
“Are you sure, this house was locked last couple of days” Tejas reconfirmed. “Yes certainly” she replied at once.
“Do you know Rekha?” Tejas enquired. “Rekha?? Why are you asking that?” She asked surprisingly.
“No, just tell me, do you know Rekha? He again asked and there was a brief pause between them, “I am Rekha” she said after a brief silence. The reply hit Tejas like a huge blow. “How is it possible? You are not, whom I met few days back” Tejas said getting hold of himself. “ Are you sure, you met with someone named Rekha only because I know there is no other Rekha in this village apart from me and as I said, I was not there in this village for some time” she tried to explain.
Tejas felt helpless within himself of being treated like a fool. He didn’t like that; he didn’t come to this village to be fooled. “Why would anyone fool me? I don’t even know anyone here” he tried to ask himself. Rekha was standing beside him and was looking all these. She was sensing the helplessness of Tejas and wanted to comfort him.
“So then, who was giving me food all these days? I thought Rekha or Sarpanch sahib was giving me food. Is that you or do you know who he was?” he asked to Rekha. She was silent and was evaluating the answer, she should give to Tejas. “How can I give you food, when I was not here and how can Sarpanch sahib would give you food when he is not living in this house?” she explained.
“There is definitely something going on here and you need to tell me before I go mad” Tejas raised his voice. He felt weak from inside, he thought “How can I be so much weak, as if I have not taken food from a long time” he thought. He started to realize what was happening.
He holed Rekha’s arms and asked her to explain, about what was happening in this village. His eyes showed the eagerness of knowing the whole thing.
“Go back to your place, this is the best thing you can do to help and save your life and don’t trust anyone here” Rekha said quietly
Tejas could remember, the same words he heard from someone also, now his eagerness grew a lot and he wanted to know why people are telling him the same thing again and again.
He turned to Rekha and said, “OK I will go back, but not without knowing what is happening here? And you have to tell me?” Tejas was pressing the same thing again and again.
Helplessly Rekha agreed to tell him the history of the house and the village, she sat near him on the same cot and started telling him, “This village is cursed from a long time and who so ever comes to this village eighter gets mad or gives his life. People here live a dual life and they are not aware of it. So, you will feel a lot of contradictions in their talk. There were lot of accidents of people seeing a white shadow sitting on the edges of the well in the backside of the farm and many of them have thought that the shadow was seeing to them with moist eyes. It is when; people started becoming mad and often ran to give them their lives…”
Tejas was listening very carefully to the story. He also had seen that shadow many times and had thought to go to the well.
“The history of this village goes back 25 yrs back. This village was a happiest place and people here were joyful and playful. There were hardly any fights that have happened in this village and nearby villages used to give examples of the unity to each other. That was the time, when this village was not so much connected with the city. People used to go to city once in 2 – 3 months. People have seen the most of their good days in that period. Our Sarpanch sahib was a very good man. He used to treat the villagers as a part of his family. His family was also attached with the villagers and villagers also loved and respected them a lot. The royal family would attend each and every festival and functions of the villagers and same with the villagers. Our Sarpanch sahib always encouraged education and development of the people and the village. He always wanted that every boy and girl should get the same education and for this he planned money, transport and all other facilities.” Rekha’s face suddenly turned pale.
“Then it all started, our prosperity came in the eyes of our neighbor villages and they started envying us for that. They used to come and create some or other kind of issues to disturb our smooth flow. They used to often do mischievous things with the village girls and would bit up the boys in the night. When Sarpanch sahib was informed about this, he was very angree and told everyone in the village, not to be out after 8 PM, till this issue is solved. Sarpanch sahib’s family consisted of a girl, who was studying in the city. She used to visit the village in her holidays. Sarpanch realized the urgency of the situation and passed a message to his daughter in the city, telling her not to come to village now. But unfortunately, she already left for the village when her hostel received this message..” Tears suddenly started coming out from Rekha’s eyes.
“I still remember, it was around 10 PM, when her bus dropped her outside the village, because of the situation getting worse, people refrained from going out on streets in the night. She was surprised to see, the deadness of the village. But she didn’t bother to ask anyone on this. She took his bag and started walking. She looked at her watch and it was clicking 12:00 AM. She didn’t realize that, she has spent 2 hours walking in this deserted village. She was scared to death inside and started running towards her house. She finally reached the house and knocked the door. No one opened the door in first couple of knocks, fear filled her heart. This is something, which has never happened to her in the past and she was not able to understand the reason of it. She thought, people might be asleep and so they might not be able to hear the knocks. She started to bang the door loudly and then Sarpanch opened the door. Seeing his daughter standing on the door steps shocked him and same way made him angree. He let his daughter come inside the house and closed and locked the door. He questioned her that even after giving the message, why did she come? She looked at him and said that she didn’t receive any message or probably the message would have come to the hostel after she left the hostel…” Rekha paused a little.
