HOME 
AWARDS 
30-06-2013, 11:52 AM
It was the end of June when our inter semester vacation began. I studied in a college in Bilashpur. My roommate, Ramesh, was from a village in Midnapur. His father was arich business man and owned many farmlands. Since my childhood, I hadan affinity of visiting villages and experience the village life. Unfortunately I could taste the essence of village life only once. So Ithought of visiting Ramesh's village.
"Ramesh, how would feel if I visit you village for a week after our examination?" I proposed.
The moment I gave this proposal, hegot excited and informed this to his father instantly. He gave me a vivid description of his village and we planned how to make the tour exciting.
"Ramesh please visit my house too for two days before we start our tour, as I need to prepare myself", I asked him on the last day of our examination. He agreed and we started our journey from my house after two days.
We boarded a train from Howrah and after four hours of our journey we reached his village, Nischindipur.Outside the station, an ambassador was waiting for us to arrive. After one hour of journey by the car we reached Ramesh's house. “This is Sumit.” Ramesh introduced me to his parents. They were very friendly and gave me a warm welcome.
A grand lunch was arranged for us. In the evening, Ramesh told, "Come let me show you my village."
"Sure", I replied.
He showed me their farmlands, ponds, mango plantations and several such things. When he was showing me the farmland, I noticed a mansion like house at a distance, which lacked maintenance. The house being two storied , I thought that this house surly belong to them as Ramesh’s family was the only family in that village who could afford such a magnificent house andthe chances of building the house byany outsider in that remote village is very little.
"Is that a guest house of yours?" I asked.
"No", he replied.
"It seems that the owner is a rich man"
"Yes, he is a very rich and well known money lender in our village. He lends money at a low interest but doesn't hesitate to torture the borrower if he doesn't get back his money on time."
"But why doesn't he look after the maintenance of such a beautiful house?"
"Maintain a haunted house!" Ramesh giggled and answered.
"If you have planned to frighten me,then your plan will go in vain.” I laughed and replied.
Ramesh became a bit serious and told, "I love jokes but this isn't a joke. The owner of this mansion is Mr. Hemanta Majhi. He used to stay in this house about 4 to 5 years back. He moved to this house after his marriage. His wife, Mrs. Indrani Majhi, was not native to our village. She belonged to a poor family but she was beautiful and attractive. Suddenly one day Mrs. Majhi got missing. Mr. Majhi filed a missing report in the police station but unfortunately even the police can't trace her till date. A few months later, Mr. Majhi became mentally unbalanced. We thought it might be due to the shock which he got for missing his beloved wife but he toldthat the house is cursed; if he stays there any longer then he would be driven mad by the peculiar and horrid sounds that he hears at night.Finally he left the house and settled in another village.”
“Is he the only one who had heard such noise?” I enquired.
“No, his servants and even the people staying near by the house have witnessed sounds of anklets and ornaments coming from the house at night.” Ramesh replied.
“Did he used to hear those sounds from the very first day he moved to the house?” I asked curiously.
“He claims that he noticed those sound after his wife went missing but before that he was unaware of it.” Ramesh replied.
“By the way didn’t he try to investigate the matter? It might such that some crooks might have made such sounds to frighten him and the other people so that they stay away from the house and the criminals can carry on with their illegal activities.” I commented.
“It’s all mystery. Neither the owner nor the villagers have ever tried to investigate into the matter. Moreover Mr. Majhi before leaving the house ordered the villagers to stay away from that hell and also declared that he would not be held responsible if something happens tothe trespassers.” Ramesh told.
Hearing all these I became a bit curious and thought of spending a night in that house. I told Ramesh about my plan. At first Ramesh was hesitating but after a few appealinghe agreed. He told of our plan to his farther after we returned home. His father was firm in his decision of notletting us to spend a night in that haunted house.
“Mr. Majhi had strictly ordered not toenter that house. If you stay there for a night and he come to know about this then he might complain to the police and make both of you arrest. Moreover if something happens to Sumit there then what will I say to his parents?” Ramesh’s father told him in a harsh voice.
Finally after long requests he agreed.
Next day I prepared myself for the adventure and waited for the night to fall. We packed our food and other essential items and started our journey to the house as the darkness spread so that nobody could notice us.
