Ghosts and their Children.

4. We are here for you!

His legs and hands were tied firmly to the bed as Amit cried in an old woman’s tone.It was 2 hours 50 minutes since he was tied  by Prakash, Aarti and Kumar. There was no Amit in Amit anymore. All one could see was the unsatisfied crying voice of Kumar’s grandma. Amit was possessed, or at least it seemed like.

“Get me some water” ordered the doctor. Aarti ran in. It was not the first time this happened. Amit dressed up in Grandma’s green saree, wore all her ornaments and walked across the whole house giggling and talking to himself. Such was the severity of the issue, that Prakash now stayed at Kumar’s place. He had to.

It started with the possession and ended with the doctor’s violent protests against the spirit’s demands in that closed room. The couple was now fed up.

Aarti came in running with the water bottle. The doctor now seemed to have total control over Amit and shouted at him.

“Tell me your name?”

Amit started giggling and looked at Kumar.

“Kumar beta yeh sab kya hai?”

The doctor slapped Amit. Aarti crumpled the bedsheet with her hands. The boy started crying.

“Tell me your name?”

“Renuka Devi, see my jewellery, see.. “ Amit tried to show the doctor his necklace.

Prakash now could not resist. He ordered the couple to move out of the room and locked the door.

15 Mins Later

“See Kumar, Amit’s mind right now is totally disturbed by the facts of this house and that has made a permanent damage to his memory. He will not lead a normal life ever, as long as he sees you, because you are Renuka Devi’s grandson. As a doctor my duty is to give you a solution here and since he is adopted I think you should leave him back to the place from where he was picked up”

That made Aarti cry. She looked at Kumar with overflowing motherhood but that was not going to help. Kumar had to decide. He did.

“Okay doctor, I will do it.”

“In that case let me, help you do it” said the doctor. Kumar agreed.

The trio drove with Amit back to Dharma Anathashrama.The doctor had his own car. Kumar carried out the formalities and thanked Prakash for his help.

“No problem Kumar, I’m glad helped. One last thing, can you tell me where is the loo here?” asked Prakash smiling.

“Oh!there. Straight and second right” replied Kumar.

“Thanks! see you! And take care Aarti” said the doctor.

Kumar and Aarti left. Prakash went straight but took the first right. Kumar and Aarti started their vehicle. Prakash went in, opened a door and closed it tightly. Kumar accelerated. Prakash whistled and 3 men appeared.

“How much is it?” said one of the guys. He was bald and he was Deen Sankar, the the person who ran the Ashrama.

“4 necklaces, 5 bangles and a jhumka” said somebody in an old woman kind of voice. It was Amit. He was hugging the doctor. The Doctor hugged him.

“Must be around 80 lakhs. Amit deserves more for all the slaps that I gave and for making sure he wore the jewellery everytime I came to steal a piece behind that closed door!”

Somewhere far Kumar and Aarti cried. Somewhere far 4 men laughed. As the gates of the Ashrama opened again, a couple came in.

“We are looking to adopt.”

“We are here for you.”

Ghosts and their Children.

Chapter 3: Grandpa is waiting.


At 2:00 AM on a frightening night in Kupnur 3 distinct voices were heard. A man screaming, a woman screaming and an old woman laughing. The couple ran down. The voices from the top floor now stopped. Kumar reached for the switch and put the bulb on.

Aarti hid her face in Kumar’s chest as he slowly moved towards the staircase again.

Suddenly they heard a boy cried somewhere far.

“Maa, where are you, Maa...” The voice was from their bedroom. It was Amit’s. Aarti hesitated, but Kumar went in. He switched on the bulb in the bedroom. Amit looked at Kumar from the corner of the bed. He had that same innocent look. Kumar went and hugged Amit. He was cold. Aarti followed.

“Where were you people? I got so scared.” said Amit rubbing his eyes vigorously as he tried to wake up. Aarti was shocked and silent.

“There was a cat in the kitchen Amit, we were there” said Kumar, but Amit abruptly spoke out, cutting him, “Ok. Maa why are you standing there? Can we sleep?”

Something was wrong. Amit spoke as if he never got out of the bed, as if he never climbed the staircase, as if he never giggled at his great Grandma. Something was definitely wrong.

3 Nights Later.

Kumar felt thirsty. He reached for the water bottle kept on the table but found it empty. He hated to get up but his thirst didn't let him sleep. He went to the kitchen, switched on the light and opened the fridge.

