Pursuit of a Bhoot

Living in the valleys of mighty Himalayas has its own charm. And I spent four precious years of my life in the foothills of Himalayas studying (now this may be an exaggeration) Engineering. My father still maintains that NIT Hamirpur boasts of one of the most picturesque campuses in the country. He stayed there for two days and me for 4 years. However, Hamirpur as a small, sleepy town would be off the tourist trail of many visiting Himachal. It is the headquarters of one of the largest and most literate district of Himachal and still is not as ‘urbanized’ as many would want it to be. And expectedly the avenues of entertainment would be limited. Thus, once a group of ‘First Years’ were done with the ‘charms’ of visiting the town (read: roaming freely on roads away from seniors; eating ‘Mommos’, ‘Samosas’ & ‘Jalebis’; eyeing beautiful local girls & watching movies in the local ‘Video Halls’) they had no other option than to sit together and enjoy (This was mostly the state of affairs till the fag end of second year when most brought in their computers and got engrossed in the magic of the ‘Desktop’).

One of the ways we used to pass our time was by sharing stories – our favourite genre would invariably be ‘Horror’. One of the interesting aspects of living in the foothills is that you will be exposed to various legends about ‘Ghosts’ (Pret/ Aatma whatever you would want to name them). The elders of the town/ college would advise us against venturing out alone in dark (less to do with their fear of us being attacked by wild animals and more to do with their belief that Supernatural elements do exist and would hurt someone if certain limit is crossed). We respected their concerns and at the same time were more than willing to explore the ‘Unexplored’. This is not to suggest that I am a ‘Braveheart’ – I am not and I never was. But at that time there was a child like curiosity to get to know more about the ‘World of Bhoots (Ghosts)’. So, we would have many story sessions (especially after dark) that would entirely concentrate on the ‘supernaturals’. I now realize that if I compile all the stories that I have heard during my stay at Hamirpur, I can come up with an engrossing novel.

However, this would not delve into any one of those stories. This account would just be a reflection of our immaturity, enthusiasm and probably stupidity to some extent at that point in time.

There was a soft knock on the door. I noticed it and ignored it. Who would want to come out of his quilt in the cold of the night (almost 2 am in a December night) just to satisfy the muse of one of his wingies on his way to visit lavatory? Further, I was glued to a thriller novel and was at an interesting stage of the story. ‘No way I’m going to open this door’, I thought. However, after few moments, the intensity of the knocks started to gain momentum and strength. I could hear my name being called and could sense some kind urgency in the voices. My roommates’, who were already fast asleep, were disturbed by this kind of sound and urged me to resolve the issue at the earliest so that they could sleep in peace. I had no other choice but to leave the comforts of the quilt.

Three of my batchmates who were visibly excited greeted me at the door. ‘We knew you would be awake’, Toad said excitedly. Toad was the name given by us to a very endearing and animated character of our batch.

‘What’s the matter?’

‘I think, we have seen a ghost. We are going out to check. Are you in?’ said Ram.

‘Okay. But how do you know, it’s a ghost?’

‘Are, it was almost 10 feet tall wearing an overcoat. We saw it from our window. Now don’t waste time. We will miss it. It has gone towards the Admin block.’

And that was it. The search party of four ran out of the hostel in order to look for a claimed ‘Bhoot’. We were moving in the direction of Admin block and were looking at every possible turn where he could have slipped away in the darkness of the surrounding jungles.

‘Are you sure, we are after a ghost?’ I asked.

‘110%’, said Ram. ‘No human being can be that tall. Further its movement was not characteristically human.’

‘Meaning?’

‘I mean it seemed to be gliding in the air.’

‘Ramu. You are out of your mind.’

‘May be. But these two have also seen that.’ On this the other two nodded in agreement.

We had reached a dark corner. None of the next three streetlights were working and we weren’t even carrying a torch. And suddenly, a sense of fear gripped all of us.

‘Should we go ahead?’ I asked.

There was apprehension in everyone’s mind.

‘If we have come till here then we will go ahead as well.’ said Billa, the most daring of us all.

So we moved ahead with a heady mix of excitement, fear and thrill. As the light of the next streetlight came within reach, we took a sigh of relief. The pace has picked up and we were at a crossroad – one went towards the Admin block, other towards Library while the last one meandered towards the Computer Science Department. The one towards library was not even lit properly. We decided to split. I chose the well lit CSED road but there was a ‘Catch’. I had heard stories that the place next to it was haunted. The lit road was the only consolation. The other three split and went in the other two directions.

After a brief search we met back at the crossroad. None of us had any success in spotting the ‘Bhoot’.

‘We were so close in unraveling a long standing mystery.’ said Ram.

‘All this for nothing’, were the words of Toad.

‘At least we had fun’ said Billa.

As I came to the terms that the entire exploit was a wasted exercise, I realized that I was out in the cold December night with only a T-shirt to protect my upper half. The rush of adrenalin which kept me charged all this time was long gone and I suddenly felt cold. I was shivering and Toad noticed it. He passed me his shawl and we made our way back to the hostel. I went to my room and found comfort in the warmth of my quilt. I did not touch that novel. The ‘Pursuit of the Bhoot’ gave me a ‘High’ that would not be given by the thrill of any book.