The main gate of the house was locked so we had to jump over the boundary wall to enter the house premises. We headed for the house and looked for an entrance. After some searching we found a ventilator which was big enough forus to enter the house. It was as darkas dungeon inside. It seemed that Mr. Majhi had ordered even the moon light to peep into his property.We lit a candle to drive away the darkness. The light showed that the rooms were heavily furnished. The furniture and the decoration of the house well proved that the owner was very rich and a man of good taste. Unfortunately the belongings had lost their beauty due to dust and spider web. We moved from one room to another but all were in same condition; damped and smelled horrible.
After exploring a portion of the house for an hour, we felt hungry. We cleaned a portion of the floor to make it fit to sit and have our dinnerthere. We were discussing about Nischindipur after completing the dinner and in a short time we felt sleepy.
“It seems that sleep has haunted us before the ghost of the house could ensure its presence”, I commented mockingly. Ramesh smiled. We laid two bed sheets on the floor and were fast asleep in no time.
Suddenly I felt a cold hand touching my shoulder. I woke up with a start and dumb with fear. I somehow gathered my courage and was about to shout when Ramesh cried out, “Sumit wake up” in a frightening tone and shook me vigorously. I felt quite relieved hearing his voice. His face was dull with fear.
“What’s the matter?” I asked him.
“Can’t you hear the sound of ankletsthat the villagers have witnessed?” he replied.
After a while, I heard the frightening sound. I was in cold sweat. I whispered, “Ramesh, we have had enough of adventure, nowmust leave the place at once.” We immediately ran for the ventilator, through which we had entered and somehow we managed to come out of the house. It seemed that the sound was following us and not let us cross the boundary wall.
We crossed the boundary wall and ran for our lives. When we were about to reach Ramesh’s house, the fearful darkness of the night was gone and the eastern sky was lit up. The birds started chirping. Now we felt relief. We sat under a tree and took some rest then washed our face with cold water from a pond to wash away our tiredness.
When we were on the way to Ramesh’s house, we met his father along with two other men.
”Are both of you fine?” he asked in atensed voice.
” Uncle we are fine. You need not to worry.” I replied.
“We need to go there once more to bring our belongings.” Ramesh added and kept everything secret ofwhat happened the last night.
“Thanks God you are safe. Now let us return home, have some food andthen you can go there to bring back the things that you have left there.” Ramesh father said in a relaxed tone.
We agreed and hurried home as both of us were very hungry after the long run.
We had a bath in the pond and by the time we returned the breakfast was ready. After having the breakfast, Ramesh suggested, “I think now we should go to the house to bring back the things we have left there.” Thinking for a moment I replied, “Okay but I’m not going to stay there for long.”
We left for the house and reached there in about half an hour. The house premises were calm and peaceful; nobody could believe that last night it was like hell. We crossed the boundary wall and headed for the ventilator through which we entered last night.
We entered the house. It was dark inside even during the day. I felt a bit shivered remembering the last night’s experience. We proceed for the belongings and packed them up.
“I’m felling curious to investigate the full house.” Ramesh told.
“Then do it fast, I don’t want to stay here after the sun set.” I answered.
We moved from one room to another and got a better view this time due to the sunlight. The rooms were extravagantly decorated. Finishing our investigation of the ground floor, we moved to the first floor. The first floor was of same design as that of the ground floor but the rooms were used in different purposes. Suddenly Ramesh noticed a locked room.
“Why is that door locked while others are open?” he asked me in a curious tone.
“There might be some treasure. Willyou help me to break the lock?” I replied.
Ramesh made no reply but went downstairs. He returned after sometime with a hair pin in his hand. “Now wait and watch” he replied like an expert. He bent the pin in a shape and inserted it in the key hole. The lock opened as if it were open using its key.
“Where did you get the pin?” I asked.
“Found it on the dressing table downstairs.” he answered.
The door opened with a cracking noise and a pungent foul smell rushed out of the room. The room was not much furnished. It seemed that it was a study room. There was a table at a corner with a few booksand envelops on it, a trunk beside it,few cardboard boxes, a cupboard onthe opposite side but nothing seemed to be precious or mysterious for which the owner should have locked the room.