As he started drinking, he suddenly saw a shadow walking at a fast pace on the kitchen wall. He turned back, dropping some water on himself in the process. The curtains moved but there was no one there.

He ignored it. The last 72 hours had gone talking to Aarti about the incident that happened. He walked back to the bedroom. Aarti looked at him. Something was wrong, again.

Amit was not in the bed.

The couple knew this time where he would be. They went towards the corner in that room. The door was closed. Kumar tried opening the door and looked in. There was just the portrait, no Amit. The couple dint have the courage to turn and go back.

Suddenly someone shouted, “Kumar, Kumar beta, where are you?” Kumar started sweating. Someone called out his name. They turned back and stood at the beginning of the staircase looking below.

A long shadow was seen. As it came closer , it was clear that the person was wearing a saree. Aarti tried to scream but there was no sound. It was Amit, in his Grandma’s saree, wearing her ornaments, all the ones on the picture. Slowly he moved up, talking to himself in a female voice. The couple could not move.

As Amit came closer, Kumar tried to move away.

“Kumar, where were you? Grandpa is looking for you. Go down. And who is she?” said Amit and walked  the room and closed the door behind. Aarti began to cry in fear. Kumar did not know what to do. Both ran down.

“Hi Dr Prakash, it’s me Kumar here”

Prakash PK was an able doctor. As soon as Kumar told him the problem he knew what happened completely. He arrived after 2 hours with his kit and asked the couple to be downstairs as he went to the room.

There was a lot of screaming for the next ten minutes but everything was calm after that.

“He is fine. He just is imagining things. He is amazed by the house and its history. I’ve given him some medicines. He should be fine.” That sounded convincing for the couple. They thanked him and sent him off.

As Prakash started to drive, Amit looked at him from the window and smiled. Prakash smiled back. He had to.

Ghosts and their Children.

2. That Corner.

Amit’s almost addictive charm and contagious innocence captured the Kumar household. There was noise everywhere; there was the feeling of celebration oozing out of every corner in the house. It seemed the couple’s prayers were answered. For a moment, they were.

Amit not only made them happy but gave them something to live for. for the rest of their lives. The family went out on picnics, visited temples and clicked photographs. They say when everybody is happy, time flies by. It did.

7 Years Later

Amit now studied at St Martha Residential School in which Kumar’s great grandfather had a very big stake. Amit had grown into a tall 11 year old lovable kid, wearing neat uniforms and doing academically very good.

It was the time of May. Amit was away from school, enjoying his summer vacation. It was a hot lazy day. Aarti was going through some magazines and Amit reading a book.

“Amit, how tall are you beta?”

“5’ 6” Mom”

“Ok, you won’t need the chair then.” said Aarti almost swallowing the last few words.She called up Kumar and asked him the exact place and cut the telephone call.

There were a lot of insects and a couple of inches of dust settled when Amit slowly tried to spread his hands on the top of the cupboard desperately trying to find it.

“Got it?”

“No mom, trying trying…”

After a couple of minutes more of vigorously moving his hands across Amit touched it.

“Yeaaaahhh.. here it is” Amit slowly got it down and kept it on the nearby chair.

It was Kumar’s great grandmother’s hand painted picture. It was dusty, old and very very beautiful. She sat on the black chair with a beautiful green and red saree, wearing all her dazzling ornaments and a very shy, yet very commanding smile. She looked straight  and one could still make out the charm in her eyes.

Aarti cleaned the portrait and held it. She thought of all the places in the house where she could put it up but found nothing.

“Maa how about the corner room in the second floor? It was her bedroom right?” said Amit.

Aarti looked at Amit in shock. The place was alright but the information in her son’s little mind, was disturbing. Amit was adopted, she said to herself. He should not have known this.

“I am going to play” he said  almost immediately and left.

Aarti ignored her thoughts after sometime. “Must be Kumar, yes must be him” she said to herself and climbed the stairs to reach the corner room of the second floor. Amit’s words echoed through her ears again. For the first time she felt scared. For the first time she cursed the house. Grandma still smiled as Aarti put her in a corner.

Aarti closed the door tight and hurried back.

That night at the dinner table Kumar was happy to hear the news of Grandma’s portrait being taken out. It was a special picture he said as it was painted when she was carrying his dad.

