Tushar, Sinchana, and Suditi were at Ketan s ancient village house , far away from modern cities, not just geographically but in terms of civilization as well. There was no other family living close by, except for the old caretaker of the house and his family. From the front porch green fields were to be seen as far as sight goes, with a pond in the field to provide fresh water to the house as well as the field. They have had a great day going through the fields and playing in the pond the whole day. Now was the time to relax. They were in front of the house around the camp fire eating fresh fruits after an early tasty dinner. Ketan was telling them stories about their village.
“Ketan this is getting boring. Why don’t you tell the girls the story that you told me few days ago.” said Tushar.
“Which story?” asked Ketan.
“Inchara’s story. That would make the night interesting.” said Tushar with a wicked grin.
Ketan had a ‘lost’ look on his face for sometime but then he realized that Tushar was up to some prank now, and he did not wish to miss the fun so he said “you know the whole story and you are a better narrator than I am, so why don’t you go ahead and tell them the story? But please don’t scare them. It remains very silent here during the nights and any small hustle here will scare the girls after you are done with the story.”
“Hey we are not scared ok!! And I don’t believe in ghosts. So you can carry on with your story even it has something with ghosts.” said Sinchana although Suditi was appeared to be a bit scared she did not want to make it public, so she nodded in assertion with Sinchana.
“Don’t worry it is not exactly a scary story. It is a love story. It is a story about Inchara and Ninaad.” said Tushar.
“wow nice name. Inchara and Ninaad. Both were made for each other.” This pacified Suditi a bit. And then Tushar started his animated narration of the story
“This is a story of two simple people, Inchara and Ninaad and their extra ordinary love. There is no rich-poor, higher cast- lower cast, black-white problem in this story. Also there is no sadistic villains in this story trying to rip the two lovers apart. This is but just a simple story of two simple and “meant to be together” people. It is hard to believe that lovers like them existed when there were no ‘sms’, ‘emal’ or messenger services available. They knew each other so well that they actually did not require any such service. Since the time they fell in love, (that would be since the time they met each other) this village had not seen a day when the two lovers did not meet each other. Their story was a secret, but the whole village knew it! There was no man (boy actually) as brave and as patriotic as Ninaad. And of course to Ninaad no one was as charming and as natural as Inchara. Ninaad was not from this village. He was from the neighboring village. His father was a vaidya(doctor) and Ninaad collected medicinal plants and roots from him, from the nearby forest, everyday.”
“The forest… house to so many beautiful and deadly animals, and thus attracting many poachers. The villagers did not approve this. For years they had lived in harmony with the forest, their forest, and now when some strangers were trying to disturb this balance just for money. They started laying traps to catch the poachers and kick them out of their peaceful home. One day Inchara ventured into the forest with her friends to collect some fruits and flowers. She was lost and beauty of the forest, and it was very late when she realized that she was really lost and away from her friends, and the next thing she knew was that the trap laid for the poacher s found her.”
“This is where our story really starts. Inchara was fit for her name. Her voice was indeed sweet. Nothing more is required to attract the attention of a young man who has been roaming in the forest the whole day. Ninaad!! He found her and released her from the trap, and explained her who the trap was meant for. Since she did not know the way back he offered to escort her back to her village (of course he just wanted to spend more time with her, and since he had a good reason he knew she would not reject his offer). From that day onwards they started meeting each other every day.”
“Everything was going on well. Both were happy with each other. But…. (there always has to be a “but”). Ninaad was very patriotic. And it was time for him to do something. Ninaad decided to get himself involved into the “Quit India Movement”. He would be away for days. Ninaad had warned Inchara about this day and had prepared her well for the day. Yet when the day came there were tears in her eyes. So Ninaad said ‘I will definitely come back for you. I will never leave this world until I come back here and see you again. Now send me with a smile and wish me good luck.’ and left with her memories”
“Days passed by and Inchara heard very little from Ninaad. And when his news came to the village Inchara was only a “portrait with garland”, hanging on the wall of her house. She died of a disease which the local doctor could not find a cure in time. But the news about Ninaad was not a happy one either. He was cruelly killed by the English in a protest. Thus his promise remained unfulfilled. But Ninaad had always been a man of his words. He is still keeping up his promise. He has still not left this earth although his body no longer exists. He still moves around the places where the two young lovers used to spend their time. To this day, after more than 50 years, he can be seen sometimes. In the forest by the poachers, who are scared to death of him. Innocent kids who get lost venturing into the forest tell that he led them out.”
