The Haunted India

THE HAUNTED INDIA

Rahul Chauhan

For My Family For My close friend Nakshatra who also helped me in this book.

CONTENTS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Bhangarh Aghori Lohaghat Tunnel-103 Shimla The Lambidhar Mines The Haunted Road The Graveyard
4

8 21 33 37 42 47 53

8. Ghost Need Cigarettes 9. The Sanjay Forest 10. Two Man And a Ghost Cow 11. The Little Black Tyrant 12. A Trapped Soul 13. Munja 14. Chudail 15. Brijraj Bhavan 16. Chhalava 17. Kurseong Dow Hill 18. Shimla 19. Khavis 20. Mussories Incident 21. Qutub Minar 22. The Haunted Factory 23. Savoy Hotel 24. Ghost in Indian Army 25. Hotel Raj Kiran 26. Dumas Beach 27. The Sinhagad Fort 28. The Hostel Ragging 29. The Devil Child 30. Walk With a Ghost 31. Surathkal 32. Witchcraft
5

64 71 74 81 86 90 94 100 107 111 117 122 127 133 138 143 152 157 160 166 172 181 185 197 203

33. Black Magic 34. Gurgaon 35. Haunted Call Center 36. The Haunted Railway Station 37. G.P Block Meerut 38. Roopkund 39. Hauntings of Mumbai 40. A Strange Incident 41. Delhi Cantonnment 42. The Haunted House 43. The Farmhouse 44. Kalyan 45. Army Ghosts 46. Meerut Cantt 47. Human Flesh 48. Banglore 49. Grand Paradi Towers 50. Kuldhara 51. The Haunted Encounter

207 221 231 236 241 243 251 263 268 273 282 290 295 309 315 318 330 333 343

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There is just a few people who have directly and indirectly made this book possible. I acknowledge my sincere debt to all of them. I can say that collecting tales of real experiences and encounters is defiantely. As I wandered looking for these, I went on a tough kind of journey, discomfort and anger. Thankfully in the end the work is completed. For this book the credit goes to my friend Nakshatra and my family who listened and watched my progress regularly with patience and encouragement. I must also say that the idea of this book was by myself and by my friend who helped me a lot in this book.

BHANGARH
Have you ever visited a monument where you enter the place at your own risk? India is indeed a variant when it comes to culture, language, religions and the supernaturalism.Bhangarh is a place that is widely known in India for its ghostly stories and the haunting that has been witnessed by some people residing in the area surrounding the deadly place.

BHANGARH is the most haunted fort of India. It was built in 1573 during the rule of Maharaja Bhagwant Das who was the father of Madho Singh and Man Singh. But the ruler after maharaja Bhagwant Das was Man singh not Maddho Singh,hence after the death of Raja Man Singh the next ruler was Chhatar Singh who died in 1630 near Ajabgarh which was founded by Ajab Singh.When Mughal empire become weaker due to thedeath of Aurangzeb, Jai Singh-2 attach Bhangarh to his state forcefully and after getting diminished in population in 1783 the town of Bhangarh was abandoned and has remained a ruin ever since.
8

There are many stories of the fort of Bhangarh as some people say that the fort is cursed. But actually as far as I come to know there are two myths that lead to demolishing of the fort, one myth is that the fort was cursed by Guru Balu Nath as he had sanctioned the construction of the town only and only one condition i.e. the moment the shadows of your palace touch me, the city shall be no more and it will get destroyed. After listening the warning by Guru Balu Nath the prince didnt even consider it once and raised the palace to a height that cast the shadow on Guru Balu Nath after that the palace has been destroyed and Guru Balu nath is said to be

buried

there

to

this

day

in

Samadhi.

Now the second myth that exists, its about the princess of Bhangarh Princess Ratnawati as she was believed to be the Jewel of Rajasthan. On her eighteenth birthday she began to get married so offers throughout all over India and from some nearby regions came very fast as she was so beautiful and very good looking princess. In one nearby area a tantric (magician) lives who was well
10

versed in a technique called as Singhia and suddenly

had felt in love with the princess as he also know that his and the princess match or marriage was impossible as she is a royal princess and he is just a magician not a man from a royal family or a king. So one day the magician saw the maid of the princess in the market, suddenly he came up with an idea by which he can easily control or marry the princess as he would use his technique and
11

hypnotize the princess to fall in love with him. So he used his singhia technique or some kind of black magic on the oil that princess maid was purchasing for the princess and after using the oil the princess would surrender herself to him or may fell in love with him. But his plan had failed due to the princess as the princess saw him using his black magic trick on the oil, and pours all the oil on the ground immediately as the oil poured on the ground it suddenly turned into a big stone due the black magic on the oil and crushed the magician, while dying the magician cursed the palace with the death of all who had lived or who was living in the palace. After one year the time had finally come for the curse to come true as there was a fierce battle between Bhangarh and Ajabgarh in which the town of Bhangarh and the princess Ratnawati perished. So because of all that happened here the place is said to be haunted and some people also say there are ghosts of princess Ratnawati and the kings, etc. That is why at the present day the entry to the fort only after sunset and before sunrise is prohibited. The local people
12

also believed that the Princess Ratnawati has taken birth somewhere else and the fort and the town Bhangarh is waiting for her to return and put an end to this curse once and for all.

At the present say, Bhangarh is nothing more than just ruins as there is nothing except crumbling walls, temples and pavilions standing alone against the silent wilderness of the dense forest cover hills
13

which scream out about the towns ancient prosperity, the ruins of the arches and colonnades built on various levels suggest that it was once a lovely and awesome place. A portion from a pavilion and a minaret are still intact by a little bit. This is definitely the perfect place for a lovely picnic

14

with

some

fun

and

adventure

for

sure.

Bhangarh also have lots of beautiful temples of Lord Hanuman, Lord Shiva, Gopinath and Dev Narayan
15

and also a shrine of a famous Muslim Saint, also some great and beautiful gardens that are just amazing and quite beautiful to watch. There was also an evocative ancient bazaar which has also been demolished, but now it has been restored and its a truly fascinating place to visit and to roam into that which is quite great. At nearby from the bazaar there is awesome, beautiful and finely carved Someshwar Temple in which there is an old tank that is still being used by the villagers to bath to wash their clothes and to fulfill other daily needs from water. Also there is another famous thing which is known as the Palace of Prostitutes, its usual name probably comes from female courtesans for whom the palace was built. In those days female court attendants were also taken from harems of rulers, so by looking all

16

these things Bhangarh is an exciting place to visit.

Now the Reality that I had come to know about theplace is thatCountless personal experiences and stories circulate to this day. People, including myself, who have actually visited the place, do feel a sense of impending danger. But I guess that's more to do with the pre-determined factors of belief and fear which a person acquires before visiting such places. However, the locals vehemently believe in the legend. The haunting are believed to be so
17

frequent that none other than the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI)India's premier Archaeological institution has erected a notice board forbidding visitors to stay away from the place at night. The government did try to set up an army camp to dig the truth out. However that could not be established as none of the army personnel were willing to volunteer themselves for the operation. Such is the fear and awe with which everyone holds the legendary haunting of Bhangarh! Many have been reported missing over the last years who failed to return from the fort premises after having challenged to spend the night there. Surprisingly, none of the bodies were ever located. Legend or reality- the fact remains that the ruins of Bhangarh have a magnetic mystic occult associated with them and does seem to impart the traveler with more than one occasion for fear, eeriness, and the feeling of being watched over by some unknown entity! Among the scary incidents reported here after evening are: 18

a. real scary female screaming is heard(The princess?) b. Loud maniacal laughter(Tantrik or the baba?) c. Lights going on and off d. sudden loud wind and dust storms occurring all of a sudden. e. Ghostly figures and shadows moving around. Many have also reported the feeling of horror and dread near the ruins even in the day time. Some passages are dark without light and it is scary to even think of going inside. The ASI says that the "official" reason for the warning is that wild animals could be present after 6 PM and since the area is not well lit, the place may also present a safety issue. But ASI who are you kidding; we all know very well why you have out that notice. Local legends speak of so many brave men who tried to go here at night and never returned!!!

19

Bhangarh is so scary and has such reputation of being haunted; it always turns up in the list of most haunted places in the world!

20

AGHORI
What kind of feeling does the word cannibalism arouses? Well most of us would get disgusted, but there are people who follow cannibalism in India even now.

INDIA a land of oldest society, oldest civilization, but all this time in the Indian history there was a sect which was dedicated to Lord Shiva in terms of cannibalism and other very crude animal behavior. The Aghori or Aghouri sect has its origin in ancient Vedic system, even though these people dont follow the main stream vedic system but the root is the same. The word Aghori in Sanskrit language means terrifying a- ghori most of the Hindi speaking people like me would definitely have heard the phrase Ghor Kaliyug, Ghor paap etc. It is the same Ghor,theoretically these people dont attach them to anything mortal. They do things which a common like me finds to be terrifying, so they overcome the terror by going through it, since they
21

do it regularly its a common thing for them.

In Hinduism there is no evil, everything is emended from Brahman, so how could anything in the universe be impure? This is the philosophy of these Aghoris or Aghori Babas that is what I come to know about them and according to the Aghoris anything in the universe is the manifestation of God

22

itself. So everything is pure as God and is God like.

The Aghoris mainly worship Lord Shiva according to the sect every human is a Shava (Dead Body) with emotions and they should try to become Shiva by denying the human pleasures and involving in the strange rituals of Aghoris. The root of Aghoris is old as Hinduism itself but the sect in its present form has its origin in Kinaram, he was an Aghori ascetic and lived for about 150 years. He was believed to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva and had many Siddhis through tapas, rituals and then helped the people with his Siddhis. There is a temple in Varanasi for the Baba and its the most sacred for
23

Aghoris, the Aghoris are said to be the human symbol of Lord Shiva itself. The Aghori lives in a cemetery (Shamshan), the living place for Lord Shiva; this is the representation that the final abode for everyone is the cemetery. And many of the Aghoris roamed around naked in order to represent the true humans and their detachment from this world of mortals who live in the world of illusion. By this they transcend beyond human feelings of love, hatred, jealously, pride, etc.

24

There are many Aghoris walking in the streets of northern India with Kapala (Skull Cup). These Aghoris eat anything when I said anything it really means anything like rotten food, food from the dumps, the animal feces, animal urine etc. They regularly perform rites (Some are so crude that I cant explain that here) in order to attain the highest level in aghoratva, the enlightenment. The final part of the ritual requires a minimum of one eating of putrid human flesh, and also meditating on sitting on the dead corpse, this is the symboli of their rise from Shava to Shiva. They follow the simple rule that the universe resides in them and then try to attain

25

Enlightenment

by

self

realization.

As the Ascetic advances in his search, he attain many Siddhis, slowly they gain control over the environment. They seems to posses power to cause a rain or to stop one, this is strange but this is true, even though they posses these kind of powers they will not use it, as the basic rule of Aghori itself is to deny human pleasure. So the change on climate is an event which should happen on its own, whatever the Ascetic says happens, I have also met few people
26

who have direct relation with the Ascetic and I cannot question the Veracity of the daatas. It is also said or believed by the people that when he curses someone, every wish of the person comes true. There have been many Aghoris in the past. Some of them are Dattareya, Kinaram, Talinga Swamy, Aghoreshwar Mahaprabhu Baba Bhagwan Ram. Now I will or describe you the work of some of the Aghoris:-

1. TALINGA SWAMI- Talinga Swami of Banaras was a very powerful Aghori and may be the only one performed the worship of Lord Shiva at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple using his own filth. And he could do so because he had full realization that filth as much part of the universal soul as roses, holy water, etc.The priest who saw Talinga Baba doing such dirty and strange things slapped him and ordered him to get out. But at the
27

same night Lord Shiva appeared in the dream of the king of Banaras and told the king about his anger since someone insulted Talinga Swami who was Lord Shivas very essence, then the king set out to find the priest and punish him, but the priest was mysteriously found dead.

2. DHUNI WALE BABA- This is about a small incident about an Aghori Baba who lived in Burhanpur (near Khandwa, MP) and this is what happen. There used to be an old Baba
28

and the people used to call him Dhuni Wale Baba, but now there is a Samadhi of Dhuni Wale Baba in Khandwa where people still go in a large number to worship him, as he used to stay there and roam to the adjoining areas and used to eat whatever came to his way like rotten food or thrown away food. He used to utter obscenities if anyone talked to him or disturbed him even when he was doing nothing, he used to stare in the sky for several hours and talk to himself. One day I saw person come to him and touch his feet and ask him to bless his daughter who had not been married in spite of their best efforts, the Baba utter obscenities on him. Cursed his mother and family members and said that his daughter would go to hell. Then the man went away contended and after three days he came with some sweets and gave it to the Baba who again uttered some obscenities on him. I intercepted him on the way and ask him why he respected this useless old mad man. The
29

man told that he is a great Baba and has many people problems, if he curses you then your problem is bound to be solved, Aghori Babas are like that and offered me a piece of Barfi (Indian Sweet) which I gladly ate, then I saw many other instances when the Baba utter obscenities, people used to still go behind him even while he used to answer the call of nature. He even used to throw his feces all over the people who come behind him and they used to collect and take it home as a Prasad (Holy).

