Dreaming! I am sure that everybody has experienced an dream. You, yourself might have experienced a dream recently, isn't it? Now what you dream and how your dream occurs have got a lot of explanations and definitions. If we go by one such definition as specified in Wikipedia, a Dream is a successions of images, ideas, emotions and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep! The definition is huge and worth a read to know more about how your brain works. The good thing about dreams is that most of the time you remember what you experienced irrespective of whether it is a good dream or a bad dream!! Also, a dream need not necessarily be experienced while you are fast asleep, you can experience it during day time as well. Few examples would be while reading for your exams, sitting at office preparing that report or while watching one of those family dramas coming on Television!
I have had my share of dreams. I bet these might sound usual to many of you, as you might also have experienced the same! My dreams range from becoming the richest person on this planet Earth (yeah leaving our beloved Billy aka Bill Gates way behind or even any of our hardworking and sincere politicians dabbed in those Ultra White Shiny clothes!) or dating my favorite dream Girl! 8 years back my wife had occupied this segment, but now it could be anyone ranging from hottest HollyWood, BollyWood, KollyWood, TollyWood or any other PlyWood celebrities and to some extent few of those real cutest girls that I have met in my life {Kindly stop thinking that you will show this confession to my wife and get me a beating! You have better job to do in your life than being a Divorce Lawyer!}. My other favorite dream being doing Dogfights on that ultra modern flying machines.. and the list goes on and on and on.... but the point is that everyone has their dreams. Some which are as pleasant as possible that will make your day go gaga and some are so scary that will make you wet your bed!!
The following experience is one such experience that pushed me into thinking for the next couple of days and an experience that I could never forget in my lifetime. This dream scared me so much that I was actually taken to a doctor the following day to get medicine for fever! The doctor prescribed paracetamol and a day or two's rest for the fever to subside. Even though my parents were a worried lot, the doctor suggested that the summer had taken a toll on me! The medicine worked and I was normal again however that experience left me shaken for the next few weeks to come.
Being a teenager is a difficult job!! Specially when your holiday's have just started and you don't have any of your friends for the day with whom you can chill out. I was around 13 years and I had just completed one of my exams. I believe the year was around 1994! I was lazying around in my house all alone as my parents had been out for some reason which I am not able to recall. I had closed all the windows and doors of my house to avoid the dust and sound coming from the huge sawmill cutting lumber right in front of our house. As you can imagine, closing the doors cut off the sound coming from outside to a larger extent but also it made me sacrifice the light. The hall was dimly lit and the only source of light was a beam of sunlight poking in from the hole in the wooden window. The wall where this window was located was adjacent to a huge wooden stall constructed next to my house! It was like a wooden mill in front of my house and a warehouse storing wood next to my house.
I don't remember what I actually was doing on that day until my eyes got stuck at a clock which was showing the time as 12:15 noon. When my eyes met with that table clock neatly placed on an elegant Tea-poy, I got captivated to keep on looking at it. Something made me forget everything around me and I started staring at the clock. The tea-poy was about 1.5 feet high and I sat next to it folding my hands and staring this unusual clock which I was looking at almost everyday I was at home. I started making note of how beautiful the clock was and how it Tick-Tocks by every passing second. I was so involved in watching the seconds tick by that my ears had stopped listening to the sound coming from the lumber mill. It appeared as if the sawmill had stopped cutting the huge logs of wood and there was an eerie silence spread across except for the tick tock of the clock.
After few minutes, I got up as I started feeling sleepy and I went towards the back door. This door was placed in the wall next to the Warehouse which I had specified earlier. There was a two foot broad walkway leading to this door in between my house and the warehouse. There was an another home behind my house which can be accessed only through this walkway. Since the door was not visible from the main road and it was secured due to the fact that back house neighbor's door was close by, I used to lock this door from outside whenever I wanted to out for a quick snack like churmuri (a mixture of puff rice, lemon, coriander, onions etc.,) or similar snacks found abundant during those times.
As soon as I exited the walkway, I noticed that there were not many people and the sawmill had actually stopped. I took a left turn and was passing on the road towards a playground few blocks away. On my right hand side was a wood-apple tree with lot of fruits hanging, yet far from the reach of my hand. This tree was right next to the sawmill and inside the compound of one my relatives house which extended till the road ended. They had this huge house and the wall of their home covered half of the road. Towards my left were rows of houses. The tree had grown in such a way that half of the fruits were falling on the road, hence we had devoured the fruit whenever they fell down. Most of the time, we neighbors; specially the younger ones used to rush on to grab the fallen fruit and only one was successful at a time!