“Grandma hesitated but Grandpa convinced her. He made her wear all the jewellery and forced her to sit on the black chair. The painter worked on it for 35 hours to get this picture. My dad told me all this when I was as small as you” said Kumar pulling Amit’s cheeks. Aarti smiled.

Amit got up to wash his hands. After he left the table Kumar slowly turned towards Aarti and whispered,

“You know she was murdered a few days after this happened”

Aarti said “oh”. All she could remember was Amit’s words, that afternoon.

She said “Oh” again before disappearing into the bathroom.

That night Aarti could not sleep. She tried to but she could not.

“Bang!!!!” a loud noise shook her entire soul. It came from one of the top floors. She woke Kumar up. He resisted but after the noise came for the second time he woke up too.

“Let Amit sleep, we’ll go and check” said Kumar around to make sure he slept.

Amit was not in bed.

The scared couple now ran shouting painfully. It must be in one of the moments between that - they heard somebody smile. It was a giggle but it repeated. Aarti held Kumar’s hand tightly. They slowly moved up to the second floor.

The tightly closed door was now open. The couple took small yet brave steps towards the room. The room was mostly dark with an exception of a lamp in the corner. That corner.

Amit stood there holding the picture, giggling at it, whispering at it. Aarti screamed.

Amit looked up. The lamp went off.

Ghosts and their Children.

1. The Beginning.

Even as the sun set, she looked out of the window in search of some light. There was a very death-like smell in the wind that blew. The silence was deafening and its infinity scared her. With her hair in disarray and her red crying eyes she looked out, the ruthless afternoons signalling the entry of tragic evenings which made way to the frightening nights. It was two years since she had smiled. Two long years.

She looked outside again. The sun had already set. The clock struck six as the chords echoed through her palatial house. The house was dark but she knew all the things inside it. She perfectly made her way to the bathroom, freshened up and brushed her hair. The lamp for all the strong, powerful Indian gods was lit. The incense sticks spread a disturbingly agonizing yet a beautiful scent in the house. The Indian gods looked angry yet she prayed.

Slowly the devils started settling in. She got into the bath tub, without blinking her eyes. She took bath cleaning every inch of her body with at most care. Completely naked now she stood in front of the window and looked at herself. It was not that she was unattractive, in fact she invited maximum whistles in her college days, but today it did not seem to matter. The arrogance of her beauty today smiled at her devilishly.

She put on the best of her sarees, sprayed the most expensive perfume, sat on the couch like a lady and waited for him to arrive. She wanted a child from him and he couldn’t give her one. Today was like any other day though, a lust born out of hope, a child born out of wait.

He came, he tried, he failed.

It was all happening in Kupnur, a village on the banks of the river Kaveri. Kumar and Aarti lived there since three years. The palatial house they lived in had 3 floors, all hosting a line of unused bedrooms. A dozen more Kumars and Aartis could live there but nobody did. Kumar looked after the family coffee business and Aarti looked after Kumar.

After two years of shameful male existence Kumar decided to give up his ego one fine morning. He looked at his beautiful wife, kept his hands on her's and said.

“I spoke to the Dharma Anathashrama a couple of days back and they told me that there is a 3 year old boy ready to be adopted if you want”

Aarti looked up. The last three words from him had declared her husband’s defeat. It hurt him and it hurt her. But the silence of their house had hurt them more. Kumar knew Aarti would never refuse. There was a confused glow in her eyes, one which depicted her confusing state – to mourn her husband’s defeat or to celebrate her coming motherhood. She chose herself.

They decided to adopt little Amit. Aarti was happy and for the first time in his life Kumar was excited.

The White Horse and a Corpse.

The world yelled at him, as he had to hear,
His past misunderstood, but his conscience clear.

At nights he woke and saw on his bed,
His thoughts smashed and his intentions misread.
He cried, he cried till his eyes turned red.

That night he dreamt of a beach with a white horse.
The horse that still carried the same old sweet corpse.
It cried for the corpse's life,
As the sea demanded a last romantic dive.

The horse had no stains of blood,
As it galloped into the sea, throwing away the corpse in the mud.
He smiled in his dream as it was all over.
His thoughts now had a beautiful cover.

The next morning he woke up, without any fear.
But the world yelled at him, as he had to hear,
His past misunderstood, but was his conscience clear?