Story Brunch
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
The real story about a casual romantic trip around IIT Bombay turning into a horror trap – The year 2012.
It was the final year of engineering at IIT Powai, we had already secured our placements in top-tier companies, assignments used to be less than in previous years, and we had plenty of time to bloom our romance. That phase is meant for the self-actualization of youth from middle-class families who have toiled hard to reach there and secure good jobs, and most just want to live that phase in plenty as after college life would offer nothing similar.
The same was the case with Arjun Sharma (I/me) and Farhina Khan.
Every evening, I used to take one of my juniors’ car and go on a slow drive of about 15-20 km outside the college, with my girlfriend Farhina. The college campus itself was on the outskirts of the city. But there used to be a small market area around the campus those days,it was around 2012.
After driving around in the crowded market, I and Nilofar would go beyond the inhabited areas, generally during the dusk time, post 6 PM.
The outskirts appeared to be even darker as there used to be no street lights, no other vehicles, no houses and surrounded by dense deciduous vegetation.
Our relationship had been a secret from the world, no one except us knew about our affair. And the darkness of dusk helped us to maintain that secrecy.
She would step out of the college around 5-6 PM and walk a small distance to a nearby shop from where I would pick her up in the car so that no acquaintance could see her going with me after college hours, that too alone. We both belonged to the same town, and being from different communities, any news about our affair would spark nothing less than a riot back in my communally charged hometown in Uttar Pradesh. Farhina was the daughter of the Imam of the biggest Sunni mosque in Bareilly.
We would generally roam around for about 2 hours daily and return to the college gate by 8 PM, where she would de-board and walk towards her hostel. Girl’s hostel had strict timings, they had to get inside before 8.30 PM. Farhina would reach by 8.25 PM generally.
Beyond the inhabited area, the lowlands lay, full of scrubs and bush vegetation.
There was a small temple-like structure about 150-200 meters off the road about 15 km from the college, surrounded by big trees and a small front yard that lay barren. The moonlight falling on the building would make it appear more attractive and mysterious. I used to stop my car daily on the spot but never dared to step out of the car. The nearest house was already 10 km behind. I could never spot a person near the building. The way to the building was through dense scrubs and thorny plants. The roof was a reddish dome, a strange kutcha well in the front yard with a brick boundary, and a few pots hanging from the branches of a banyan tree outside the building.
And there was a big car in dilapidated condition, which seemed to have been abandoned decades ago, left to rust in the open area by the side of the structure.
The atmosphere used to be enchanting, I used to get lost staring at the structure, bewildered about what was the building about, and why no one could be seen around. I used to keep staring at it for 10-15 minutes daily, only to be interrupted by Farhina to get back to college.
We had made it our kissing spot.I would stop the car on the main road by the building, pull on the windows and we would lean toward each other to let our souls amalgamate.
It was a Thursday evening that day, we had leaned towards each other, and I had just embraced Farhina in my arms, but before our lips could interact,Farhina pushed me back with double her strength and shouted-“Arjun, someone is there outside”.
I turned back immediately and saw a tall human shadow on the rear window, which moved with double the pace of a jet stream, diminishing through the sight in the rearview mirror. I asked Farhina if she saw the person.
She said no.
She had only seen a heavily wrinkled face with bulging eyes pressing against the window screen, robed in heavy blanket-type clothing.
Someone had been there,Farhina could hardly see his face,I could barely manage to see his shadow. I started the car without any delay, fear and anxiety gripping both of us. The road had a sharp turn at a distance of half a km from the spot.
I was not in proper control of my senses, and I pressed the accelerator full throttle instead of brakes at the curve, the engine detected the mistake, and the car stopped with force auto-brake, engine turned off.
I tried restarting the car multiple times, but it didn’t.
Worry had overpowered the fear within us by then. It was already 30 minutes past 7 PM. Farhina had to reach the campus before 8.30 PM else the call from hostel staff would go to her parents to complain about her absence. And that would be nothing less than a Qayamat (doomsday) for both of us, after all, she belonged to a Deobandi family, myself a Brahmin boy.
Sensing the circumstances, she tried to give a calm composed posture when I looked at her with disappointment, she held my hand as a comforting gesture, but I knew that she was too tense, and I could spot the wet shine on her forehead due to profuse sweating.
I thought of making calls to my friends for some help, but as the area was outside the inhabited zone, the network was poor and after several tries, the phone battery drained. I could not have left the car in the wild and walked for 15-20 km along the scrub jungles with a girl, the outskirts are notorious areas.
Fear, worry, and anxiety were overpowering both of us.
But when it’s about the person You love the most, fear vanishes, and only the worry remains with newfound courage.
My real concern at that point in time was to somehow make Farhina reach the hostel gate by 8 pm, but I was not able to figure out how.
Farhina, with a dim heavy voice reflecting her inner worry –
” What will we do now Arjun? How to get back to college?”
I knew she was not fearing the shadow and the haunted atmosphere anymore, she was terrified thinking of the outcome of not reaching the hostel.
I asked her to keep calm and not to be worried, we had to reach the college first and I would manage the rest of things.