After few quick glances here and there and assuring myself that no one was coming from behind, I picked up a stone big enough to fit into my palm and light enough for me to aim and throw. I took a careful aim on one of the biggest wood-apple hanging down and in a jiffy flung my arm... I watched carefully as the stone flew passed the fruit and thud is all I could hear! Nope it was not the fruit, I had missed terribly and the stone landed after rolling few meters up on the road. I tried again few more times and finally succeeded in making one of the fruit fall down.
There was this one girl almost of my age, carefully watching me from a distance whom I had not noticed! she was the first one to start running towards the still rolling fruit. In an instant I realized what she was up-to and put all my might to reach the fruit first and I succeeded. She had this dull face as she lost the race towards the fruit but I did not budge and I was no gentleman to give this girl my hard earned fruit!!
Since the fruit was raw, I took some salt and red chilly powder from home sprinkled it on the now pieces of the fruit and I started consuming it gladly. I thought, let me explore the grounds and I went out again. Soon passing the tree and nearing to the end of the road. I could see a huge building which was a government primary school and attached to this building was another HighSchool (Only for Girls). This was the ground where we used to play Cricket and other local games like Gilli-Danda, Lattu (gaming top), Hide-n-Seek and various other games. But of-course , the condition was that the school had to be closed. I reached this small gate in the school's compound. Only broad enough for two people to enter at a time leading directly to the entrance of the school building.
The gate was locked! I had to climb over the gate and jump to the other side to see if I could find someone playing with whom I could join. The school was in the middle and was a single floor building. It was built square i.e, the classrooms were touching the outer walls and inner walls had a beautiful garden only accessible for the staff and students. Boys were strictly restricted! The building was surrounded by open space on all its four sides. If one is facing the building standing in front of the gate, the front space was small rectangular shape so was the left side of the building (the compound wall was the building of the primary school on the left side and this where most of the action happened. i.e., on the left side of the building). The right side was huge triangle shape space with the compound wall size of about 6 feet and the back side space was the biggest with compound wall over 12 feet high! Usually we did not go to the backside as the escape route was very difficult. The wall here was on constructed on a elevated ground something similar to stadium. Here, one could also see a pathway on the left connecting to the other primary school building; This area was filled with all kind of vegetation that one would generally avoid. It had parthenium and plants with big thorns and various kind of reptiles crawling!
I decided to head to our Cricket pitch which was at right. I could clearly see that no one was there. Sun was soaring with all its might and I could feel the thirst building up within me. Thanks to the raw fruit, the thirst was getting exaggerated. I walked and took a left turn, now directly heading towards backside. I knew no one was there as well but just wanted to explore the area since the school was closed!
I was walking in whatever shade that building was providing and soon the gate disappeared behind. Alas, I had come towards the backside of the building and it was empty!! I was the single soul standing there with no shade to hide from the sun. Since this was an open space with the walls real far or on the left side, I was facing the sun directly. I found a huge rock lying near by a single pillar which was extended out of the wall of school building. I found one foot of space wherein I could stand in the shade and I quickly moved towards it. The rock was a good medium to be made into a chair and I pushed it towards the shade and sat on it, carelessly spreading my legs and exposing them to the soaring sun and soon enough I was done with the wood apple and thirst was taking its toll on me. I wanted to drink water! Even though this would mean that my throat will take the beating because of the combination of raw woodapple and water! I realized that if I get up walk straight and come towards the not yet explored side of the ground, there was a tap and also shade due to the trees and the primary school building. This was a narrow alley and also had grass wherein I could lay down enjoying the noon!
I got up and started walking and all of a sudden I could see that air was building up and dust moving towards me. I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands to protect myself from the mud that the breeze was carrying. This was one of the strongest wind that I faced recently and I almost fell back. It was pushing me so hard that I was struggling to maintain balance. When the wind stopped, I opened my eyes to see that mud was floating in the air. The wind had disturbed the lose soil on the ground and since this side lacked any kind of grass, the dust was thick. I sensed another round of wind raising and I ran towards the pillar where I was sitting few minutes back to take cover. I stood behind that pillar, now rubbing my eyes frantically to remove the dust which made its way on my face. However, the chilly powder and salt I had on my fingers made things worse. I waited for the winds to stop and even the burning sensation I had in my eyes.
