Story Brunch
Rohit roamed around the campus in gloom till evening,returned to his room tired at around 8 PM. As soon as he rested himself on the chair,he saw something written in the window pane in blood-
‘No one can separate me from my son,anyone who tries to do so will end up dead.’
Amit yelled in fear,his friends from other rooms rushed in to check what had happened. All of them saw the words on the window pane in blood. Their heart beats increased,and they took Amit out of the room with themselves. For the first time Rohit realised the truth in Amit’s ordeal. He felt guilt and remorse for not believing his best friend when he needed him the most. He apologised to Amit and promised to help him get out of the situation. Rohit asked Amit to stay in his room instead,but Amit denied as he did not want to endanger Rohit’s life because of himself. For the same reason Amit did not inform his parents.
For the next few days,strange things continued happening with Amit. One night some guards found him lying unconscious in football ground,he was carried to the hostel by guards and friends. He would open hid drawer to find ample cash, different dishes on his table would await him after class hours daily, blood marks could be seen on the door knob often.
All this had started taking toll on mind and health of Amit,but he was helpless. Rohit was observing all this silently,but he could do nothing. He thought that Amit’s parents need to be informed urgently before something unfortunate happens with Amit.
A call was made to his family in Patna.The whole story was narrated to his parents by Rohit.
Amit’s parents reached Pilani the next day itself,with a local Pandit from Patna. Amit,surprised at seeing his parents ,started crying in despair and requested them to leave him alone as he did not want to risk their lives.
The Pandit inspected his room,observed the surroundings and said-
‘We need to do Riddhi-Siddhi urgently. The ghost and her reason for attraction towards Amit needs to be identified and then only some permanent cure can be done’.
He took out some ‘jantar mantar ‘and Rudraksha beads out of his jute bag and gave them to Amit,his parents and Rohit.He asked them to wear it all the time,and not take it out even during bathing.Then he sprinkled some holy water around Amit’s room and tied some ‘jadi-booti’ in a red cloth on the door knobs. He asked Amit’s parents to leave Amit alone for a day. They obliged.
In the night,as soon as Amit fell asleep at around 1 AM, someone started banging his door. He woke up terrified by the sound. He checked for the Rudraksha and jantar mantar he was wearing,and kept sitting quietly. The bangs were growing louder and louder.
Finally Amit yelled- ‘Who are you?’
No one replied,the bangs continued.
Amit shouted again.
A woman replied from outside in a shrill voice-
‘I am Anupama,your mother,your real mother,I gave birth to you,they took away my child from me.Open the door my son,I have to feed you,you must be hungry my child’.
Amit kept quiet.The spirit started banging his window panes and Amit could see her shadow over the window glass,fear had engulfed him completely, he was helpless,but he decided not to open the door in any case.
She shouted again- ‘Remove the red clothes from the door,I need to enter the room,I have to feed you my child’.
The atmosphere fell completely silent at around 2 AM. Amit felt a bit relieved but he did not open the door till it was dawn. Rohit and Pandit were waiting for him outside his door. He narrated everything to them.
Parents arrived at around 8 AM. Pandit asked them if they knew someone with a name Anupama. Both parents looked at each other’s face, thought for a while and then denied knowing any Anupama.Pandit asked Amit if he had any teacher in school who had a name Anupama and she loved her like a child. Amit recalled all the teachers’ name and denied.
After a pause, Pandit said-‘ We need to find out who is Anupama first’.
Then only her mother interrupted-
‘ There was one more delivery in the ward at the same time when I had given birth to Amit. Her baby died within minutes of birth and doctors had taken away the baby before she gained consciousness. When she became conscious, her eyes fell first on Amit and she thought that he was her child and she started asking us to hand her the child. Her husband and relatives took her away forcefully from the ward while she was yelling at us for stealing her baby. We need to check if her name was Anupama’.
All wore a look of surprise hearing the incident. It was decided to enquire about the lady’s name from the maternity hospital in Patna where Amit was born. Amit’s father called one of his known doctors ,gave him the date of birth details and asked to check the name of the woman in the ward that day whose child had died.
It was evening time when the doctor called back Amit’s father and said-
‘Anupama, the woman’s name was Anupama, and the detailed report in the file says that she died due to grief within next few days after her delivery.But why do you want to know all this after so many years?’
Amit’s father told him that he would tell him in detail later and he hanged the phone after thanking him
Everyone was a bit relieved as the ghost and the reason for her attraction towards Amit became known. Now the solution had to be worked out by the Pandit.
Pandit told them that a Yajna needed to be performed in the same ward of the hospital to get rid off the ghost. Whole family along with Rohit flew to Patna the same day, Rohit could not be left alone as the ghost might attack him.
All preparations were done,altar fire lit in the ward and rituals started. After an hour of Yajna the spirit appeared infront of all from no where.
Everyone in the room got frightened at her sight.Complete silence prevailed except the continuous recitation of the mantras.As the Yajna progressed, the spirit started shouting-
‘I will kill you all,you snatched my child from me,no one will be spared’.
Her size started increasing and she became as tall as the height of the room. All started sweating out of fear .Everytime she would stretch her hands towards Amit, Pandit would spinkle some jadi booti in the hawan and she would move back amidst the rising flames.
Yajna had to be performed till she lost all the strength which evil powers accumulate in after life. Her screams had started decreasing with time,which meant that the spirit was becoming weaker gradually.
The yajna continued for about 10 hours till the spirit fell into the altar fire and dispersed.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the ward became silent. Amit’s parents rushed towards him and hugged him.
More than 5 years have passed since this incident, Amit is leading a peaceful life in Pune today. Never again did he hear Anupama’s voice.
A mother lost her child,another gained her child.