Now the Philosophy behind this is as follows:30

Aghoris are indifferent to everything. For them there is nothing good, ideal or bad, everything that exists in this world is essentially made up of the same thing. Hence they utter obscenities, make take liquor eat dead human flesh and do other things which might appear to Uncivilized to us. We should respect the way chosen by these people for enlightenment. After all Lord Shiva was also an Aghori yes he was, his another name. Many people think that Aghori Babas kill people for their rituals. But there is no strong evidence for this, since the sect has most of its rites and rituals a secret, we dont have exact number of Aghoris in India, but you can always find few number of Aghoris in the Kinaram Aghori Temple in Varanasi. Aghori also believe that a maximum of seven human murders will be forgiven. Human sacrifices do not count towards the murder total but are themselves very uncommon. Aghoris are also in some popular culture as:31

1. The Aghori was featured on the first episode of the new Ripleys Believe It or not television series hosted by Dean Cain, the program highlighted the Aghoris cannibalistic rituals. 2. In 2006 a Greek documentary by the name of Shivas Flesh shows a Varanasi Aghori by name Black Boom Baba and the existing faith around Aghoris in Varanasi. 3. In the Hindi film Raaz the mystery continues by Mohit Suri, J Brand on hill plays the role of an American executive who becomes an Aghori. 4. In the Blockbuster Telgu film Arundhati, Sonu Sood the Antagonist is a converted Aghori. 5. An Aghori was the main character in the episode of Adalat, an Indian Television courtroom drama series; the episode was named Qatil Aghori meaning Murderer Aghori.
32

LOHAGHAT
A beautiful place located in the foot of the mighty Himalayas is also the beautiful state, undisputed in terms of its natural beauty and grandeur called Uttarakhand. Lohaghat is located in the Champawat district of the same state and is famous for its Ghostly Haunting that too in a Bungalow called as The Abbey. Readers and people would be interested to know that this was the same district where the famous hunter turned conservationist Jim Corbett began his career of hunting down man eating tigers and leopards.

33

Now coming back to the story, the Bungalow named Abbey was constructed in the early 1900s and named after the owner, this Bungalow then converted in a hospital and that is when the spooky experiences started to begun to manifest them. There are reported to be some strange on goings that are come to the hospital by which it prompted everyone to raise their levels of suspicion, the most apparent and strange thing was of a Doctor, who could accurately predict a patients death. He would then transfer such patients to his house which was called as Mukhti Kothri, where the dead body of the patient would be found the very next day! Naturally the rumors were rampant as to whether be these cold-blooded murders? Or were the deaths due to natural causes? Or was the doctor indeed remarkable in predicting death with such precision and accuracy figure out the exact reason, however the gossip went flying fast and high that since The Abbey was the first house to come up in this region, this could have angered the gods residing on the hill-tops. And as if to support the local rumors and gossips, it is
34

believed that due to the wrath of the gods that nextto-nothing development of the region has taken place, to this day! Hence the place never really prospered.

Lots of ghostly sightings including the ones called Bhoot ki Daang- where two ghostly figures are to be seen walking on the road holding hands, continue to this very day, Lohaghat apart from its unparallel natural beauty does offer the adventures and thrill seekers a good reason for an exciting visit.

35

How to get there/Accommodation

Regular buses and taxis ply from Champawat. The nearest rail road station is at Tanakpur, located at a distance of 89kms. Champawat is also well connected by roads to Nainital (130kms) Haldwani (190kms), Tanakpur (75kms) and Pithorgarh (74kms). The Kurmanchal tourist hotel, Chand guest house, Kamal hotel and state tourism guest house are some of the Accommodation facilities that can be availed of by the visitors, however prior booking is mandatory.

36

TUNNEL-103-SHIMLA
The Kalka-Shimla narrow gauge railway travels along a mostly mountainous route and is known for the breathtaking views of the hills and the valleys. A tunnel numbered 103 apparently contains a ghostly

Phenomenon in the form of a British Sahib or Gentleman by the name of colonel Barog.All though there is not much known about him other than the fact that he was assigned the task of finishing the construction of tunnel-103.So he began the work
37

with real earnest and starting digging the tunnel from either ends of the hill. However on reaching the center he found that his calculations were incorrect and the tunnels from the either and werent aligned at the center. He was imposed a fine of one rupee which was a big amount in those days, so ashamed of his error that he just shot himself. Its the spirit of colonel. Barog mounted on a horse that is most frequently seen the one interesting feature about the spirit of this gentleman is that he walks back to the humans who encounter him. Built between 1901-1903 tunnel No 103 is the last and one of the longest tunnels on the Kalka Shimla line,

38

there have been numerous reports about people who have confronted the spirit and have had long discussions with him. Apparently the spirit vanishes as suddenly as it appears, there have also been reports of a woman whose Apparition is seen and heard screaming down the railway line into the tunnel and disappearing into the walls. Also seen is a man asking for match sticks to light his cigarettes

39

And many more sightings are a common order of the day and most people avoid venturing into the tunnel on foot even during the day, let alone the night there are hardly any reports that indicate the sightings of the spirits, while travelling in the train when it passes through the tunnel. Tourists and Adventurous, the next time when you are on your way to Shimla in the Kalka-Shimla mountain railway, just watch out for tunnel-103.

40

How to get there/Accommodation

Shimla is well connected by road through National Highway-22 and easily accessible by the buses and taxis from the nearest city of Chandigarh. The Kalka Shimla mountain railway as mentioned above is not to be missed experience and is a fascinating way to reach Shimla. Kalka is the nearest rail road station and is well connected to all most all the major cities of India. While in Shimla local buses and taxi can be easily hired for sightseeing. There are numerous hotels, rest houses, cottages and Guest houses suiting everyones style and budget. Prior bookings on most of them are possible through the internet.

41

THE LAMBIDHAR MINES

Imagine a township thrilling with 50,000 people, goring about their daily nerve wracking jobs of Quarrying limestone from the mines below and living a life of hardship yet contentment. Now imagine the same township completely abandoned. Surrounding by the mighty Himalayas and the coniferous forests, you have come right to your next Ghostly Dwelling in India. The location of the lambidhar mines could hardly have had a more ironical setting; mussorie was often treated as the summer capital by the Britishers.

During the pre-independent era surrounded by the

42

lofty Himalayan peaks and thick coniferous forests mussorie is been a heaven for Indians and foreigners alike, who during the peak summer season came and visit here for a refreshing retreat. However the discovery of vast amount oflime stones on one of the eastern slopes surrounding mussorie, changed all that. The minesbuzzed with activity and also encroached on the lives of workers who faced the wrath of the countless fetal diseases that came alone with the job. Lime turns human tissue into stone; hence the deaths were extremely painful, however timely intervention by the government, both on humanitarian and environmental grounds brought the entire mining operations to a complete standstill. The mines were closed and the entire work force and the families abandoned the township in a hurried evacuation, well not everyone left at least not the one who is dead. Its since the abandoning of the township that the ghostly encounters started taking shape.

43

According to the local there are quite few extraordinary phenomenons which take place here at night. First are the painful cries and groans of the patients heard from the towns hospital. The once fully-equipped hospital, which now laysruins, is one of the most haunted places of the township and rightly so. Since some of the insured who later succumbed to their injuries, were treated here. Second is the ghost of young army officer murdered a few years back? Apparently, his murder was planned by his girlfriend and his newly acquired boyfriend and took the victim completely by surprise. His ghost is seen running to the spot his murder in utter disbelief, the third is that of a black shadow which attacks or blocks anyone traversing
44

the mountain path skirting the township. The last but not the least is the horrendous cries of fear heard from the abandoned staff quarters overlooking the deep valley where the mines are located. Many trucks quarrying the limestone to and from the mines have met their doom by skidding across the narrow perilous road. Even a helicopter carrying some high profiles dignitaries crashed here in 2001 killing 5 of the 6 abroad. Eye witnesses recall that the helicopter started losing height as soon as it entered the valley of the mines. To this day, many car and buses which travel on the road adjoining the valley at night are often swerved off the road by some invisible force and sometimes ending in tragic results. So the next time you are in mussorie, take a day off to visit the township and check out whether the spooky meter indeed crosses the threshold or not.

45

How to get there/Accommodation

Mussorie is connected to Delhi and other major cities by road. Dehradun is the nearest railway station; taxis are easily available for mussorie as are the buses at regular intervals from Delhi and Dehradun. Hotels, Rest houses/Cottages of all kinds and needs are available for accommodation. A through research on the internet and advance booking can ensure a peaceful and memorable stay.

46

THE HAUNTED ROAD

I myself strongly believe in ghosts and spirits and also do believe in God too. The story that I am going to tell you is about friends uncle after listening to this story I got Goosebumps chill. So thats why I am sharing this with you.

The story is of Mr. Raja (My Friends Uncle) whom I met on a few occasions he was really nice guy and is in government job and was living in a village was Himachal Pradesh in India at that time with his family. His office 15kms away from his home and he used to travel with his bike. It was the month of March and you all know that is a closing time of old financial year and starting of new financial year. So the government offices have to work late night to complete their pending logs and files. It was around 12 am in night when he came out of the office and it was raining heavily. Uncle always used to travel by highway but that day, he want to take a shortcut because it was raining and he want to
47

reach home as soon as possible. The shortcut was a kind of haunted road but he thought the nothing will happen and these all are just rumors and nothing it was a chilling windy winter night and rain on top of that. The trees were shaking due to the face of the wind and were making horrible noises. Uncle frightened and started chanting SHRI HANUMAN CHALISA (An Indian holy song) and safely travelled some kilometers.

After travelling some more kilometers he forgot that he was frightened and noticed that it is just about to be morning as darkness was getting off, he thought that now he is safe and its going to be morning but
48

suddenly he looked at his watch and noticed that is was 1:15 am, he said oh god how come its 1:15 am right now as I thought that day light is just about he come. Then he noticed that it was not going to be morning but it was moonlight and that was confusing him with daylight and then he relaxed and speed up his bike. After approximately 10 minutes of driving he noticed a lady on the right side of the road asking for a lift as first he thought she is in real need and then suddenly something strike his mind and he again speed up his bike. Again after 5 minutes of driving he saw the same lady asking for the lift, Mr. Raja said Oh shit how come she is here, she was around a half a kilometer back. Uncles body started shaking with fear and he just forgot about god and thought that this is something unusual, he again speed up his bike, as he want to reach home as soon

49

as possible before anything bad happens to him.

After sometime again he noticed the same lady asking for the lift and this time, she screamed for helpPLEASE HELP ME I am lost here please stop, she was wearing a white Sari with heavy jewelry but uncle did not stop and said that I am going to die today that lady started running with the bike at almost as the same speed and starting saying please stop and take me with you, I want go home. Uncle was driving the bike at a speed of seventy to eightyKilometers per hour at that time and was shivering like hell. Uncle try to speed up more but it was not possible as there was some
50

strong force from behind which was stopping him from racing his bike. The lady started laughing & crying at the same time and suddenly said, I died at this same road many years before and this is your time today. Her face changed from sweet and innocent to scary and weird, uncle was horrified that he started shivering again but had not lost his consciousness. He just changed the last gear and move his arm on the accelerator until the end he never looked back to see her. She followed uncle for another two kilometers or so and after that he reached a place where some guards were sitting lighting up campfire, uncle just stopped the bike in front of them and asked for some water. After drinking water he told them what had happen to him and the guards said to uncle YOU HAVE DONE A VERY GOOD THING BY NOT STOPPING THE BIKE, because if you would have stopped the bike

51

you

would

not

have

been

alive

by

now.

The oldest guard told to uncle that I am living here for the last fifteen years and in these all years, I have heard about more than hundred accidents of cars and bikes on that HAUNTED ROAD. He told uncle that God is with you that is why you are still alive.

52

THE GRAVEYARD
FOR this story, I would like to mentions the names of my three colleagues who were to play an important role in the incidents o follow. I was very good friend with the three of them that are Nakshatra, Vineet and Ashish, Nakshatra was my neighbor and also from my hometown i.e. Meerut and Vineet is from a Punjabi family and was from Delhi and last but not the least Ashish who was also from Meerut. We all shared a very good bond with each other and were very close friends, so at one day when we all were sitting in my home having dinner and after having dinner, my friend Nakshatra told us that there was an old graveyard near Victoria Park.

53

One of my friends Vineet also told us about some strange kind of happenings there, the road leading to the Graveyard was lonely and was generally avoided by especially at night. After that I told to Nakshatra that he should inform everyone not to venture out on that particular stretch, Ashish was a total non believer and scoffed at the way idea of Ghosts and the Paranormal. The rest of us were intrigued by the story and wanted to know more but Nakshatra himself have limited knowledge after we all slept and soon it was the final day of my friends visit to Meerut and we all had a great time.