Now came the wicked grin on Tushar s face “Many people have spotted him. And if you are lucky you will be able to spot him.”
Now Suditi was scared, and if Sinchana was scared she was doing a very act of well hiding it.
It was midnight now. The days adventure, roaming about, playing in the field had made the 4 friends tired. They were in their bed, and had called the day off couple of hours ago. But Suditi was still awake, unable to sleep. Ninaad s thoughts were tormenting her mind. And to make things worse she was sleeping next to the window. The moon light was playing on field and the pond was trying to spread moon light by reflecting it. There was a trace of mist over the pond. A deer stood by the pond.
“Oh no it is not a deer it is a dog.” Every flutter of leaves could be distinctly heard. In this pleasant, peaceful night only Suditi s mind had not been at peace. And in all the years that they knew each other, the boys never missed an opportunity to scare her. But after looking outside for quite some time her heart rate was back to normal, and she went back to sleep.
There was a gust of wind and suddenly a dog started barking. It was like pebble dropped on a calm water surface. From within moments everything changed. Dogs which until now never appeared to be existent started baking. They appeared to have some unknown sense of signal, on receiving which every dog starts barking. It was like a chain reaction. Although it was not much noise it was sufficient to put Suditi in an upright position next to the window. When she peeped outside the view of the pond was blurred by the mist. Next moment she noticed someone sitting next to the pond. And his head slowly turned towards her. This pressed the panic button of Suditi s system. She woke Sinchana up and took her to the window. Sinchana saw the figure walk towards them. She could not see the face properly. Only the outline could be seen. It took few steps, the mist intensified and then suddenly the figure was nowhere to be seen. Sinchana had a very tough time convincing Suditi that it might just be someone taking care of the farm. Suditi was bent on believing that it was Ninaad. But finally Sinchana succeeded to pacify Suditi and made her go back to sleep.
In the morning Suditi s face clearly said her last night s sleepless story. Sinchana was in a better state compared to Suditi but even from her had a similar story to tell. They told the boys their last night s experience. Sinchana noticed expression on Tushar s face and guessed that he was up to some prank and did not want to spoil it. She thought of playing along with the boys.
“Suditi you must really have seen Ninaad. You are so lucky to see a real patriot and a real lover. But such a shame that he left before you could take his autograph!!” said Tushar.
Suditi s face was worth watching. “Suditi why are you so much upset? After all Ninaad has not harmed anyone in the village. Calm down. I don’t believe in ghosts. But even if the story was indeed true we are not yet sure if that was indeed Ninaad, it might have been just another worker guarding the field.” Said Sinchana trying her best to comfort her poor friend who looked like a poor kitten confronted by a dog for the first time in its life.
“Or may be that was indeed Ninaad, and may be he was coming towards you because you are Inchara reborn.” said Tushar.
“Oh stop it Tushar. Give her a break. Calm down Suditi. I don’t believe in the story either. It might really be just a worker.” said Ketan, knowing that she was waiting for him to say that.
Tushar was about to say something, but after the glaring look that Sinchana gave him he didn’t dare to give voice to his thoughts.
By evening last night’s event was forgotten. They were again tired of the day s adventure and were dizzy after a good night s dinner. The weather had been pleasant that day. And now mist was getting thicker. The night was quiet as the last one. Suditi was not completely at rest. Sinchana took Suditi’s place next to the window hoping that it would help her sleep better. She knew that the last night s events might repeat and wanted to dig into it.