We entered and walked towards the table. Ramesh again got busy to open the trunk, kept beside the table. I picked up an envelope from the table and looked inside; there was nothing but some white powder. Then I opened a book kept on the table and read its title, “A Handbook on Drugs”. I went through some of the pages and found that the book describes aboutpoisonous drugs and how they affect human health.
Meanwhile Ramesh opened the trunk and shout with fear, “O my God! What is this?” I ran towards him and looked inside the trunk. There was a human body covered by salt, half dried and half rotten. We felt like vomiting and rushed out of the room.
” We must inform this to the police.” I suggested. Ramesh agreed.
The police arrived to the spot in no time and took the body for postmortem. Mr. Majhi was also arrested and taken to the police station. The postmortem report revealed that the victim was none other than Mrs. Majhi. Forensic reports revealed that the white powder in the envelope was a deadly drug. Mr. Majhi was severely interrogated by the police about theincident and finally Mr. Majhi revealed the truth.
“I had no feeling towards Indrani. She was below the dignity of my status. Her father took a loan of Rs. 1.5 lakh for farming and promised to pay it back after two harvests buthe paid only a small amount. In order to create a pressure on him, I married his daughter and threatened him that I’ll torture Indrani if he does not return my money within the next harvest. But that old man himself left the earth within a week of the marriage. Then Indrani was of no use to me. Kill her was the only way left for meto get rid of her. I tortured her inhumanly and also started slow poisoning her. She couldn’t tolerate those for long and gave up her life in a short time. After that I hid her body with salt in the trunk and left the house giving the excuse that thehouse was haunted so that nobody could ever come to know about the murder. I also filed a missing report in the police station so that the police would also remain busy reaching for her and never suspect me or make a searching in my house”, he said.
The inspector uttered, “He had really planned well. We had once inspected his house but never thought that something could happen like this.”
We were on our way to home when I suddenly remembered of the sound of the anklet and told Ramesh of it. We hurried back to thepolice station and informed about it to the inspector.
”Yes, I have heard about it but not sure whether the house is really haunted or it is another trick of Mr. Majhi”, the inspector replied.
”We can ask him about it.” Ramesh told.
“Sorry, we have moved him to another police station”, the inspector replied. ”But we can find out tonight”, he added.
“We would also like to join your team when you will be there tonight”, I requested.
“Alright you can join us but be careful”, he answered.
We went to the house after sun set and found that a group of four guards along with the inspector hadalready reached the spot. They were equipped with guns, two dogs and powerful torches. We joined them and entered the house. Inside the house it was pitch dark as before moreover the glowing eyes of the dogs made the atmosphere scarier this time. We waited there for nearly two hours to hear the sound but nothing was heard.
”Seems like the sprit has left the house as its murderer has been caught”, I told Ramesh.
“It seems so”, Ramesh replied.
Suddenly a faint sound of the ankletfilled the air. We got alert at once. Slowly the intensity increased and we felt that someone was walking in the very room in which we were present. However this time we felt less frightened as the policemen were with us to accompany. We tried to track the sound to find it source. It seemed that somebody was walking on the first floor. Whenwe reached the first floor the sound stopped completely. We moved from one room to another to check whether the sound is made by someperson, who has stopped it feeling our presence.
When our group was near the room, from which the dead body was found, again the sound was heard and this time it was much louder. It seemed that the noise was coming from that very room. I felt a cold air passed by me. I was in cold sweat. Ramesh and even the guard were cold with fear, yet the approached the door which was closed. I was at the end of the group. The inspector ordered the guard to be ready for action and he slowly opened the door. A beam of moonlight entered the room through a broken window so the room was a bit lit up. The sound was still there and in that faint moonlight I saw something like a black furry cloth is flying in the air. I felt dizzy out of fear. The dogs started barking at it; and that black thing also started screaming at us. The moment Ramesh heard the scream, he jumped at it. The horrid noise of the anklet was stopped. The guards focused the touch at it. We all were mummed. It was nothing but a big black owl.
“How could you make out in the faint light that it is an owl and jumped at it?” I asked Ramesh in a shaky voice.
“The sound that it has made is familiar to me so I was easily able to make out that it was no sprit but surly an owl.” Ramesh replied with a smile.