Once after dinner my all friends started packing

54

their bags as they had to leave early in the morning. After packing the bags they all sat down and started to remember all the great time and moments that we all have in the last couple of days, suddenly the topic of the Old Graveyard was brought up by Nakshatra. Seeing Ashish scoffed again, he was a bit irritated and dared to go to the Graveyard and spend an hour over there alone. Ashish was a bit high and in the spar of the moment, he immediately accepted the dare. He stood up immediately and began to walk out of the house, we tried to restrain him but to no avail. Being a teetotaler and in full control of my senses, I reluctantly decided to accompany him in his nonaccrual adventure.

55

Ashish was in high as we walked towards the Graveyard, the road was very lonely without any signs of habitation. Its must been two or three kilometers away from my house and it was exactly 12 by the time we reached there. It was an old cemetery not been used frequently by the locals, it somehow had an air of Nostalgia about it also it was very cold at night as it was the winter season and nights in Meerut in winter can be quite cold. We reached the gate and were stopped by an Old man who introduced himself as the security guard Rehman Chacha; he suspiciously asked us the reason for coming there at such an unearthly hour? Ashish immediately jumped in and told the guard that one of his relatives was buried here and he had to visit him that night as he has come to Meerut for a short time and was to fly off to London from Delhi the next morning.

56

Rehman Chacha sympathized and told us to make it quick, we slowly made our way inside the Graveyard it seemed like a normal Cemetery and there was a cemented path in the centre with the graves lying on the either side of the road. There was absolute silence except for the occasional howling of the strays who roamed freely in and around the Cemetery; there was also a bench at a short distance away. Ashish who was still high told me that he wanted to sit there and spend a couple of minutes and enjoy the solitude, I was feeling a bit uncomfortable but relented to Ashishs persistent request we all sat down and Ashish immediately put his hand in his pocket and take out a Cigarette. I
57

tried to stop him against doing so as it would disturb the sanctity of the place, but he was in no mood to listen and had his way. So after spending few more uncomfortable minutes on the bench, Nakshatra told me that he wanted to move further inside and want to check out the rest of the place. We had already walked a couple of paces ahead when he told me that he suddenly had this overwhelming urge to pee, I immediately told him to refrain in doing so and that it was a high time that we left the place, but stubborn as he was. Nakshatra didnt listen to my advice winking slowly at me he went off to some nearby bushes which was a little away from the place where we all were sitting, with a promise to return quickly. The bushes were thick and I could not see him at all from my current location, as the place was not suiting me suddenly I felt weak and found it very difficult to breathe as if someone was trying to squeeze the living life out of me. I immediately dropped to my knees on the Cemetery, as my gaze turned further ahead of the Cemetery. I could strangely see a shadow kind of form slowly
58

moving away from me, I seemed to stop for a moment as if to cast an glance at me before slowly melting away into nothing less.

My head was starting spinning and a feeling of horror took over me affecting my ability to think clearly. With a great difficulty I regained my composure and then it dawned on me that Nakshatra still hadnt returned, I called out him but there was no response at all. I slowly made my way towards the bushes where Nakshatra was gone a short while ago, and I got horrified by what I saw as he was lying senseless on the ground. Not knowing what to expect? I got down and shook him vigorously and it
59

worked as Nakshatra started slowly regained consciousness. Once Nakshatra was full conscious, he told me that he heard some kind of movement near the bushes where he was peeing and suddenly felt as if someone was standing right behind him. He instantly experienced the same feeling of weakness and breathlessness as me, before he could call out to me he felt a stinging bow on his back which rendered him unconscious until the time I shook him awake. He was still feeling some pain near his shoulder, later when I had a look at it I saw a clear imprint of five fingers clearly visible on his upper back and the whole area had become blue due to the clotting of the blood. Not wanting to spend another minute over there, we proceeded towards the gate of the Cemetery and suddenly we were stopped by a young man who asked us what we are doing at the Cemetery at such a late hour? We quickly told him that we had taken permission from the old man known as Rehman Chacha and also told us our
60

ordeal; he was surprised at hearing the name of Rehman Chacha and told us that no one except him stood guard at the Cemetery for the last five years. Some people had earlier told him about an old man being seen around the Cemetery especially late in the evening, but he had never come across Rehman Chacha or whatever the old man was, this was too much for Nakshatra to bear and he fainted at the gate itself. We carried him slowly to the guards cabin at the entrance after which I immediately called my other friends to come with a vehicle and take us back to home, it was close to 3am by the

61

time

we

were

at

my

home.

On relating the incident to others they cursed us for our folly and told us that we were very lucky to get away unharmed. Nakshatra was down with high fever for the next couple of days and had to stay in Meerut. Being a religious person I promised to myself that I would never be a part of such activities in future, after that when I met Nakshatra a couple of months later, I found that he had changed a little bit and was also wearing a Taaviz (a Locket)
62

given to him by one of the Pundit at a temple in his hometown. This is a definitely an amazing transition of him from a skeptic to a believer.

63

GHOST NEED CIGARETTES

The incident that I am going to tell you in this particularly story is a true personal experience by me which happened in my hometown a long time ago.

THE story goes like this one day while I was coming from my friends sister marriage around 1 am and the road was lonely attached with the park of at side of the road was at peace and the trees were standing motionless and quietly as I was starting to fear a little bit as my home was still a little bit far away from the place. The place and the park was famous for its ghostly huntings and happenings especially at the road on which I was walking at that time also it was late night, so nobody was there not quite like the day time at which the road was a busy one with all the vehicles and people going here and there for their work or whatever. So while I was moving quietly for a few kilometers on the road, I heard someone calling my name RAHUL from back, was shocked to listen my name been called at
64

that time and also from behind and also on a quiet and calm road when there is no one around. So I was a bit confused as what to do now?? Also there is a tradition in India and the sayings of elders that DONT LOOK BACK AT NIGHT WHEN SOME ONE OR SOME KIND OF UNKNOWN VOICE CALL YOU FROM BEHIND as they believe that it must be a ghost or a spirit. Well I would say that its all about your belief in these things, and also at that time I had nothing in mindother than that reaching home as soon as possible, so I didnt think of it much and looked back suddenly and I was shocked to find that there was a middle aged man coming out of nothing but darkness from few meters behind me and was calling me by name. (Let me tell you that the road and the nearby area was totally alone and lonely, so the possibility of somebody

65

there

was

totally

ruled

out.)

I halted there only and was trying to make out if I know him, after that he started walking straight towards me, I was really frightened at that time anybody will be. He came towards me and asked me RAHUL DO YOU HAVE A CIGARETTE?By that time I was confused that how he know my name as couldnt recognized him at all. Suddenly I saw his legs and to my surprise his feet were backwards, I had already heard about it several times but saw it for the very first time in my life and could hardly believe my eyes. By that time I was that he was not a human being as the feeling of his presence was
66

vey unearthly and the temperature around had suddenly dropped, it was chilling out there and I couldnt do much and was stuck there looking at him. He asked me again Do you have a cigarette, I was startled as I dont smoke at all so there was no chance of me carrying a cigarette. I said No, the man told Ok you can go now but do bring me a cigarette tomorrow? Come here at the same time tomorrow? I will be here waiting for you. Then I dont forget to bring it as I have no other option agreeing him and left the place, when I reached my home I straight away told the incidence to my family and friends and one of my friend who was a believer and knowledgeable person of paranormal happenings. He told me that the man I met on the way must be a ghost of some man who was very fond of cigarettes and probably had died around the place.

67

But as he had demanded cigarette, its necessary for you to provide him with it or otherwise he will continue to haunt you in future as well. Now that I know I met a ghost, I was trembling with fear and was really afraid to go to that road again. My friend assured me that he will come with me and will stand at a good distance from the road as the ghost has only called me and he will not like the idea of bringing someone with you. Anyhow I gathered the courage to go again, I bought a packet of cigarettes and a matchbox and went on the same road next
68

night at the very same time. My friend was standing at some distance which was actually a bit far away, but still I had a surety that someone is with me. Suddenly I heard my name from the back Rahul have you brought the cigarette? I looked back and the mans ghost was there looking at me and his feets were still backwards. Oh god! Whenever I saw it, a chill run through my spine but I was trying to remain normal and I told YES and gave the packet of cigarettes and the matchbox to him, he was very pleased to see the whole packet of cigarettes and said Thank you very much and now you can go. He move his feets backward and got disappeared into nothing once again, I couldnt believe my eyes. After he got vanished I felt a huge relief and without wasting a second I straight away started to walk away towards my friend, after a bit I reached my friend and my friend asked if everything is fine? I told him all that happened between me and the ghost. We were relaxed now and left the place, after
69

that incident I never used that road even in daytime also. I also kept hearing several incidents from other people as well as about the road. I still dont know whether I should believe in them or not, but I do believe what all has happened with me which I can say was definitely a SUPERNATURAL thing.

70

THE SANJAY FOREST

THE Sanjay Forest in Delhi is a forest which is been spread over a range of ten kilometers. Sanjay Van is right at the middle of the busting capital of India. The place is in the urban location but still is not short of haunting that too reported on a daily basis, there is also a road which runs through the heart of this forest and its in this tract of land at where there is a lady dressed in a white sari is often seen asking the people for a lift in their cars or in other vehicle.

71

The strange phenomenon though is that she never actually accompanies anyone. The moment the people stop near her, she just disappears. Now it must be nerve-wrecking there have also been reports of the people who have driven right through her have seen chasing the car or any other vehicle at a speed equaling the car. Many other reports just claim to have seen her sitting right on the road, with stormy cold eyes staring blankly into the jungles

beyond as there is something in the jungles or may be something happened to her in the jungles. But who knows what happened to her as thats still remains to be a mystery
72

How to get there/Accommodation

New Delhi is known throughout the world and is connected by air with all the major cities of the world. Every city in India which falls under the railway network has trains connected to the capital city, once in Delhi asking around for Sanjay van would yield you the desired direction of the location within seconds, many hotels, guest houses and dormitories can be found suiting to everyones budget and taste.
73

TWO MEN AND A GHOST COW

THIS is an old time story and is from a lot of years back and had been told to me by my friend who was about fifteen years old when this incident happened. He was from a poor family and was not educated, so was employable to do simple work like laboring at a milk farm.

In those days, the milk farms didnt have machine. Everything was done by hand, my friend and his four other workers would milk the cow in the day and in dusk they fed the cows and let gaze on the pasture. After the chores were done everyone would
74

sit together, have chai (Tea) and watch this beautiful secret. After having chai (Tea) all the men except one would take leave and return home. The one remaining was the lookout for the evening that was, that was basically the daily routine. On one particular evening the men let out the cows for grazing, they thought they had let all the cows out but realizedlater; there was still one inside the shade didnt want to leave. They tried to persuade the cow out by pushing and pulling her but she was too stubborn, so they brought in some dry grass just in case she got hungry and left her alone. They closed the doors to the shade and sat for tea.

75

That evening was my friends turned to act as a lookout. When the rest left, my friend prepared some tea and sat to admire the final minutes of the sunset alone. While he was engulfed by the beauty of the Mother Nature, he suddenly heard a greeting Namaste Bhaiji (Hello Brother). Two men dressed like milk farmers approached from nowhere. In the villages it is not usual to have perfect strangers coming from nowhere and joining you for the tea, so by considering that my friend
76

poured them tea and they talked right through sunset. Their names were Manoj and Suresh and claimed to have come from a village nearby, although my friend knew almost everyone from the neighboring villages but didnt not able to recognize them. My friend remembered that night was a particularly quiet night. Surprisingly he said he could hear frogs, crickets and leaves rustling softly but clearly even over their conversation. Not only he could hear the sounds of nature, he also heard that sounded very unnatural to him like he heard low rumbling sounds that he thought are words being recited, but they didnt sound human at all. The words were coming from the shade, he looked at Manoj and Suresh and they said they heard the words too. My friend and Manoj went to check and found nobody except the cow in the shade; suddenly Manoj accused himself to answer the natures call. So he went behind the shade and my friend returned back to Suresh, but fined that Suresh was not there and thought that he
77

also had gone to answer natures call. He waited and waited but the two men never materialized. Bewildered, my friend searched the entire shade from inside and outside and also went to the fields to look for them, but both Manoj and Suresh were nowhere to be found. He asked himself Where they could have gone to? and found it impolite that his visitors left without saying goodbye and was quite crossed and made his way back to the farm from the fields. As he was nearing the farm he heard a loud moan, it was coming from the inside of the shade and was the same low rumble voice that he heard before, but this time it sounded like someone is bellowing in pain. My friend rushed to the shade as fast as he can and came to know that it sounding like an animal who is been slaughtered, he fear for the stubborn cow in the shade. He straight away crashed onto the shade doors and they sprang open and find out that the cow was not there and in place of cow there was some grass and a huge pool of blood.
78

My friend was very scared and run out of the shade into the pastures with the other cows. He thought again that how can Manoj and Suresh disappeared so swiftly? The rumble sounds he heard, the cows disappearance and now the pool of blood. The only logic explanation he could come up with was that the two men were really Ghosts! He could not stay on the open field after all that happened and returned to the farm and had stayed awake the entire night, jumping at the slightest sound or movement in the shadows. Just before the sunrise the other workers started to come in, and I told them about the ghostly incident that happened here last night. To my friends surprise they all started laughing as he was telling them some kind of joke, and send that Manoj and Suresh had been real and many of the men had seen their ghost too, and told a story about them to my friend as many years ago at the very same milk farm two workers stole a cow and sell it to a Muslim butcher at the open market. After that, both of them got caught and were
79

very badly beaten and stoned to death by the angry villagers. My friend still was still insisting that the cow was butchered at that night and led his fellow workers into the shade to show them the huge pool of the blood, but he himself got shocked as the cow was standing there safe and sound, there was also no blood anywhere on the ground. But mysteriously that cow died three days later.