At around midnight only fluttering of the leaves could be heard. And the same events repeated - A dog barking and few other dogs catching up. Sinchana woke up and peeped outside the window. And saw a figure sit near the pond…
She stormed out of her room to the front yard to see who that really was. The figure was now facing her. It was slowly coming towards her. She could make out the features more clearly now. It was quite weird since “he” did not appear to walk. He was more like drifting towards her. Now Suditi was standing few feet behind her. Suddenly the figure stopped, tilted its head, took its hand up slowly. Suditi was tensed now. Sinchana too was stiffening up. Then the figure waived its hands in a way to say good bye and disappeared into thin air.
Suditi gave a scream. Sinchana now had lost her patience. She ran towards the place where the figure stood before.
“Stop it guys, come out I know you both are behind this. There s a limit for everything. One night is fine. It was kind of fun to scare someone but repeating the samething again is not fun. It is disgusting. Come out. Suditi is really upset. I expected Tushar to do something like this, but never expected this from you Ketan. Come out and show yourselves."
There was no movement or sound. Sinchana was scared by a gentle tap on her shoulder. She turned back to find Tushar, Ketan and Suditi.
“you were in the field, how did you get behind me?” asked Sinchana.
“We were at home, and came running when you started shouting. What s wrong? What happened?” asked Ketan.
“Stop it Ketan!! I know it was you guys. It was like last night s events being repeated all over again, except for that drifting part. Confess it.”
“Ok Sinchana, like you said, last night it was us. But I don’t know what you are talking about today. We were deep asleep when we heard you shout. Everyone woke up. We just convinced them that it s just a dream. It might be a dream after all!! You were tired, may be you imagined someone today.” Said Tushar.
“No guys, even I saw it. He was floating, Ninaad. And then he stood there and waived his hands, kind of good bye and vanished.” said Suditi.
“Ok. This is it. If you girls are trying to play our own trick on us, it s not going to work, ok? There is no Ninaad. Tushar made it all up. Just to have some fun. So you can stop this nonsense and come back home and sleep. I am really tired today.” said Ketan.
“What!!! You made up the whole story? Why did you do that? Then who did we see today?” asked Suditi, with a mixture a of fear and anger.
Ketan was about to open his mouth in protest when Sinchana cut him out.
“No Ketan. I am really serious. I saw him. If you really made up this story then who was that?”asked Sinchana.
“I don’t know and I don’t care. I am sleepy now. I want to sleep. Please get inside. We can discuss this tomorrow. I will talk to the Muniyappa, he has been here for ages, he stays awake during nights and might have seen what really happened. But for now let us get in please. Else everyone at home will worry.” said Ketan and forced them all back home.
Next morning they went to Muniyappa s shed, told him about the last night s incident and asked him if he knew anything about who was in the field last night.
He took a deep breath and said “It must be Ninaad” and narrated the exact story that was told by Tushar.
Sinchana hit Tushar hard in the ribs and indicated him to come out of the shed with her. “Now have you included the old man into your prank? Stop it Tushar. I know it s you guys. I do not know how you managed to do that gliding thing last night, but this is no more funny. Poor Suditi, she is really scared now. I was partially able to see the face last night, I recognized you last night. Now stop this game.”
Tushar was awestruck. “You are partially right Sinchana. First time it was me. I just walked for a while and when mist increased a bit I jumped into a small ditch. That s how it appeared to you both that I disappeared. But last night it really was neither me nor Ketan. All this while when the old man was narrating the story I thought you pulled him into this, make him tell our own story and scare us, since we know that I made up that story, and even now I suspect you to have done that.”
By the time they were all coming out of his shed, sinchana said “Oh I see. We will find out about it tonight. I guess we will see him tonight as well.”
“No you wont see him tonight, or any night actually. No one will ever see him again. He had promised Inchara that he would not leave this world until he sees her again. And tonight he saw her. The promise is fulfilled. You look like Inchara”, the old man said looking at Sinchana. Everything came to quiet stop.
P.S: Thanks to Shinu for the name "Ninaad". I always keep bothering him for names
