Clinking of anklets, an apparition in white sari with her unfastened hair and sometimes crying alone…..
These are the things we imagine normally when we think of Ghosts. Unluckily, i haven’t met with such an apparition till now. I say it unluckily because i have a wild passion in hunting ghosts, especially in the every new city i move…
Well, this time i had moved to Bokaro Steel City. And within first few weeks of my stay, i had come to know about the three most haunted spots of Bokaro through my local friends. Those were Cooling Pond, road leading to the back side of Mohan Kumar Mangalam stadium and Pattharkatta Square. They added, “Just keep it for your G.K and never dare to visit these places alone”. But i am a firm believer in the non existence of ghosts and i hunt them just to see once what actually they look like.
I decided to move alphabetically and so my first target was Cooling Pond. As per my friends no one dared to visit it after 6 p.m. and so i’d thought of getting there at 7. I moved there alone on my bicycle. I was so eager that i took a short-cut instead of taking a main route. Short-cut was amidst a scaring jungle. “If someone is murdered here, it will take months to find him/her”, i thought while riding. I reached there in 15 minutes and the first word that came out from my mouth on seeing the pond was “beautiful”. The pond was exceptionally beautiful. It had green water and the setting sun was just like a beauty spot on the face of pond. It was the only spot in city where a superb sunset could be seen. Few boats at a distance were also visible. It was the second most beautiful thing i’d seen in Bokaro after girls. There was a bridge between the shore and centre of the pond. I took few steps on the bridge and stopped to view the scene more closely. Everything was beautiful. I turned around to see the other side of pond but the water this side along the shore was red. I moved ahead to know the reason of it and the reason froze my whole body. Beneath the bridge was a dead body floating in the water. Its head was above the surface while rest of the part was below and the red colour of water was due to the blood coming out of its face. By this time the darkness had also started growing. Every event was so frightening that my heart started beating twice its pace and the bridge seemed to resonate with the high frequency of tremor of my legs. At this situation, i could hear only three words from within, “Run moron, run”. I gathered the whole world’s strength, jumped on my bicycle and disappeared from there.
My first experience was violent and thinking not about the ghosts for the next few months was quite inevitable. But this heart never gets convinced easily and moreover past event was not enough to change my passion. “It was probably the part of corruption”, i thought. Few months later, my next target was the back-side road of stadium. I planned to visit there after 10 pm because there used to be full pin-drop silence in the whole city after 10. So that time would increase the probability of my meeting ghost if it really existed.
I set off at half past ten. I had taken fake night show movie tickets with me in case i encountered a patrol car instead of a ghost. I was riding my bicycle smoothly enjoying the serenity of the night. “Why would a ghost live in backside road of a stadium?” i wondered. “Probably a sportsperson would have died before the completion of his sport event. So his spirit would be unsatisfied meandering in the neighborhood of stadium”, i answered myself. I was thinking in such a manner as if i was sure to meet ghost that time. But before i could think anything else, everything in front my eyes were dark. Not because it was night, because i could not see anything even in street light. I could hear nothing except the low shrill noise coming out of nowhere. My bicycle had hit hard against street light which i had not noticed despite keeping my eyes fixed on the road. My head had banged into the ground. I could feel a bump on my head and scratches all over my body. When i regained my conscience in few minutes, i found my bicycle 10 meters away in pathetic condition. I was alone in backside road of stadium with blood all over my body at that scaring night. I could think those events nothing but supernatural and again could hear only three words from within, “Run moron, run”. I struggled hard to reach my bicycle and flew from there.
The second event was even more frightening than the first. One spot was still left and from my previous experiences i could never dare to visit the third spot. But the time passed, wounds healed and i convinced myself considering that to be normal accident.
My last target was Pattharkatta Square. As per my local friends, this place was the most haunted one. Story it has that, a woman spirit lives in a tree few meters away from the square. She asks for a lift from the travelers passing alone at mid noon or mid night. She does no harm if travelers pass by without saying anything. A lot of accidents have happened on that square and many people have witnessed that spirit too. It was a real challenge to visit this spot at sharp midnight but i was not going to face this challenge alone. So i planned to go there with my adventure-loving best friend Ricky. We reached the square at sharp 12 am. The road of the square had large angle of bending. Technically this was the cause of greater number of accidents and not any ghost. We waited for the ghost for half an hour but could not find any. We went to see the tree where spirit lived but could find no one again. We even called, “Hey, sis. You there? We have taken a lot of troubles to see you. Please show yourself.” None answered. So we returned back to our rooms and the final chapter of ghosts was closed…
Few months later, i went to attend my friend’s birthday. His home was about half mile away from Pattharkatta square and i had to cross the square to reach his home. Party went late till night, so i stayed that night in his home. I had my classes from 6am the following day, so i had to leave his home by 4. I had hardly slept for two hours. My eyes were red and i was yawning badly. Every moment my feeling was to hell with the classes and sleep again. But these attendance-sorts always make us a donkey carrying the burden of boring lectures. Finally i left his home after wishing him happy birthday again. It was still dark. My eyes were half closed while riding. I could faintly see the paths. And in this faint vision there suddenly appeared an old man in front of my bicycle. With quick reflex i applied the brakes and shouted, “Yo, yo, yo man. Why are you in so haste to make your trip to heaven?”.
“A disturbing element in my sleep cum ride”, i thought. He was in 70s and dressed fully white. “Sooner or later everyone has to make this trip, son. But i am here for a lift”, he answered. Then it was the most ridiculous thing i had ever heard.
“Are you insane? A lift at 4am and that too from a bicycle?”
“Circumstances are such that i had to”
“Funny circumstances”, i thought.
Though the full context was funny and weird, hearing about a lift on my bicycle had made me feel superior. With double pride i said, “Okay, get on”. I was feeling as if i had bought a car from my own earned money and then was giving a lift. When i felt he had got on, i started riding my bicycle at full speed feeling as if i was driving my own car. I had covered more than half the distance dreaming of my own car when i realized that i had forgotten to ask him where he had to go. I asked him while riding, “Where you have to go, uncle?” I waited for his reply but got no response. I thought he would not have heard and asked again but again got no response. I thought him crazy and so stopped my bicycle. I turned around to ask but could not speak a word. I became cold. My dream of car had broken into pieces and i was facing a frightening reality. He wasn’t on my bicycle. I was in complete hallucination and could not understand the whole series of events. Pattharkatta Square was few meters back from where i had stopped and again i could hear only three words from within, “Run moron, run”. And i disappeared again…