80

THE LITTLE BLACK TYRANT

KAVERI, an old friend of my Aunt was ill; my aunt learning of the news met up with four of her friends and went to see Kaveri at her house. All the women were relieved to find out that Kaveri was doing better. They stayed there and chatted all evening and at nearly 8pm the five women left Kaveris place with home being quite far from there. So if they were to walk through roads it would save them at least half an hour if they went through Amrtala.

81

Amrtala is not a village; there are no houses or people living there. Its just a jungle centre spot where there are only pathways that led to other villages. The five women each had used Amrtala on many occasions when going to and from other villages; this day wasnt any different for them. So they walked blissfully in the dark without a concern and reached a junction of pathways, they separated; three of them said their goodbyes and left into different directions. Lakshmi and my Aunt stayed with Kaveri a while longer and talked sitting under the moonlight shadows of the rustling leaves as the night was cool and comfortable which made them loose the track of time. When Lakshmi looked at her watch she was shocked to learn that it was almost 10pm, my Aunt and Lakshmi stood up and give their good bye to Kaveri and went their separate ways, my aunt walked peacefully clutching a market bag in her hand. Amidst the rustling leaves and the shadow of moonlight on the ground, she suddenly saw a figure up ahead and found out that it was a little boy of four or five years.
82

My Aunt was surprised to see a little boy in the middle of nowhere and then she walked closer to the boy, she tried to make out his features but she couldnt see very easily in the dark. When the boy came forth into the light, she saw that he was very black and ugly. The boy pointed his fingers at her market bag and asked if she had meat in there, my boggled Aunt shook her head and said she had sweets in there; the boy didnt believe her and asked her to open and give him the meat that was inside. My aunt was annoyed by the boys stubbornness and she dug her hands into the bag and removed the sweets she had in there. Here take these sweets little Boy. She said The Boy shook his head and shouted. I WANT MEAT!

83

My aunt became scared, although he was a tiny figure but still she was afraid of him and realized that how unusual is the situation was, because there could not have been a mother in the village who would allow her small child to wonder about in the jungle like that. My aunt got passed him and tossed the sweets on the ground; the boy began to pick up the sweets up and throw them back at her. My aunt was at the verge of screaming, but didnt and kept herself cool, walked fast and soon she had walked almost ten meters away from the boy. When she
84

didnt hear the call for meat anymore, she turned to look and find out that the boy was standing at the spot where she had dropped the sweets. Suddenly in a blink of eye the boy was standing right in front of her barely a meter away, my aunt got panicked and let out a scream and started began to run. The boy gave chase and was still screaming for meat. She ran and ran hearing the boys footsteps but saw nothing when she turned. Soon she was out of Amrtala and ran to the first house she saw. The door opened after two minutes of hard knocking and the women asked to my aunt what happened? My aunt told her that what all she had been gone through so far, but the women wasnt surprised at all and said she had also heard of THE LITTLE BLACK TYRANT from the other women too.

85

A TRAPPED SOUL
This story is an old story as in it you will know about a soul which is immortal and is in every humanbody.

ONCE upon a time in an old forgotten village there was a man who was very lazy, on one particular summer night he woke up suddenly in the night time while sleeping and had a nightmare after that he tried to get back to sleep but was not able to as he was feeling very thirsty. He looked around and find out that all of his family were sleeping on cots under the sky, on next to him was sleeping his elder brother. Being the laziest of all he asked his brother to fetch a glass of water for him, his brother muttered something rolled over and snored on. He thought that now he would have to go inside to have a glass of water for himself. Summoning all of his strength he got up went inside.

86

After some time his brother woke up and remembers the words of his younger brother as he was told by his brother to fetch some water, then he turned around and saw him fast asleep. Knowing that his brother had never got up due to laziness, he himself made an effort and went inside to fetch some water and have some water for himself also. Inside there was a earthen pot in which the water was kept, suddenly he noticed that the lid which usually covers the pot was lying aside and was a strange
87

observation for him, but being in a sleepy mood he just shrugged it off and filled tumbler from the pot and drank water to his satisfaction. Then filled it with water for his brother and put the lid on the pot and moved his way out, his brother was still enjoying a sound sleep. He shook his brother violently in order to wake him up but the brother refused to open his eyes. Noticing that something was wrong, he kept the tumbler aside and felt his pulse. There was no pulse at all his brother was dead in the dead of the night under the starry sky, beside the shady tree and surrounded by peaceful cool night breeze he was sitting beside the corpse of his brother. Suddenly a weird thought stuck him and he realized something, the truth downed upon him with such a force that he screamed and fainted.The next day, the earthen pot which was used to keep water was flung in the river with its lid still closed. To this day the villagers believed that when the lazy man had got up, he left his body behind. His last wish was to have some water, so the thirsty spirit went into the pot and fell asleep? There in the pot itself
88

when the elder brother put the lid on the pot the spirit got trapped inside. So he spirit didnt get the time to go back in the body of his brother as the lid was being closed. Thats why his brother got dead and till now no one knows where the pot is, with the soul of a man trapped inside.

89

MUNJA
India is a land of diverse religions, caste and sub castes and has inherited a treasure of supernatural myths and legends; there is a typical segment of haunted beliefs in the different states of this vast land. The legendary ghosts are typically classified based on their religion, time and nature of death, place of death and so on. The deeper you study these legends, the deeper you will gain an understanding of how these Indian ghost stories actually support the traditional and religious framework of India.

OF the many age-old castes in India are the Brahmins- the highly learned community known for their huge contribution to the esteemed knowledge based in India. The legend of Munja an Indian myth famous since ages has its roots within the Brahman community.

90

Of the many religious traditions within this community is the Yajnopavita (also known as poite). This ceremony takes place when a Brahman boy (aged between 8to13) is admitted into Brahman hood (i.e. he is eligible to recite the Gayatri Mantra). This ceremony is marked by some holy offerings and rituals onto a Havan (homa or consecrated fire) and the wearing of the sacred thread. It is believed that if a boy dies in ten days (roughly a week) after his poite ceremony he is transformed into this legendary ghost called Munja. The Munja is a supposed a ghost having a sadistic profile, he haunts a Pipal (ficus religosa) tree and is on the lookout for vulnerable victims.
91

It is said that a wrath of Munja can be invited when a victim tries to disturb and/or insult his abode. There have been cases where the victim have been reported to have pelted the Pipal tree with stones introduced domestic or human waste, consumed liquor sitting beneath the tree and so on. The Munja typically haunts girl and women who dispose off left overs of the meals (like bones, etc) have been reported to be tormented by the Munja.The Munja avenges this insult in furious ways, the simple stories tell how the Munja pelted stones at naughty children, the stones became grazing as reports tell how this ghost haunts it victims possessing them till they are ill to death, sometimes hitting the bucket. There are also incidents wherein the Munja pricked the victim using thorns or scorched them using fire.

92

Indians believe that the best way to avoid the wrath of such an Indian ghost is by adding any activity which might invite the Munjas attention. Villagers used to build platforms around the Pipal tree and tied the sacred thread around its bark; exorcists have been reported to use water to ward off the Munja from its victims.

93

CHUDAIL
India is a land of myths and legends- centuries of profound history has given this land endless fables rising from every nook and corner. When it comes to ghostly icons, one obliviously drawn to the globally acclaimed vampires, werewolves and Halloween charades. However it is quite interesting to note that Indian Ghost stories have its own counterparts to complete with this global folk fare some of which have more horrifying track records.

THE Indian counterpart for the Witch is called Chudail or Chudel (which is pronounced as chewdale). In many places, it is also referred to as Daayan (pronounced as Dye-en) although there are many conceptual differences of opinions between these two terms regardless of their common origin. A Chudail is an Indian witch or a female ghost and is believe to arise from the death of a woman during child birth. Indian witch stories have many variations across the different states of India. For example- the north Indian states often believe that the Chudail can change its physical form and lure
94

young men. Once she lures them into a lonely place, she pounces on them to either kill or to have physical contact with them. In both the cases the victim is supposedly drained off his life, the Chudail is supposed to live near graveyard or deep inside the forests.

To prevent the birth of a Chudail from the death of a woman (during her child birth suicide due to social harassment) the villagers (in older days) used to spread mustard seeds at their doors. In rare cases, tantric were called to conduct holy rituals (exorcism) to bid the dead a peaceful goodbye. In the western
95

and eastern parts of India, the Chudail is believed to look like a Hag (an old woman with disturbing looks) who lures small children away from their families and then kills them. Some also believe that she eats little children, so as to keep herself younger through centuries. In the western regions of India the Chudail is sometimes referred to as Haadal (pronounced as huddle) however unlike the beliefs of the north Indian people living in the western regions believe that the Haadal haunts a chinch (tamarid) tree or an old vad (banyan) tree. When people prawn to ghostly attacks (based on their birth charts) comes in the vicinity of this tree, she haunts them to fulfill her unfinished business. A tantric is then called to interrogate with the victim so as to understand the Haadals story and negotiate her demands. People from the state of Maharashtra also believe that the one who dares to strike a nail through the bark of the tree supposedly haunted by the Chudail (or a Haadal) will not only free his village from the Witchs torment but will also gain good luck for his family for the next seven
96

generations. This act needs to be done at the stroke of midnight on a no moon day (amavas).

Owing to Superstitions pertaining with- in the Indian system, there have been acts of tragedies and social injustice taking place through centuries. In older days, it is believed that when a queen could not have a child for years, she used to be pronounced as a Witch or Chudail. She was then banished from the kingdom or worse killed and this isnt the history as these scenarios are still there in our modern India. In remote villages (and sometimes in well civilized cities) a wife is held responsible for any tragedy taking place with her husband. There have been cases where the family
97

members have been banished or burnt the poor wife on account of her possibly being a Daayan.

A remarkable case that took place in a village close to A the borders of Maharashtra and Gujarat. An old woman living all alone by doing odd chores was black marked by the villagers; apparently she used to gather the little children around and used to tell those stories. Some of the villagers found this disturbing (since the children seem to enjoy her company and visit her everyday) and called up the panchayat (the village council), together they pelted the old woman till she was running past her capacity and finally fell down after her lungs gave up.
98

I believe such tragic deaths can sure result in the formation of vengeful Chudails, who might strike back for their rightful justice.

99

BRIJRAJ BHAVAN
As we all know that India with its rich and long history was ruled by the British for almost a hundred and fifty years, until 1947, when rose to freedom. The first war for independence popular as the Indian mutiny started long back in 1857, and so did this ghost story from India. Back then when the soldiers were called sepoys and India was divided into so called princely states ruled by the kings who soon surrounded to the British.

RAJASTHAN, the largest state of the republic of India is one such region which was ruled by the kings for centuries. Surely there are many haunted places in Rajasthan which would add up to the list of ghost stories from India.

100

Rajasthan even the name implies The Land of the Kings whenever we come across these vocabularies, first thing we would visualize is wars, kingdom, riches, palaces, mythology, murders, betrayals, deaths and much moreAnd so this lead to many ghost stories in Rajasthan as well as Haunted places in Rajasthan. These places lures ghost hunters from around the globe, one such historical ghost story came from Kota; Rajasthan a city on the banks of Chambal River, there is a quite a few hundred of these places in Kota; one of them being is Brijraj Bhawan- once a palace of the former
101

princely family of Kota. It is one of the haunted places in India, having a resident ghost of Major Charles Burton who while serving as the British resident to Kota was killed by Indian sepoys during the 1857 mutiny as the Brijraj Bhavan palace was the British residency and the home of Major Charles Burton,40th Bengal native infantry posted to Kota. He and family lived there for thirteen years, in May 1857 at the outbreak of mutiny Major Burton was summoned by the British general commanding the nearby Neemuch cantonment for the protection of Neemuch, a town in Madhya Pradesh. Burton was accompanied to Neemuch by his family, he returned back with his two sons on the request of the king of Kota. Nobody would know that this would turn in a haunted palace in India, the burtons arrive on Kota on December 13, 1857 meeting every mark of kindness, and this didnt last long! Two days later Major Burton saw a large party approaching the residency. He assumed these troops of Maharaja have come to pay a friendly visit, but soon the building was surrounded and entered by the soldiers
102

who had mutinied. Abandoned by all their servants, Major Burton and his two sons took refuge in an upper room with few arms that they had been able to snatch and waited for help to arrive from the King or Maharaja, while the house was looted below them. After five hours of firing, major Burton and his sons surrendered kneeling down they said their last prayers. In March, 1958 Kota was retaken by the British and the bodies of the Burtons were disinterred and buried in the Kota Cemetery with full military honors.