We examined the bird and found that an anklet was skillfully tied in the owl’s leg. It was now crystal clear that this very task was also of Mr. Majhi. He did this just to create a ghostly atmosphere around the house and his dirty secrets would remain bury as no one would ever dare to visit the ‘haunted’ house.
The dark mystery was solved.
"Ramesh, how would feel if I visit you village for a week after our examination?" I proposed.
The moment I gave this proposal, hegot excited and informed this to his father instantly. He gave me a vivid description of his village and we planned how to make the tour exciting.
"Ramesh please visit my house too for two days before we start our tour, as I need to prepare myself", I asked him on the last day of our examination. He agreed and we started our journey from my house after two days.
We boarded a train from Howrah and after four hours of our journey we reached his village, Nischindipur.Outside the station, an ambassador was waiting for us to arrive. After one hour of journey by the car we reached Ramesh's house. “This is Sumit.” Ramesh introduced me to his parents. They were very friendly and gave me a warm welcome.
A grand lunch was arranged for us. In the evening, Ramesh told, "Come let me show you my village."
"Sure", I replied.
He showed me their farmlands, ponds, mango plantations and several such things. When he was showing me the farmland, I noticed a mansion like house at a distance, which lacked maintenance. The house being two storied , I thought that this house surly belong to them as Ramesh’s family was the only family in that village who could afford such a magnificent house andthe chances of building the house byany outsider in that remote village is very little.
"Is that a guest house of yours?" I asked.
"No", he replied.
"It seems that the owner is a rich man"
"Yes, he is a very rich and well known money lender in our village. He lends money at a low interest but doesn't hesitate to torture the borrower if he doesn't get back his money on time."
"But why doesn't he look after the maintenance of such a beautiful house?"
"Maintain a haunted house!" Ramesh giggled and answered.
"If you have planned to frighten me,then your plan will go in vain.” I laughed and replied.
Ramesh became a bit serious and told, "I love jokes but this isn't a joke. The owner of this mansion is Mr. Hemanta Majhi. He used to stay in this house about 4 to 5 years back. He moved to this house after his marriage. His wife, Mrs. Indrani Majhi, was not native to our village. She belonged to a poor family but she was beautiful and attractive. Suddenly one day Mrs. Majhi got missing. Mr. Majhi filed a missing report in the police station but unfortunately even the police can't trace her till date. A few months later, Mr. Majhi became mentally unbalanced. We thought it might be due to the shock which he got for missing his beloved wife but he toldthat the house is cursed; if he stays there any longer then he would be driven mad by the peculiar and horrid sounds that he hears at night.Finally he left the house and settled in another village.”
“Is he the only one who had heard such noise?” I enquired.
“No, his servants and even the people staying near by the house have witnessed sounds of anklets and ornaments coming from the house at night.” Ramesh replied.
“Did he used to hear those sounds from the very first day he moved to the house?” I asked curiously.
“He claims that he noticed those sound after his wife went missing but before that he was unaware of it.” Ramesh replied.
“By the way didn’t he try to investigate the matter? It might such that some crooks might have made such sounds to frighten him and the other people so that they stay away from the house and the criminals can carry on with their illegal activities.” I commented.
“It’s all mystery. Neither the owner nor the villagers have ever tried to investigate into the matter. Moreover Mr. Majhi before leaving the house ordered the villagers to stay away from that hell and also declared that he would not be held responsible if something happens tothe trespassers.” Ramesh told.
Hearing all these I became a bit curious and thought of spending a night in that house. I told Ramesh about my plan. At first Ramesh was hesitating but after a few appealinghe agreed. He told of our plan to his farther after we returned home. His father was firm in his decision of notletting us to spend a night in that haunted house.
“Mr. Majhi had strictly ordered not toenter that house. If you stay there for a night and he come to know about this then he might complain to the police and make both of you arrest. Moreover if something happens to Sumit there then what will I say to his parents?” Ramesh’s father told him in a harsh voice.
Finally after long requests he agreed.
Next day I prepared myself for the adventure and waited for the night to fall. We packed our food and other essential items and started our journey to the house as the darkness spread so that nobody could notice us.