Tejas was noting some questions in his mind, to ask her after she completes.
“Soon after the whole village got the news of her coming to the village, everyone was now concerned about her safety and well being. Everyone in the village would tell her, not to go out on the streets after 8 PM because things are still not in control. She would think and laugh on these talks and would wade off thinking that she came in that night and nothing happened to her. One day already passed after she came to the village and things were smooth. But the worst part was waiting to begin, somehow the news spread to the neighbor villages about her coming to the village. I still remember it was Wednesday evening 4 PM; she was taking up a walk near the well, when she saw some people on the banks of the river. She was excited to see, what they were doing and hence she went to meet them and to see what they were doing. There were some 4 -5 boys playing, drinking and catching fishes. She could realize that those boys were not from her village, then how come they are here? The boys saw her coming and started to talk something seeing her” Rekha’s expression changed to fear and pain, but she continued
Tejas was seeing all the changes on her face, but didn’t ask about her. He was so interested in the story that he didn’t want to break the harmony of storytelling.
“She asked about those boys from where they are and what they are doing here in this village. One from the group sad that they recently came from the city, to explore some beautiful villages, they found this place interesting and so they were camping here. She found the whole idea interesting and asked them if she can join them. Without much hesitate they agreed and told her that they will be going to lookout the forest and whether she is interested in coming with them. She thought of something and agreed. There was a small boat standing on the banks of the river and they climbed the boat and one of them helped her also to climb. The boat started to move away from the bank and was going towards the other bank. In no time they reached the other bank. The bank was same as the other one, but surrounded with dense forest. They told her that they are going inside and she can come, if she is not afraid. She thought that she is not afraid, living alone in a city then why should she be afraid. She readily agreed on the offer and went inside the forest...” Rekha turned her face at once and started to cry.
“What Happened? And why are you crying? Tejas asked confused. Rekha realized that Tejas was looking at her and she cleaned her face. Her eyes were still red.
“After walking few steps, the boys saw each other. It was some sort of signal, which they are giving to each other. Suddenly, two of them started to walk slowly and reached back of her. One of the boys pushed her from behind and she fell on the ground and her head hit a stone on the ground and darkness came in front of her eyes. The last she could see was an image of someone coming close to her and they were shouting “Raghu”. Raghu was the son of a farmer, who used to work for Sarpanch. She never met Raghu in person, but often heard his name from his father. His father would always appreciate him for his intelligence and smartness. It started getting night, when she got her consciousness back. She didn’t know, what has happened to her, but she felt a sort of pain and some blood strains in the down portion of her dress. She holded back the cry as it would make those people aware that she is awake. After reaching the other bank, she realized that she was taken to the well and was dropped on the edges of the well. The boys, who carried her back, left her on the well and were going to her house. She at once sensed the danger and started to shout. The farm was very big and the well was at one end of the land. People, who worked there, were planning to leave. She shouted at the top of her voice and didn’t find anyone reacting to her call. She had no option, but to stand up and start walking towards the house. When she came at the middle of the land, people saw her and ran towards her. Seeing people coming she gave up and fall down. People came near her and started asking her who did this to her? She was not in a condition of telling anything, but accidently “Raghu” came out of her mouth” Rekha’s face started as she continued the story.
“The farmers couldn’t believe what they heard just now. They couldn’t believe that someone from this village could do anything. One from the group said others to take her to her house and then think what needs to be done to Raghu. They started to link, all the incidences happening with other village girls with him. They carried her to her house and knocked the door. To everyone’s surprise, on one opened the door. They called Sarpanch sahib, but helpless. Then one from the group came forward to give a big blow on the door and with his pressure, the door automatically opened. The house was dark from inside, which was causing difficulty for them to see anything inside. They again called Sarpanch sahib, but no sound, then they started calling vahini sahib (In Marathi, people call sister as “vahini), but still no voice. Now they started feeling something bad has happened. One from the group of farmers was carrying a match box. He at once lit a match stick and what they saw threw them back. Pool of blood was all over the floor and they could see 2 bodies lying in that pool of blood. Someone killed Sarpanch sahib by hitting on his head and vahini sahib, by cutting her throat. The whole scean was very gruesome. They kept her in the veranda, she could realize that there is something happened and started walking towards the group of farmers. Farmers were clueless, whether to let her see this in this condition or not, but she was stubborn and forced herself inside and stopped numbed. “Rekha looked at Tejas. She saw tears coming out of his eyes, and seeing this she gave a small smile. She touched his cheeks with her fingers. Tejas felt her fingers are very cold, colder than normal human body, but he didn’t have any botheration to it.