103

After independence, the mansion became the private property of the Maharaja of kota. In the 1970s, the government of India abolished the priory purses and privileges of the Maharajas, renovating the building and calling it as Bris Raj Bhavan. Today its not only a heritage hotel but also a Haunted destination in India where the ghost of Major Burton prevails. It is said that Charles Burton ghost still haunts the old building and susceptible guests have complained of distinctly discomforting and oppressive feelings.
104

The staff although reluctant to complain, have discussed of an English voice being heard often by the chowkidars (watchmen) that says Dont sleep, no smoking- followed by a sharp slap. It seems that the ghost of Burton still patrols the mansion.

The Haunted royal palace will surely be remembered in future, if not for the historical events that took place here then as one of the top Haunted destinations of India.

105

106

CHHALAVA
India is full of myths and legends- the root of which sometimes take you back to centuries, the historical monuments, excavation sites, abandoned villages and dark forests- each of them are haunted typically. Indians have always loved these haunts and the Indian ghost stories associated with them- the legends run through generations.

CHHALAVA (pronounced as Chhuh- lava) is one such age old legend which still haunts north-Indian villages. This legend is quite popular in the remote villages of the state of Uttar Pradesh which is also my home state. According to me a Chhalava is not a ghost as such (no tantric would be able to locate and destroy it) he is rather a spirit trapped between earth and hell. A Chhalava is supposed to be a legend dating centuries back, a notorious warrior who has punished to be trapped in transition for centuries. He is known to haunt single men (generally those who have their marriages scheduled in the near future).

107

Chhalava is different from the normal league of Indian ghosts as he will never pounce or attack his victim directly. He will follow you sometimes even for months, the villagers say it walks in the daylight in the form of an abandoned Ox-though it is much bigger and fierce looking than the normal Oxen. When it follows the victim, the chhalava gathers information about the voices of the victims family and friends (and of the victim himself). Finally when its all set, he will confront the victim in the middle of the night and call the victim in the voice of his family, friend or himself and if the victim looks back, the Chhalava will challenge him into a duel which shall last long till the first rays of the sun. If the victim loses the Chhalava will rip him off, though a person cannot win over this Indian legend, the people believe that the one who overpowers the Chhalava will be granted enormous luck for his next seven generations. There is also a village in our Uttar Pradesh in which a men was haunted by the Chhalava, Ramesh aged
108

twenty-three was a farmers son, a bachelor and is soon to be married. He was quite a well built and had a good physique. On a cold dark night (at about 11pm) Ramesh was patrolling his fields when he heard someone walking behind him and immediately felt a strong hand on his shoulder, he straight away looked back and was shocked to see a brawny tall person looking at him, the only natural fact was that the person had the lower half of an Ox and his eyes where pale white without the pupils. Ramesh, well accustomed to the local stories instantly understood what it was? The Chhalava challenged him to a duel which he had to accept and the duel started between them which lasted till the sunrise. Nobody (not even Ramesh) knows what had happened next morning, the villagers found Ramesh lying unconscious in the fields. After taking him to a local doctor it was declared that Ramesh had suffered a severe condition of paralysis, the villagers
109

asked Ramesh what was actually happened to you. Ramesh told that the last thing he could remember was he started fighting the will. Today about five years later, Ramesh is still inparalyses, though his financial condition has been improved drastically and earlier there were times when his family ate raw vegetables but today he owns a fleet of luxury cars and, is the owner of a big piece of land in his village and beyond.

110

KURSEONG DOW HILL

Indian ghost stories or Indian horror tales is widely spread as India is the land of paranormal activities. So, one can imagine the impact these paranormal activities impose on human life. India is a country with its rich history, certainly filled with mysteries is where you will legends and folktales about paranormal activities. Are they really true- well nobody knows that, but I think they are true! Does anyone believe in them? Yes I do and there are many. Unknown ghosts and deadly spirits are the points of discussion at least once in a lifetime for everyone.

RESEMBLING these flickers with some places have been part and parcel of the stories. Forests, forts, railway stations, schools, schools, houses, hills, mountains, hills, mountains and lot many places seem to have reported some of the other supernatural incidents. One such story is that of

111

Kurseong

Dow

Hill.

Kurseong, a hill station situated in Darjeeling state of West Bengal. It is blessed with a pleasant climate for the year. Locally known as Kharsang, it means Land of the white orchids in lepucha language, this town is famous mainly for schools and tourism, the mission schools and small guest-houses which else out a meager existence today last from the British rule.

112

Kurseong is also called the Good Castle by the Tibetans, it is the site of an outpost of Tibetan religious life a small lamasery. This town is quite arguably an ideal place to relax and chill out. Having known all these aspects about kurseong, very few people are aware of the may be associated with the beautiful location, this place secure its position in the list of most haunted destinations. Yes this place is definitely haunted as far as I know as it& place of many murders. Many locals have heard
113

the footsteps in the Victoria boys school especially when the school is closed for long holidays from December to March.

There are no footmarks found, neither of humans nor of animals but the footsteps is heard and countless number of paranormal behaviors and murders are reported near the dark, strange and haunted forests. They seem to be mysterious in their own way , on the stretch between the Kurseong Dow hill road and forest office, wood cutters claim to
114

have seen a headless young boy walking disappearing in the trees. Headless Boy!!- Damm, even the thought of this gives an eerie and strange feeling.

I cannot imagine what would be the peoples state of mind when they actually saw this. The apparition walks down the roads and then slips into the woods. Locals feel as if they are been watched and followed and also people here have been reported to have an uncanny, depressive and strange kind of feeling. However no proofs of any supernatural activity have
115

been found, some say these are true even I also say that this is all true, while some believe that these are just rumors. But the fact remains that the miserable and strange feeling of people has been so intense that it has led to multiple suicide and murders.

116

SHIMLA
After spending months of dreary routine, people love spending a couple of days pampering themselves to the freshmens and calm of a nearby holiday destinations- and we Indians are no exception either. However, owing to the vastness of this golden land the geographical density changes the destination of Holiday Destination in the various parts of the country-up in the North West, it is the adventurous great Indian desert, the northern region adored by the great Himalayas, the east enjoying the mega rivers and the Bay of Bengal while the west escaping to the scene coasts. Lots of other regions enjoy in the more fascinating ways, but kind of time consuming to focus on them.

THE northern region of this country enjoys a fresh, yet somewhat chilly weather all thanks to the various mountain ranges (including the Himalayas). Himachal Pradesh is one such state surrounded and filled up to the brim with natures treasures, hill ranges, flowered valleys and clean waters. The states capital- Shimla was also the summer capital during the British reign, the city is completely
117

picturesque- toy like roofed houses overlooking the mountains and a culture warm and inviting to one and all, the city is famous for its old holiday homes, bungalows and off-side cabins and is well publicized through the Rudyard Kipling My own true ghost story. This tinsel town also serves as a heaven like abode for many unparsed specters many of which have left a permanent mark on those who have come across it.

Throughout the old decades (since 1870s to 1970s) the Britons have claimed of experiencing lots of sup mature activities within the various ancient homes in
118

and around the city. One such Mrs. Fordyce (refer Rudyards book ) who lived along with her unwell mother, claimed to see a spirit standing against her dressing at midnight- an old women leaning against a wooden stick. Another such Mr. John tells us how (in the old 1920s) he and his wife used to visit and old rented place near the Shimla hills, Mr. John apparently saw an old man in the dressing room wearing a dressing gown. Before Mr. John could reach for him (with quite a lot of guts), the man escaped strangely and smoothly in the dark. The next day the search was conducted around the house, were there were no footprints at all. A local man told Mr. John that around forty years ago, a man exactly the same alike or exactly of the same personality had

119

commit

suicide

within

the

same

room.

Of the many famous paranormal spots in the city. The charleville mansion ranks into the top five for decades (as in the British decades) many sirs and madams have claimed seeing supernatural activities during their stay at the lavish yet supposedly cursed or Haunted mansion. Also a man took his wife for a short stay into the mansion during his appointment within the railways, after being fed up by the warnings of the local people, the man sealed the room only to experience the room running and
120

bringing itself down. During the same period an Indian servant had seen a spirit of a Briton officer walking around a solid closed door.

Though in Shimla the Ghosts and Spirits have not been much of violence in the nature but their presence itself has left many of their viewers into a trauma that they can cherish for the rest of their life.

121

KHAVIS
In India there a multitude of reasons to be famous for, but thats we are not talking about. One of the many reasons though, is the way spirituality and supernatural activities have been embedded within the centuries- old culture. Every different state of India has their own perspective towards such illusions (if it all they are so) Going ahead as every state has its or their own set of ghosts and legends. Of the many supernatural castes and religions, we shall now look at a particularly interesting specimen- the Khavis. There have been many Indian Ghost stories revolving around this myth.

A KHAVIS is technically speaking a Ghost of a strong person who had apparently passed away learning unfinished business (or dreams). Great Grandfather goes ahead telling us how a Khavis was a reincarnation of a dead pathan person, especially owing to their enormous physical strength. Old men sitting idle across the villages (particularly those located in the western and southern parts of the country) will tell you lots of stories (swearing their
122

grandfathers long lost in time ) of their encounters with this muscular apparition.

A Khavis is said to be a call for ones death or severe consequence. They say if one destined to his after life, he will start seeking a Khavis a couple of days before his Death day. Many villagers claim of knowing someone who saw a Khavis and kicked the bucket a couple of days later. When asked how a Khavis presented itself? A very interesting person told me a true life incident that happened with his grandfathers brother, when the brother was seven years old, the kid was walking through the market
123

and he saw a tall dark man standing across the road watching him strangely. The kid took it pretty casually till he looked into the eyes of this strangerthey were fiery red, all of a sudden the kid felt uneasy and scared at the same time. He gathered up enough courage to run back home and tell his father of what he saw. His father simply took it as a mind play and asked the kid to forget it; the mother however sensed something unusual and spoke so with her neighbors.

All of them felt it necessary to consult t he villages

124

priest who then conducts a small ritual wherein the child was showered with Vermillion (Kum Kum), turmeric (haldi) and some other items while the priest challenged the kids resident evil. And the person who tells me this did not remember, what exactly happened throughout the ritual but days after his grandfather lost his brother in a rather unnatural accident. He was playing in the Verandah (porch) when all of a sudden; he stood still uttering a loud shriek. Within moments he had rolled back his eyes and with a jerk, he was done through. The family could only watch in horror as the eight year old breathed his last in the most mysterious manner. Some may call such associations more co-incidences or even exaggerations, but go to a village in India and you will find dozens of men who are willing to take you throughout such accident zones which they have known all their life. They say a khavis appears only when you have reached your last steps of the life, the wise say you can see a khavis (and he can see you too) right in the daylight in the busy streets.
125

However no one else can see or even sense him. Its only those who are called upon by destiny can experience such a horrifying end.

126

MUSSORIES INCIDENT
THIS is a very strange yet true story that happened in Mussorie with my very dear friend, the story goes like this. On his first trip to Mussorie, the famous hill station of India he started from Chandigarh at around 7am in the evening and had reached Dehradun at around 11pm as the GPS signals started to drop he and his friends were lost in the streets of Dehradun as he quite dont know the route from Dehradun to Mussorie but somehow later they were able to find a road to Mussorie that too by having a lot of difficulties. At around 11:30pm my friend and his buddies were just about to reach Mussorie as my friend was very good at driving, so he was driving the car and also sitting on the navigators seat with one of the phone in his hand and his other phone was somewhere near the seat.

127

They crossed Lord Shivas temple on the route to Mussorie and he asked to one of his friend to take the blessing of Lord Shiva as its a local ritual there to stop before moving ahead. But regardless of saying this friend ignored it and said he doesnt pay much of an attention to it and moved ahead. My friend felt very bad but what could he do in it? After around five minutes suddenly the phone in my friends hand started ringing and he was shocked and was very surprised and said to his other friends that how could it be possible? And he picked up the phone but no one replied from the other side, after hanging up he told his friend that he got a call from his other phone that was lying on the seat. He then
128

checked his other phone and found it to be on standby. So, he was shocked to see that and his other friends discussed about it and his friend took the phone to check the call in the phone log and was amazed to find out that no record of that call was there. He heard the cell phone ringing but couldnt find that call registered in the phone log. My friend took it as some technical fault and kept driving.

And after some time the car had some problem as my friend was driving uphill and he tried to changing the gears but it was not picking up at all
129

even on the heavy gears (1st or 2nd). He kept changing the gears and pushed the throttle to the max but second after hanging the gears, it felt like it was switching back to neutral and there was no throttle response at all. He told this to his friend and him at first thought that my friend was fooling around but later he understood, that they still have some time to complete the journey, but my friend somehow managed to take the car to Mussorie.

After reaching Mussorie they all checked in some hotel and then checked the logs of both the phones again only to find nothing registered in them.
130

It was strange; the car problem could be coincidence but what about the phone call? They later told a local friend about the incident and he told them on one of the curve, the spirit of major Ralston can be felt and funny incidences happen there at night.