The main gate of the house was locked so we had to jump over the boundary wall to enter the house premises. We headed for the house and looked for an entrance. After some searching we found a ventilator which was big enough forus to enter the house. It was as darkas dungeon inside. It seemed that Mr. Majhi had ordered even the moon light to peep into his property.We lit a candle to drive away the darkness. The light showed that the rooms were heavily furnished. The furniture and the decoration of the house well proved that the owner was very rich and a man of good taste. Unfortunately the belongings had lost their beauty due to dust and spider web. We moved from one room to another but all were in same condition; damped and smelled horrible.
After exploring a portion of the house for an hour, we felt hungry. We cleaned a portion of the floor to make it fit to sit and have our dinnerthere. We were discussing about Nischindipur after completing the dinner and in a short time we felt sleepy.
“It seems that sleep has haunted us before the ghost of the house could ensure its presence”, I commented mockingly. Ramesh smiled. We laid two bed sheets on the floor and were fast asleep in no time.
Suddenly I felt a cold hand touching my shoulder. I woke up with a start and dumb with fear. I somehow gathered my courage and was about to shout when Ramesh cried out, “Sumit wake up” in a frightening tone and shook me vigorously. I felt quite relieved hearing his voice. His face was dull with fear.
“What’s the matter?” I asked him.
“Can’t you hear the sound of ankletsthat the villagers have witnessed?” he replied.
After a while, I heard the frightening sound. I was in cold sweat. I whispered, “Ramesh, we have had enough of adventure, nowmust leave the place at once.” We immediately ran for the ventilator, through which we had entered and somehow we managed to come out of the house. It seemed that the sound was following us and not let us cross the boundary wall.
We crossed the boundary wall and ran for our lives. When we were about to reach Ramesh’s house, the fearful darkness of the night was gone and the eastern sky was lit up. The birds started chirping. Now we felt relief. We sat under a tree and took some rest then washed our face with cold water from a pond to wash away our tiredness.
When we were on the way to Ramesh’s house, we met his father along with two other men.
”Are both of you fine?” he asked in atensed voice.
” Uncle we are fine. You need not to worry.” I replied.
“We need to go there once more to bring our belongings.” Ramesh added and kept everything secret ofwhat happened the last night.
“Thanks God you are safe. Now let us return home, have some food andthen you can go there to bring back the things that you have left there.” Ramesh father said in a relaxed tone.
We agreed and hurried home as both of us were very hungry after the long run.
We had a bath in the pond and by the time we returned the breakfast was ready. After having the breakfast, Ramesh suggested, “I think now we should go to the house to bring back the things we have left there.” Thinking for a moment I replied, “Okay but I’m not going to stay there for long.”
We left for the house and reached there in about half an hour. The house premises were calm and peaceful; nobody could believe that last night it was like hell. We crossed the boundary wall and headed for the ventilator through which we entered last night.
We entered the house. It was dark inside even during the day. I felt a bit shivered remembering the last night’s experience. We proceed for the belongings and packed them up.
“I’m felling curious to investigate the full house.” Ramesh told.
“Then do it fast, I don’t want to stay here after the sun set.” I answered.
We moved from one room to another and got a better view this time due to the sunlight. The rooms were extravagantly decorated. Finishing our investigation of the ground floor, we moved to the first floor. The first floor was of same design as that of the ground floor but the rooms were used in different purposes. Suddenly Ramesh noticed a locked room.
“Why is that door locked while others are open?” he asked me in a curious tone.
“There might be some treasure. Willyou help me to break the lock?” I replied.
Ramesh made no reply but went downstairs. He returned after sometime with a hair pin in his hand. “Now wait and watch” he replied like an expert. He bent the pin in a shape and inserted it in the key hole. The lock opened as if it were open using its key.
“Where did you get the pin?” I asked.
“Found it on the dressing table downstairs.” he answered.
The door opened with a cracking noise and a pungent foul smell rushed out of the room. The room was not much furnished. It seemed that it was a study room. There was a table at a corner with a few booksand envelops on it, a trunk beside it,few cardboard boxes, a cupboard onthe opposite side but nothing seemed to be precious or mysterious for which the owner should have locked the room.
We entered and walked towards the table. Ramesh again got busy to open the trunk, kept beside the table. I picked up an envelope from the table and looked inside; there was nothing but some white powder. Then I opened a book kept on the table and read its title, “A Handbook on Drugs”. I went through some of the pages and found that the book describes aboutpoisonous drugs and how they affect human health.