I felt much better after 30 minutes or so and I got up and started moving towards the tap now thirsty to the core. As I was moving, I felt someone giggled. It was a faint sound coming from a direction that I was not able to determine. I thought it was someone from inside the building. Now the winds had changed the direction and i felt a huge blow from behind!! WTF, I thought. I went back to take cover in the pillar. It was like, the ground did not want me to leave the place! I wanted water badly and I devised that if I could stick to the wall and slowly walk forward, I could cross this side and soon the place will be narrower and the wind will not create anymore problem for me.
I again left the cover of pillar and as I was walking as planned, I felt a very light but cold touch on my bear neck. It was so hot and the hot winds making it worst, the cold touch was a huge welcome to my skin. I don't know what touched me and to get a glimpse of it, I turned around and found nothing! Without caring, I started walking again when again I felt someone giggling again. Now very apparent that it was coming from behind.. I turned again to identify who it was and again I was not successful! When I turned front, I noticed that I had hardly moved few inches from where I was standing. I was sure, I had walked at-least couple of steps forward. Confused, I turned back again to see that the rock was few feet away from the pillar and not where I had placed it! The rock had moved sideways!!
Recovering from the jolt of shock that I experience, I thought maybe the wind was too strong. But soon came to a conclusion that the rock should have moved front or back. How did on earth did it moved sideways? Sensing something seriously unusual, I started walking faster than ever. I felt that the ground had extended itself and the sun has sent a new heat wave at the same time. The wind started playing its usual game and throwing dust on my face.
After a struggle that seemed like going on forever now, I found the end of the building and quickly turned left and ran towards the other side which was much more cooler. The Sun was still blistering but thanks to this building's position it was much cooler. I could see the high school building right in front of me! I leaned towards my left to see if someone was standing and where the rock was. I was relieved to see that the rock was still in its earlier position but not near the pillar where it should have been!
I felt that I should get out of this place as no one was in the Ground and something creepy going on here. I started walking on the grass trying to avoid looking at the high school building which was on my left side. I noticed that a window was open in that building and I felt someone was watching me from inside. I did not want to see who it was, but I started walking towards the window unwillingly. I was trying to stop myself from going towards that window but I felt that someone was pulling me towards it. I wanted water badly but I was walking away from the tap that was available few steps away.
I turned around to look if anyone else is there but couldn't find anyone. Everything was calm now. No wind, No dust nothing.. Now I was very very close to the window and I saw that someone turned and walked away. I started peeping inside the window to see who it was, but the darkness inside the room hided anything from me. That person was nowhere to be seen; this is when I felt that cold arm moving around my neck and someone said.."aaao" {come here!}. I turned back to see who it was but I could see none! I was sure someone called me and the feeling of that cold hand on my neck was so clear. My sixth sense started tickling asking me to get out of here as soon as possible. I wanted to run away but something was telling me to stop and see who is calling me and where that person is hiding!
As I was standing there moving my eyes rapidly here and there to identify where the voice just came from and who had touched me, I had turned my back was against the window! This is when I felt the same cold hand on my left arm gripping me firmly. Someone was trying to hold me and pull me from inside the window. I felt my blood going cold with fear and I started shivering with this unknown person playing with me. Crushing all the fear, I looked at my arm and I saw a hand firmly gripping my arm! I turned back in a flash to see who was holding me but no one was there. In an instant I realized that the hand had vanished too! No one was holding me anymore and this made me run two three steps forward before I turned again to see who it was.
I called, "Kaun hai wahan?" {who is there}.. No one answered but now I realized that I was not alone. Someone was with me, very much stalking me!!
I started moving towards the gate now as I wanted to get out as quickly possible. I was walking faster now constantly turning back to look if someone was following me! Whenever I turned back, I realized that the window had not moved away. It is still there and someone staring at me from inside the window. The person was now clearly visible! A lady standing there behind the window grill and looking at me with a grin on her face.
Now sweating profusely, I started running not sure if it is a prank or if she is something else. I stopped looking back and as I neared the end of the building now just meters away from the gate, I felt some strong hand holding my leg and pulling back which made me fall down face first. As I turned, again there was no one standing behind me. I was very close to the end of the building before my fall, but when i stood up the wall had moved itself. I was back at the place where the window was! The lady was not there! There was cold wind coming from inside the building and somehow I was all on hands and legs again. I don't know how I had fallen down again but I was right beneath the window. Maybe I had ducked down with fear!