My friend told another local friend about the incident and she was also not surprised at all and told my friend about her own incident at the same place where a big rabbit like animal stumbled on the roof of their car and it felt as it was thrown on by
131

someone at them and when they got down to see it there was nothing at all. An abnormally giant human like figure, dressed in white and a beautiful young lady asking for lifts can also be seen at the same place, she added. My friend said that he was not sure if it was a ghost or something, but the mysterious phone call was certainly strange.

132

QUTUB MINAR
DELHI, the capital of India and a larger- than- life metro is one of the most ancient destinations of historical interests. The city serves some of the most brilliant historical interests (and would heritage sites) including the Red fort, Qutub (Qutb) Minar, India Gate, Jantar Mantar and so on. Each of these monuments has a unique history associated with them; some of these monuments date back a thousand years.

THE Qutub Minar, Indias largest Minaret scaling seventy two meters is one of the worlds most sought UNESCO world heritage sites, with the construction dating back as 1000 AD; the monument has been witness to generations of historical revolutions in India. However these centuries also brought with them tragedies some of which still have their marks left behind. No wonder the Qutub Minar is named one of the most haunted places in India.

133

As far as I know the surrounding place near the minaret mostly in some of the evenings the people have claimed to see some unexplained shadows lurking around the guards cabin near the entrance. Many have tried to explain the illusion as a product of the sodium lamps installed within- but science asks for an object against the lamps for a shadow to be cast- But how can one explain shadows forming with any (material) objects involved?

134

In older days (about some decades back), people were allowed to climb up the staircase into the tower. However owing to the safety concerns, the government has banned the entry into the Minar. In the earlier days however there have been reports wherein people climbed up the staircase and jumped down, such events people claim are another source for paranormal activities. Says Dr.Gayathri, a veteran practitioner and a resident of Delhi, I have been visiting the Qutub Minar since decades, my uncle told me how he was once climbing up the stairs and stopped suddenly, he told me that he felt very uneasy, but then he thought it might be
135

claustrophobia however the discomfort increased suddenly, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, he looked back but nobody was there. He started feeling more uncomfortable and at the same time, depression crawled over him.

It was as if everything has ended for him- he didnt want to go ahead in life. This feeling contributed for a couple of moments till my uncles friend climbed up behind him. Dr.Gayathri isnt one of them who stand witness to paranormal activities and surrounding this haunted place in India. A local guide also claims to see a white apparition in the adjoining garden. He claims that the apparition is a female, and apparently from
136

the royal genre (which he claims from her walking style). He also claims that the lady walks across the gardens and disappears across the trees.

Though the authorities claim that these Indian Ghost Stories have no logical basis, there are still may out there who have been close witness to these spooky vibes.

137

THE HAUNTED FACTORY

IT is said that stories leave behind footprints. A life drop tiny pebbles of milestone at every little corner of its stupendous journey. Most of the popular ghost stories in India have always had a strange (a house, a cremation ground or an office) which had a tragedy supporting it from the beneath. A traumatic death, a mortal accident, untamed love or whatever! Today we have a story that lurks a bit away from the traditional genre of Indian Ghost Stories.

THIS story starts about fifteen years back when a big company extended its branches into a small village close to Mumbai. The project building a big bone crushing unit to produce bone ash powder which at that time had a noticeable demand into various applications like local bakeries, sugar industries and other domestic uses. The company acquired a huge plot besides a prime river and set up a best- in- class industrial setup and hired dozens of

138

local

labor

to

run

it.

And so it happened that the plant ran good and the company was happy till the things began to darkening. On the papers, it went something like the company couldnt afford running the factory, ethical issues; drastically loses in demand of bone ash powder and so on. There were also the health concerns of the locals who worked with the decaying remains and after remains of the animals, bird (occasional humans).
139

And yet, there is also another tinge to the mystic cloud. Some locals claimed that the factory had, in its course of time, become haunted all thanks to its raw material coming from the abattoir (Slaughter house/ Katakana) laborers claimed that the gears of the conveyer stopped rolling suddenly in spite of everything being perfect.! The night watchmen had more to share. Very frequently they heard some of the equipments emit terrible scratching noises in the midst of the nightlike someone was scratching their nails (or hooves)

140

against

the

steal

wall

of

the

equipments).

This was sometimes alternated by fluttering noises or deep whispers. When being explored for the source, the watchmen come across nothing. Many a time the watchmen claimed seeing shadows whiz across to the entrance to the shed. One of them even reported seeing an apparition of a woman standing near the edge of the river. But as he went closer, there is nothing in sight.
141

All in all, the factory still remain deserted as off today, with nobody except a dozens of security guards to protect the ruins. The equipment still smells of their raw materials while the temperature gives unholy shudders to any frequent visitor. From all I know, this haunted factory in India has been a ma diary for stories coming in and many more flowing out.

142

SAVOY HOTEL
After a very blissful morning meditation, I take leave of the Ganges, and bid farewell to Beehm, Hari and the Ganges at the Hotel Ganges Kinares. It's only a two hour taxi ride to Mussoorie, passing through the city of Dehra Dun, and the comical highlight of the trip was the traffic of Dehra Dun having to negotiate around a large herd of water buffalo heading down street.My mood is light and can beexpressed in Dickey Betts' "I was Born a Rambling Man", but after getting carsick my tune turns into Simon and Garfunkels "Homeward Bound, I wish I was homeward bound." Emotional states are fickle as the wind, and it has taken a long time and a lot of work to not simply and totally be an expression of my emotions, to find something deeper that rides out the ever changing emotional and psychic landscape. Quite a show though, no?Beehm gave me a list of hotels to look at when I get to Mussoorie, and I was planning on getting a good hotel, as this is the off season in Mussoorie, a place saturated with hotels, and many give 40-50 percent off now. Similar to the rest of the Himalayan
143

Mountains, Mussoorie raises quickly over the Dehra Dun flats, and there are many, many cutbacks and sharp curves.

Similar to a lot of "arrival" scenes, when I get to Mussoorie, I am approached by numerous individuals. Beehm had told the taxi driver to go with me to the various hotels to check them out, but in looking over the hotels I wanted to see, they were on the "mall" a place that is closed to auto traffic, so that plan is shot. So I go to my plan B, which is simply to stay at the Savoy Hotel, a former Victorian Resort built at the turn of the century.Taking a long driveway to the top of a hill, I can see that the Savoy was once a large, majestic and grand hotel, but now it is a bit run
144

down, to say the least. The office for the hotel is like something out of a Merchant-Ivory movie, with a metal railing that says "Osho". Hmmn. What does Osho mean? An old porter lugs my heavy bag to my room, a corner room that has a wonderful view of the snow capped Himalayas. The room is obviously once reserved for the wealthy, containing a study, large bedroom and bathroom, about 800 square feet, still with the same period furniture from the turn of the century. Having once been in the used furniture business, I'd like to back a truck up to this place, and ship it all back to the US. I'd make a fortune. Again being disoriented; I made the mistake of taking the food plan, which comes to $30 a day for room and 3 meals, which still is a bit expensive, relativelyspeaking (I know some of you must be saying "What! 30 bux?!"). The place has a beer garden and other recreation facilities, all run down. The Savoy is famous because it was the inspiration of Agatha Christie's first book, and the owner, Lady Ormsby, was murdered here via cyanide, and her murderer was never found.
145

Lonely Planet said that the place is still haunted with her ghost. Going to lunch; I realized I made a big mistake. Except for a small conference, the place is empty, and when I go to lunch, I am placed in a dining room big enough to hold several hundred people. I'm the only one in there, and the creepy waiter is trying to serve me like I'm royalty or something. This place is starting to give me the creeps.So I visit Mussorie, which is really a big tourist center, over the long single lane "mall". I can see why this place has appeal, and I am taking this time to recover and balance. As the day goes on, I am feeling sicker and more depressed, but I continue to walk the streets.

146

I take a small ski gondola to "Gun Hill" to take some snapshots of the Himalayas at dusk, which are really beautiful, displaying all of the peaks that are involved in the Char Dham Yatra.Night time presents us with a magnificent view of the city of Dehra Dun 6000 feet below, and also showing the sharp rise of the mountainside upon which Mussorie rests. I go back to my room, and as I am opening up my door on this great outdoor verandah, I look to the verandah across the way, and see a woman come out of a dark room to look at me. It was so weird, and when I got into my room, I said, "Wha? Could that have been...? Nah...whoa!" I got a real shiver down my back: could that have been the ghost or a real woman? I'll never know but at that point it was really capping off a bad day. The hotel at night
147

really showed off its old, run down qualities, and I was expecting Morticia, Gomez and Lurch to show up any minute.I was feeling really sick - my intestines ached and my great fear, the fear of diarrhea (which rhymes!) came up strong, but that didn't happen. But something was really off in the intestinal world of Phil Servedio.

And feeling really down and depressed...hey, wait a minute, I'm hypoglycemic! That's exactly what it was, I hadn't eaten anything in 7 hours, and was between a rock and hard place - eat and run the risk of getting sick, or fast and getting even lower blood sugar. I decided to eat, and it was like a drug rush, it's really amazing - all of a sudden physical,
148

emotional and psychic strength returns. But it was still creepy eating all alone in that giant ballroom and I got out there quick. And being 6000 feet up getting close to winter, Mussorie is freaking' cold. Knowing that I was going up to the high country on this trip, I kept my down vest and other warm things. It only got down to maybe the 30s or 40s, but the place was drafty as hell, the curtains moving was that the ghost trying to get in? Man, this is perfect for Agatha Christie! So I slept in my down vest and woolen skullcap, and fortunately slept like a baby. No night visitations by the ghost.The previous day, while walking around, I stopped by many hotels to view their rooms. I liked the Clark Hotel (10$), Horizon Hotel (18$) and the luxurious Connaught Castle ($30). I selected Horizon Hotel, as it is the newest hotel in town, and things were not so banged up.

149

Indians seem to be real hard on hotel rooms. I want something that may come close to passing the white glove test. So after checking out of the Savoy, I hired a bicycle rickshaw to take me to the Horizon hotel. My driver was a 70 year old man who weighed a helluva lot less than me, taking me and my heavy suitcase through town. He took the "Camel Back Road" a very scenic side road around town, and very flat for the most part. But on tiny hills, he has to get off and just push the bike with all that weight. I offered to get off, but he flatly refused. So there I was, thinking about my station and this old man's station in life, which obviously leads to the conclusion that life, is just not fair, he shouldn't have to work that hard at such an age. At
150

one point the old man has a coughing fit (I can see the Willis brand cigarettes in his pocket), and I was seriously wondering if he was going to croak while pushing the bike. Finally at one point near the destination, the hill was so hard that I did get off and help pushing. I gave the old man a big tip.

151

GHOST IN INDIAN ARMY

We have all seen Smart, young people of their country doing duty in their country's Army. But have anyone seen a Ghost doing duty in the Army of any country.......Yes it happens & happens only in India. Yes, in Indian Army the Ghost of "Baba" Harbhajan Singh who died during the 1962 China India War still does his duty on Nathula Pass in eastern Sikkim, India. The story goes like this...... "Baba" Harbhajan Singh was a soldier in the Indian Army & worked in the Dogra Regiment during 1962
152

China-India War. This soldier died near the Nathula Pass in eastern Sikkim - India while on duty. Mr. Harbhajan Singh got drowned in a glacier during the 1962 China-India War. He was searched for everywhere & he was found three days later and was cremated with full military honours. Legend goes like this that Harbhajan Singh led the Search Party to his body, and later, through a dream, instructed one of his colleagues to build and maintain a Temple/Shrine after him. A shrine was built at his Samadhi in the hills. Army folklore holds Baba is a stickler for discipline and is known to admonish those who do not tow this line. In the camp at Nathula Pass, a camp bed is kept for him and his boots are polished and uniform is kept ready every night. The sheets are reportedly crumpled every morning and boots muddy by evening. The Ghost soldier continues to draw a salary and takes his annual leave also. Legend also has it that in the event of a war between India and China, Baba would warn the Indian and Chinese soldiers three days in advance.