Meanwhile Ramesh opened the trunk and shout with fear, “O my God! What is this?” I ran towards him and looked inside the trunk. There was a human body covered by salt, half dried and half rotten. We felt like vomiting and rushed out of the room.
” We must inform this to the police.” I suggested. Ramesh agreed.
The police arrived to the spot in no time and took the body for postmortem. Mr. Majhi was also arrested and taken to the police station. The postmortem report revealed that the victim was none other than Mrs. Majhi. Forensic reports revealed that the white powder in the envelope was a deadly drug. Mr. Majhi was severely interrogated by the police about theincident and finally Mr. Majhi revealed the truth.
“I had no feeling towards Indrani. She was below the dignity of my status. Her father took a loan of Rs. 1.5 lakh for farming and promised to pay it back after two harvests buthe paid only a small amount. In order to create a pressure on him, I married his daughter and threatened him that I’ll torture Indrani if he does not return my money within the next harvest. But that old man himself left the earth within a week of the marriage. Then Indrani was of no use to me. Kill her was the only way left for meto get rid of her. I tortured her inhumanly and also started slow poisoning her. She couldn’t tolerate those for long and gave up her life in a short time. After that I hid her body with salt in the trunk and left the house giving the excuse that thehouse was haunted so that nobody could ever come to know about the murder. I also filed a missing report in the police station so that the police would also remain busy reaching for her and never suspect me or make a searching in my house”, he said.
The inspector uttered, “He had really planned well. We had once inspected his house but never thought that something could happen like this.”
We were on our way to home when I suddenly remembered of the sound of the anklet and told Ramesh of it. We hurried back to thepolice station and informed about it to the inspector.
”Yes, I have heard about it but not sure whether the house is really haunted or it is another trick of Mr. Majhi”, the inspector replied.
”We can ask him about it.” Ramesh told.
“Sorry, we have moved him to another police station”, the inspector replied. ”But we can find out tonight”, he added.
“We would also like to join your team when you will be there tonight”, I requested.
“Alright you can join us but be careful”, he answered.
We went to the house after sun set and found that a group of four guards along with the inspector hadalready reached the spot. They were equipped with guns, two dogs and powerful torches. We joined them and entered the house. Inside the house it was pitch dark as before moreover the glowing eyes of the dogs made the atmosphere scarier this time. We waited there for nearly two hours to hear the sound but nothing was heard.
”Seems like the sprit has left the house as its murderer has been caught”, I told Ramesh.
“It seems so”, Ramesh replied.
Suddenly a faint sound of the ankletfilled the air. We got alert at once. Slowly the intensity increased and we felt that someone was walking in the very room in which we were present. However this time we felt less frightened as the policemen were with us to accompany. We tried to track the sound to find it source. It seemed that somebody was walking on the first floor. Whenwe reached the first floor the sound stopped completely. We moved from one room to another to check whether the sound is made by someperson, who has stopped it feeling our presence.
When our group was near the room, from which the dead body was found, again the sound was heard and this time it was much louder. It seemed that the noise was coming from that very room. I felt a cold air passed by me. I was in cold sweat. Ramesh and even the guard were cold with fear, yet the approached the door which was closed. I was at the end of the group. The inspector ordered the guard to be ready for action and he slowly opened the door. A beam of moonlight entered the room through a broken window so the room was a bit lit up. The sound was still there and in that faint moonlight I saw something like a black furry cloth is flying in the air. I felt dizzy out of fear. The dogs started barking at it; and that black thing also started screaming at us. The moment Ramesh heard the scream, he jumped at it. The horrid noise of the anklet was stopped. The guards focused the touch at it. We all were mummed. It was nothing but a big black owl.
“How could you make out in the faint light that it is an owl and jumped at it?” I asked Ramesh in a shaky voice.
“The sound that it has made is familiar to me so I was easily able to make out that it was no sprit but surly an owl.” Ramesh replied with a smile.
We examined the bird and found that an anklet was skillfully tied in the owl’s leg. It was now crystal clear that this very task was also of Mr. Majhi. He did this just to create a ghostly atmosphere around the house and his dirty secrets would remain bury as no one would ever dare to visit the ‘haunted’ house.
The dark mystery was solved.