Totally scared and sweating, I got up again looking inside the window now screaming madly "Kaun hai? Kaun hai wahan?"..{Whos that? who is there?} Suddenly, I felt a strong push and I was on the ground for the third time. I didn't dare turn back to look who it was and started crawling forward and after crawling few feet, I got up and started running very fast and for one final time my head turned back and wham... I hit someone and fell backwards. This was the fourth time I had fallen down and I laid there for few seconds trying to get my composure and fight back with what I was not able to see. Now it was apparent that something supernatural was around me.
As I was trying to access my situation and a possible escape route, I heard a huge scream followed by a laughter sending shivers down my spine. I was shivering and shaking to a point that I did not dare open my eyes. This is when I felt the hand again on my hairs and the laughter was getting fainted away... I knew I am facing something horrible, something not of this world, something un-explainable. When the laughter died out and there was no more physical experience, I opened my eyes to see someone standing with her back towards me. She was couple of feet away. She was the same lady I saw inside the window.
I asked her, "Kaun ho tum?" {Who are you?}.. I did not get any answer but she slowly turned towards me. She was a very beautiful lady wrapped in a Saree. She was lean and tall. I could see her hands.... they were as fair as she was. She was standing at-least 10 feet away from me and when she lifted her arm, it was just stretching itself towards me. I tried moving back using all my strength in my arms and legs.. But her hand continued to reach me and just stopped short of my face.. The hand was so smooth and shiny. She had a very beautiful hand with long fingers. I don't know why she stopped, but then there was a smell of rotting meat coming from her hand and in an instant from a beautiful hand, it turned into a hand with dead chappy skin.. falling down bit by bit!! There was a strong smell emanating from the hand, the smell of rotting flesh!
I did not realize when she came so close to me and again touching my hairs and bending towards me. I was so scared that I did not look into her face and closed my eyes fearing the worst. At that moment, I thought of my parents and tears came rolling down my eyes. I felt that my death was imminent. There was no way I could escape from this ghost who was so close to me. The smell of rotten meat increased to unbearable level and I held my breath tightly to stop the smell entering my nostrils and choking me.
Again there was a breeze and everything felt silent again and the smell was gone too. I also felt that the flickering of my hairs had stopped. I opened my eyes to see what she is up to and I saw her hanging on a tree right ahead of me beyond the high-raised wall!! It was straight ahead from this alley however it was at a farther distance now. Her body just dangling on the branch of that tree. This is when I felt that someone called me by my name from behind. I did not dare turn around and I was staring at that body hanging from the tree now fading away lightly as if the wind was carrying away the body like dust just flowing away. Again, I felt someone called my name. This time louder. I turned around and saw that the gate was very close by! Just two or three feet away and I was not in that alley anymore.
Gathering all the strength I had, I got up and ran towards the gate which was locked and started climbing over it. As soon I was on top of the gate, I jumped over and fell on the stairs towards the road. I was finally outside the compound wall. Badly hurt in arms and legs from the fall, I got up and turned towards the building from where I had just escaped. The lady still standing there smiling at me. In the next flash, I saw her standing right behind that gate and first time I saw her speaking
"Ja, tu bach gaya aaj... Phir milenge" {Go, you are safe today.. we will meet again}..and she had an evil grin on her face, staring directly into my eyes..
Before I could realize, she vanished in thin air and I turned to run towards my house. But for one final time, I felt the push again and the strong wind passing by...Again making me fall down on the road...In a distance, I could see my mother running towards me. I was lying on the road and losing my vision. I was fainting! With whatever strength I was left with, I lifted my hand towards my mom to stop her from coming towards me and facing what I had faced. This is where I lost my consciousness as I lay on the road!
When I regained my consciousness, someone was calling my name again. It was the voice of my mom! I remembered, she was running towards me before I fainted and I jumped up to search for her. This is when I realized that I was still sitting in front of the table clock inside my home and the time was now 3:50 pm! The fan was turned on and it was moving at a high speed. I was still sweating and my mom was banging on the front door to open up.
I realized that it was a dream. A dream that felt so real that the experience of it had made me so pale. I was shaken to the core not able to differentiate between reality and dream. I was still shivering from the experience but gathered courage and opened the door. My mom immediately realized that something was wrong and she started taking care of me. I had skipped my meal because of the sleep. I wanted to tell what I saw, but I knew that she was more superstitious that I was and didn't want her to get scared. That night I could hardly sleep and naturally the summer took the toll on me. I had high fever and my parents decided that I was playing too much on the ground and I was not allowed to visit that ground for the remainder of the holidays. However, my buddies did not allow that to happen and I soon hit that ground. But never dared venture into that ground alone again. It was some Dream, that I felt was not a dream after all!!
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