153

Chinese do also worship him & during the flag meetings between the two nations at Nathula Post, the Chinese Soldiers have also set a chair aside for the saint. Every year on September 14, a jeep departs with his personal belongings to the nearest railway station, New Jalpaiguri, where it is then sent by train to the village of Kuka, his hometown in Kapurthala district in Punjab. A small sum is also sent to the mother of this Ghost Soldier each month. Ghost Soldier's name still continues in the army's payrolls, his mother has still
154

been getting his salary cheques and he has also been given all due time bound promotions. Though it may look weird but it is true & Indian Army still honours this soldier like that. After post death promotions, late soldier is treated as honorary captain. Ghost Soldier gets two months annual leave every year & a First Class berth is booked in the train in his name and his portrait, uniform and other belongings are brought by army officials to his native village Kuka in Kapurthala district for availing of his leave. This year also under this annual drill, belongings of "Baba" Harbhajan Singh were brought to Jalandhar from New Jalpaigudi by Dibrugarh Express on Thursday night. A JCO, a Subedar and an Orderly accompanied the belongings. The family of the late soldier received the belongings at the railway station and later proceeded for their native village. On completion of the leave the same team of the army personnel will escort back the belongings to the Nathu La region. Now what you call of this weird but true story happening in Indian Army. Interestingly, one of his old colleagues Mr. Pyara Singh of Jallandhar District of Punjab has put a Court Case against
155

Indian Army & Ministry of Defense for allowing such weird Dead worship of a person who was dead long ago

156

HOTEL RAJ KIRAN

From shadowy figures, strange mists and apparitions to angels and demons, India has experienced it all. Many of these incidents verified by the experts, Indian ghost stories have been into the talking since ages. Horror movies are being directed, and T.V. serials are being shown, the world has learnt to make a business out of Indian horror tales. Apparently, when such an incident takes place in Mumbai: the Dream City of India, the magnitude of any incidence just doesn't remain the same. The ever-increasing news media and other communication channels, all of them get ready upfront to cover the news and win the race.

157

Mumbai - The Financial and Entertainment capital of India. It is a city where every Indian foresees an opportunity to grow, a metro where every Indian believes that his dream would come true, and an urban which generates highest revenue for the nation, approximately 5% of GDP and 25% of industrial output. A place where even the smallest of episode takes it superlative form, how would an incidence of such serious enormity remain unsaid? So, which incidence are we talking about? This dreadful thing happened in one of the spooky places named Raj Kiran Hotel in Lonavala, Mumbai.
158

This hotel is not so big, but surely one of the top haunted destinations in India. One room in the lodge has been stated to bewhen I got to know about such incidences taking place; I just imagined some flophorror-Bollywood movie failing terribly to scare the audiences. Jokes Apart! When I seriously tried to give it a serious thought, few things came up to my mind. A small paranormal activity happening in a small room of a not-so-famous hotel, why was it given such an importance? Isnt worth it, right? Wrong! Any paranormal activity can never be quantified in terms of big and small. Doesnt matter if it happens in a huge city or a small village coz anything that is beyond natural, is significant. In this scenario, evidences are many but proofs are none. So called victims are many, but eye witnesses are none. Any non-believer of apparitions may be free to call this as a competitors trick to achieve that competitive edge, or any other reason to create a story of haunted hotels in India to frighten the people. The fact no one would be able to deny is that these incidences have hampered the business of Raj Kiran Hotel.

159

DUMAS BEACH
Every country, religion, tradition, caste has its own set of beliefs and disbeliefs. India leads this suite when it comes to having a set of beliefs. India, a country which believes in Unity-in-Diversity has diverse beliefs right from a persons birth till his death. They believe that ghosts are considered to be mere unfortunate souls exist as a result of being cursed or having committed severe sins in their lives. They are alleged to persist between the higher worlds and earth. Indian mythology teaches that ghosts are people without physical bodies or the souls of people who died before their time, or bodies created due to paranormal activities and tragedies. This is another reason why Indian ghost stories have a unique significance all over the world. It is trusted that the apparitions hang around or just prevail leading to buzz words such as Indian isolated places, Indian deserted buildings, Indian ancient ruins, haunted beaches in India, Indian hunted hotels,
160

haunted destinations in India etc. Indian mythologies also claim that ghosts, not having experienced lifes joys, undergo a lot of sufferings as the senses are intact but there is no physical body to interact with the outside world. Hindus, having majority of their population in India, do not bury the dead bodies like other religions but cremate it with an intention of releasing the soul from its earthly experience. Hindus believe that cremation, as compared to burial is most spiritually beneficial to the departed soul. One such cremation place is in the beach named Dumas which is supposedly haunted. Apparently, this is one of the true Indian ghost story.

161

Dumas Beach is located along the Arabian Sea, 21 kms southwest of Surat, a city in the state of Gujarat in India. This haunted beach in India is famous for its black sand. Although a popular tourist place, it is considered as one of the top haunted destinations in Gujarat. Several curious thoughts would be creeping on your minds such as: Is there a connection between Dumas beach being haunted because its a cremation place? Are all the cremation places haunted? Is this a true Indian ghost story?
162

Well, we do not claim to have answers for all of these, but numerous paranormal activities have being reported around this haunted destination in Gujarat. People have reported of hearing strange whispers at nights near the oceans, warning them from moving forward and leave to leave the place. They say that the winds around this area are full of spirits of dead people. Some tourists have been known to have disappeared while walking on this beach at night.

163

Some Indians also believe that dogs have a slightly wider spectrum to sense any paranormal bustle. Locals have noticed a weird behavior and crying of dogs around the ocean. Few locals claim that the apparitions are chased by the dogs while others beg to differ. Some people also complain that since people burn the dead bodies as per their Hindu
164

rituals, the bodies die but the ghosts in their bodies remain in the air. Call it a scenic Dumas beach or one of the haunted places in Gujarat! Fact remains that although people still enjoy visiting this place with the promenade having several snacks shops, this is one of the most dangerous and haunted destinations in India embarking its name in the top Indian horror tales.

165

THE SINHAGAD FORT

The western region of the state of Maharashtra is lavishly blessed with nature's riches - plush forests, mountain ranges, water bodies and an amazing range of life. The city of Pune, located on the Deccan Plateau is one such metro who enjoys natural, political as well as global pampering. The city has an even richer history, dating back to about 1000 AD. Well, you can find endless resources telling you about the city, the tourist destinations & blah - that's not what we are here for, right? As I mentioned, the city has an age-old history - wars, revolts, natural calamities and so on. Such events have a landmark contribution to the up rise of supernatural activities. However, with the increase in globalization, the pace of the metropolitan citizen has forced him to bypass the presence of such activities. There is, as a matter of fact, a very restricted segment of people in here who have something chilly to tell or listen to.
166

Of the many historical tourist destinations is the renowned fort of Sinhagad (Marathi: , The Lion's Fort) which adorns the southwest boundary to the city. The fort is so well constructed on the hill that it easily allows (or allowed) a close watch over the nearby mountains and the adjoining territories. Some of the structures (like the Kaudinyeshwar
167

temple) date back to about two thousand years. Later, the fort changed hands as various royal bodies fought over its custody. Today, however, it stays silent, browsing back through its age-old book of historical events. The fort is now a popular tourist hangout. The road going up the fort-hill is even more inviting - with the greenery pouncing on you every moment of your drive.

168

Since decades, many people have been experiencing some distinguished events during their journey to & fro this fort. People who stayed up the fort have reported hearing faint sounds of war crimes (most probably dating back to the Maratha Empire) during the wee hours of the night. Though such an activity has been very rare and reporters haven't been sure of the origins - the villagers (residing near the base of the hill) have lots of such stuff to tell. A decade back; the road leading to the fort was open to every kind of vehicle - buses included. A friend tells us of a very tragic yet mystifying tale dating back to the last decade. A bus carrying about 60 little children (about 6-10 years in age) and a few teachers met a horrifying accident at a rather sharp blind turn. The driver, apparently, could not get a good hold over the wheels and the whole innocent lot fell down the valley. Not one of them survived. Our friend tells us that many people have reported a weird phenomenon at the same location. While you are still on one side, you can hear a bus coming over from the other side, full with children laughing and
169

shouting. The moment you cross the turn - there is nobody on the other side. Mindgames, rumors, call whatever you wish - the reports do not cease. Another very interesting tell apparently happened with another ... ahem ... friend. This one too, dates back to the last decade, when this friend was still in his teenage days. This fellow dared himself to ride halfway up the hill at 10 pm and stopped by for a smoke and filling up his already alcohol zed tummy, sitting on a stone bench overlooking the valley. Between his parties, he suddenly sensed somebody coming up from behind. He looked back to find a local (probably residing within the above-mentioned village) walking up towards him. Taking it up casually, this fellow continued his booze. The local came ahead and stood beside him, although he barely noticed him. The local seemed to be in some kind of trance, because he was blindly eyeing the valley ahead. All of a sudden, before our fellow could understand, the local climbed up the stone fence and jumped down the valley. Now our fellow
170

took quite a while to regain his senses and when he did, he got up screaming, pushed down his urge to scream more and rode all the way down the village as fast as he could. The next day saw him all pumped up with high fever. There are still many more such thrilling apparitions which surround this enormous monument. One, for example, tells us about a sharp turn somewhere in between, which might be a reside to something supernatural. People who did not have the faintest idea about this spot have reported that the moment they crossed over, the hair at the back of their necks stood up, the way it does when there is somebody watching you from behind. Another such story tells us of a silhouette seen particularly on the detour to Khed-Shivapur. This and many such other stories cover this usually cheerful place with a mysterious blanket. Do let me know if anybody else has seen anything more over at this place.
171

THE HOSTEL RAGGING

This story below is based on a true incident that happened in a government medical college in India.

Raj was in his second year doing MBBS and it was August, the time for new students to be admitted in the Medical College. He was quite excited about it though ragging was prohibited but who didnt like to play small pranks on a fresher? But obviously they had to be extra careful so that the warden and the professor didnt come to know about it. When the freshers started arriving, Raj and his gang were looking for a prey to attack on someone who was trying to act smart on his or her first day or someone who was acting bold, someone good so that they can have a good laugh about. They were looking for the right person when Raj noticed a nice girl. She wasnt so beautiful but quite good looking. She was tall and had a good figure. She wore a nice blue salwar kameez that fit her very well. Her hair lied lazily on her shoulder and a few of her hair strands gracefully flowing in the wind as she moved towards the college. She looked confident and she
172

held her head up high as she climbed up the stairs with her college bag hanging down her shoulder and a few books in her hands. She didn't at all look like a fresher but that clean white routine sheet she held on her other hand proved that she was a fresher. Raj had found his prey. He showed his friends the blue salwar kameez gal. Jay one of his friends called, hey you, blue salwar kameez, the girl briskly turned her head towards them. Yeah you, freshmen right? Come here, Megha said, another friend of Raj. She boldly walked up to the gang. Raj was amazed by her boldness. Your name he asked, guesses blue salwar as you named me she replied smartly with a sweet confident smile. A few of the boys from the college smiled back at her but the gals were annoyed by her boldness.

173

Your name, everyone asked, Poonam demanded sternly. Trisha, she replied. Good now lets s ee your knowledge about medical sciencehmmmm...name the 3 kinds of tumors? Vishal asked her. Well yeah see there is a nice big library in this college and if you have any such queries, you can easily find your answers there. As for me, I have to attend my class and I definitely dont want to miss my first class saying so she briskly walked away from them as they stared at her in shock.
174

Look at the nerve of that gal, Poonam said, just wait she stays in my hostel and I will teach her a lesson Yeah we will teach her a lesson all right, her roommates havent yet arrived and we need to think something fast, Megha said. I know exactly what we can do, Vishal said with a cunning smile on his lips, as he was the one with the wildest ideas. Raj feared what he might have come up with now. When Raj heard about the plan he was scared and didnt agree. What if she screams and shouts and the warden comes, Raj said to Vishal. Dont worry we will handle the warden and it is just a silly trick that will teach her to be good next time, Poonam said. Plus you will be not there the whole time and we just need her to know who is the boss here, got it, Megha said. All right Raj agreed apprehensively. Washing her plates after the dinner and washing herself, Trisha went to her room. It was already 11, what a hectic day she had, so many assignments already. Thank God my roommates havent arrived or else they would go on chattering and I couldnt get enough sleep she thought. Many of the students hadn't yet arrived. Only three rooms were occupied
175

till now on her floor with only 8 students and all the students were inside their room. She opened her room and locked the door. She quickly combed her hair and changed her clothes, switched off the light and quickly climbed on the bed. She was too tired to make her bed. As she laid her head on the pillow, she felt something hard underneath it. She didnt remember keeping anything under it. She slipped her hand under the pillow and groped around until she felt something long, soft and very cold like a long soft branch, a branch, she thought as she pulled it out from her pillow. She was not able to make out what exactly is due to the darkness. She got up and turned on the light and looked. What she saw in her hand made her sick to the stomach. She held a hand of a corpse and she knew it was a hand of a dead man, as the hand was not bleeding. She screamed and threw it on the floor. She ran to her door and tried to open it but someone has locked it from outside. She screamed and shouted and pleaded for someone to open the door. She cried and cried and begged to open it. After a while someone turned off the lights and she got even more scared and banged on her door continuously but in vain.
176

Outside, Raj and gang were giggling away, as the warden slept outside the hostel, so she had no idea. They had quietly switched off the main switch of her room and couldnt wait to see her scared face when they would open the door. She was banging very loudly on the door and crying. Raj felt pity on her and said I think we should open the door. Oh come on, dont say you are now in love with her? Poonam teased.

177

We will open after two hours or so. Let her see how bold she is after that, Megha said. After about an hour or so, she stooped banging and they were hearing her sobs. Soon after her sobs died down, Raj started getting worried. We should open the door he said. Wait, what if she is trying some trick on us and we will open after about an hour, Vishal said. At about 1:30 a.m., Raj got bored with the prank and said please open the door now, enough of pranks. All right, we are opening Megha replied. Surely, Raj is in love with her Poonam said and others laughed. Jay went back to switch on the main switch and Megha unlocked the door and slowly opened it and looked inside. What they saw they could never forget in their lifetime.

178

The whole room was messed up as if someone ripped it apart and Trisha was sitting on top her wardrobe. Her beautiful silky hair was tangled and falling over her face. Her eyes were bright red and she looked down upon them strangely and wildly. Her cheek was scared as if someone scratched them and she was smiling up at them, a horrible evil smile, but there was something else that made them nauseated. One her right hand, she held the hand of that corpse and was staring at them. She slowly took the hand towards her mouth and smiling down at them, she started eating the hand.
179

She was then taken to a general hospital and later to a mental hospital where the doctors said that she might have got some kind of stroke or something for staying so long with the dead mans hand, so she kind of turned nuts and started feeding on the hand.

180

THE DEVIL CHILD

This event happened with the most bully guys of my college. I was a student of Babu Benarsi Das Lucknow. My college was in a bit distant area Chinhat after the last stop of city bus either we had to walk for 2 kms or take auto. This incident happened in the winter season when five of my friends Guddu, Pankaj, Chandel, Bittu and Manoj went to a marriage of one friend in Barabanki on two bikes. Manoj, Guddu and Pankaj were on one bike while Chandel and Bittu on the other. They decided to take a shortcut to Barabanki as it was almost evening at that time and they went to a Pagdaandi (a small pathway) in between the farms, after about half a kilometer when they reached near a Pulliya (small bridge), they found a little child playing around but no one was around him; it was the exact time of sunset as it was winter evening it was early. Guddu shouted a couple of
181

times to check if there was somebody accompanying the child. Suddenly a very old man came out from a nearby forest and said that he is the father of that child and they were about to go. He had a bicycle; he held the child and started riding the bicycle while carrying the child in such a way that the face of the child was facing my friends, who decided to follow that man for some extent to provide him light of the bike to help. After 5 minutes the eyes of the child were so still and holding the focus of my friends. Guddu told me that around 15 minutes, he saw that the child had a mischievous smile; he felt odd as it was very strange for such a small child to smile in that way but he was spell bounded, somewhat hypnotized by that baby. Suddenly the man took the opposite route and moved on towards the deep jungle; my friends followed him for the next twenty minutes. Then there came a place where the lane became so narrow that only one bike could have passed at a time. At that time when the bikes crossed each other
182

and Chandels eye contact with that child was broken, he suddenly realized the reality as the dense forest was about to begin around him and when he noticed that the baby's legs were a bit more long then usual and he was smiling viciously. He shouted "Guddu saale ruk ja..." (Guddu, stop you idiot). Guddu also came back to his senses. As I had already told that they were bully kind of boys, Guddu had a pistol in his pocket; he quickly took it out and fired, but to their amusement the man rode the bicycle at such an amazing speed that they practically were out of sight within a flash. When we told this incident to our security guard, who was local, he told us that it was a well known specter called as Chalawa (Chhalawa), pronounced as ChHuh-Laava. This kind of ghost, often belonging to a small child (who dies tragically within the womb or off a small age) or a mesmerizing woman is known to lure victims into deep forests, confusing and exhausting them till they finally give up and
183

collapse. Once done, it may pounce on the victims, and may ultimately kill them. I think we were truly lucky to have escaped from such a horror incident.

184

WALK WITH A GHOST

Rubbish! This is what most of you will yell. And some of my rationalist friends would dismiss it as ILLUSIONS of my fertile mind. Alright, dammit, you have your prerogative to trash it. But what can I do? I have walked with a ghost for a distanceof three KMs. No, I am not gassing. It is something like Ripleys BELIEVE IT OR NOT. I have undergone this true experience and thats why I turned into a believer in THE EXISTENCE OF SOULS, SUPER NATURAL POWER,PARA NORMALACY and the EXISTENCE of A SUPREME BEING. Well!

The story goes back 36 years. I was in the prime of my youthan educated and a modernyoung man of my own philosophies and beliefs. To say the least, there was no scope for superstitions and blind faith in unproven and unscientific phenomenon. I was like any normal young man of all times-brash, aggressive, unrelenting, uncompromising, and uncaring as well as a non-believer in the orthodoxy and a narrow minded worldview of religious rigidity. GOD and RELIGION, then, were the BACK BENCHERS, somewhere in the
185

INSIGNIFICANTSLOTS of my MIND! My profession had further strengthened my prejudices of the uselessness of RELIGIOUS EXTRAVAGANZA of MYTHS AND LEGENDS. In this profession, you sleep with dead bodies littered around you. You keep doing your job; while men keep falling DEAD yourself DEFY DEATH. It was night 18/`19 December 1971. I was on my way home, on some leave to my village, called BALACHAUR, a tiny HAMLET of around 200 houses. It was then part of HOSHIARPUR district of PUNJAB and now it falls under NAWANSHAHAR district. The village has now overgrowninto a township of around 30,000 people. Two nearby villages have been swallowed by it and it threatens to eat a few more.Just on the previous day i.e.17 December 1971, INDIA had won a great victory in the BANGLA DESH war. Whole Nation had gone crazyMILITARY MEN were the heroes everywhere---there were celebrations and thanksgiving partiesgirls of LSR & MIRANDA HOUSE in New DELHI and some other big towns of those days had made brave statements of marrying wounded and crippled soldiers---women were flocking and welcoming
186

soldiers on the railway stations and bus stands and applying TILAK (LONGISH MARKWITH VERMILLION ON THE FOREHEAD) on soldiers forehead---Radio stations were blaring out patriotic songs with soldiers as heroes. I can tell you most SOLDIERS were BLOATING with such high appreciation. By the way, I reckon the whole CREDIT WAS BEING TAKEN BY THESE REAR ECHELON SOLDIERS whom the authors of CRISISIN COMMAND, Richard Gabriel and Paul Savage, dub as REMFwith due apologies to some sensitive friends, it stands for REAR ECHELON MOTHER FU*K**.I suppose this is the way things are alwaysFRIUTSARE ALWAYS ENJOYED BY PERSONS OTHER THANTHE ONE WHO SOWED THE FRUIT PLANTDuring the immediate wake of this HYPE of VICTORYSONGS and perceived GREATNESS of SOLDIERS, on 18 DECEMBER 1971, at around 0835hours, a poor me, landed at SRINAGAR Bus Stand hoping to catch some bus to go to JAMMU. What luck? A Marwariscouple, who had been stuck in the valley during the war period, was negotiating with a KASHMIRI TAXI DRIVER. I toolanded there. On
187

seeing me, the couple extended me an invitation to travel with them up to PATHANKOT. How could I resist? They were a young twosome probably newly marriedwho had come to KASHMIRaround 1st December but got stuck up due to war. The name of the man was AMIT PATEL and he addressed his wife as ASHUI do not know her exact name. We took off at around 9 AM and made it to PATHANKOTthen a RAIL HEAD FOR J&K, at about 2045 hours. It was an awesome journey with army vehicles being given preference everywhere. Roads were jam packed with boisterous military men having a whale of a time in enjoying their sudden MOMENTS OF FAME at every village, hutment or road side eateries. They were undoubtedly thrilled at so much attention being bestowed on them through their countrymens unabashed display of GRATITUDE to their Valour. A lot of exaggeration and gibberish was being dished out as episodes of personal bravery by rear echelon soldiers. Some of them had never been combat soldiers and some others had never held a weapon in their lives in olive green. It was crazy and I was missing the excitement by being with a decent and a well behaved MARWAARIS
188

couple in the taxi. They had plenty of eatables and we had our fill every hour. At Pathankot, the couple bid me goodbye and rushed to the railway station to catch the train to their sweet home. I was charged no penny. I moved to a road side DHABA (Eatery) and hoped to catch a truck to HOSHIARPUR. While having a cup of tea, a JALLANDHAR BOUND truck came and I asked SANTOKH Singh, the driver, if he could take me up to DASUYA. He readily agreed. The tea stall owner did not take from me 25 paisa for the excellent cup of warm tea he had given me. I insisted but he stubbornly refused. I had no choice but to accept the free hospitality of a poor tea stall owner. When many years later, in 1998 to be exactI stopped at the same place, the stall had gone and a fully fledged MOTELwas functioning. I, then, saw the PHOTOGRAPH of the TEA STALL OWNER FRAMED and HUNG on the WALL-I knew what had happened. That is a separate story to be recounted some other time. Igot into the truck of SANTOKH SINGH around 21.30 hours. Instead of
189

getting down at DASUYA, I carried on to Jalandhar and he dropped me at RAMA MANDI Chowk. It was around 0030 hours on the morning of 19 December 1971. My place was still some 85 Kms awayon Road Jalandhar-Chandigarh. Luckily, a small convoy of military vehicles came by. They were empty vehicles which were returning to Command HQ at Shimla (HP). They saw someone of their elk and in no time offered me a seat in the co-drivers seat of the leading vehicle. It was around 1 AM that we might have started and the vehicles went at full blast. At around 0230 AM I was dropped at the T junction along the BIST DOAB CANAL where the road from CHANDIGARH bifurcated to HOSHIARPUR. This canal takes off from River SATLUJ at ROPAR Head works, some thirty kilometersaway towards CHANDIGARH. The canal was constructed in mid fifties. Today it has a beautiful road running from ROPAR to BALACHAUR---where it dissects itself to HOSHIARPUR and JALLANDHAR.In those days, at this T Junction, there was a single THATHED HUT of a tea stall, owned by a person called YATI.
190

In this hut barely two/three persons could be accommodated. He had a mud room behind this, where he lived with his family. Today, this place is buzzing with activity, round the clock. In fact, it is the emerging economic Zone of this township. There is a beeline of Restaurants and DHABAS along the road for a distance of two or three Kilometers on either side of the Flag of the T.My village is at a distance of three Kilometers from this T Junction. In those days, there used to be the course of an EAST-WEST semidry seasonal stream (CHOE or KHADD), unabridged and sandy, some 400-500 meters away from the T Junction towards the village. The area around it had thick wild grass right up to the village. At the other end of the stream, we had a FUNERAL GROUND for the last rights of the DEAD MEN of the village. To say the least, at around 0230 hours, in the wintry night there was no means of conveyance. Even during day hours, one used to wait for hours before one could get a bus. Therefore, I started on foot. I had only one small suit case. Luckily as I approached the Dry Stream Southern Edge, I met one of my Village UNCLESwho was
191

going to his fields. Zaildar Balwant Singh was a man of around sixty nine. When He saw me, he instantly recognized me and fired me in anger. What are you doing here at this unevenly hour? he had shouted. I explained to him as to how I had made it in one day from SRINAGARto BALACHAUR. He couldnt believe that I had come in a day. Have you deserted? he had commanded. No, No, uncle I have come on leave, because mother had suffered a stroke, I had replied. He was not convinced. He started talking of the war with PAKISTAN. I started narrating to him stories of our valor in the KASHMIR VALLEY. He startedwalking with me.He then, narrated to me the story of one MUSLIM boy, called YOUSOUFthe ONLY GRADUATE of the VILLAGE in those daysa TELI by castewho had become a BRIGADIER in Pakistan Army. He asked me about him. I knew nothing of him.Then, he talked of some CAPTAIN RAO FARMAN ALI of ASRON village (MUSLIM RAJPUTSof GHOREWAHA CLANa sub caste of KACHHWAHA RAJPUTS of PUNJAB owing ancestry to JAIPUR
192

in RAJSTHAN) whose father was a big land lord of the area. ASRON village is near ROPAR on the Northern banks of River SATLUJ and tucked into SHIVALIK HILLS. This used to be the crossing place on SATLUJ before the BRIDGE AND HEADWORKS CAME UP IN 50s. The village is now humming with lot of INDUSTRIAL activity. In those days, in 1971, it was a deserted village of MUSLIM RAJPUTS who had migrated toPAKISTAN. The RAO SAHIB of ASRON was a friend of ZAILDAR BALWANT SINGH. His son, Rao Farman Ali, had been commissioned into BRITISH INDIAN ARMY in pre-independence days. I knew nothing of this gentleman, too. His stories were so interesting that I didnt know as to when I had reached the outskirts of my village. As we came near the by lane of the SAINI MOHALLA (Group of houses where people of SAINI SUBCASTE LIVE), he bid me farewell and cautioned me not to venture alone at such oddly hours. He told me he had to go to his fields as his TENANTS were waiting there for SUGAR CANE
193

CHURNING (we used to call it BELNA or KOHLU for extraction of cane juice). I touched his feet and carried on my way home. I must have reached home around 3 AM. My family was very happy. We talked and talked of the war. I fell to sleep around 4 AM. Next day, I got up and spoke to my father about BRIGADIER YOUSUFof Pakistan army. He confirmed and also added that YOUSOUF was his class mate (my father) and he had got VICEROY COMMISSION (VCO) while in BRITISH ARMY. VCOs were the forerunner of JCO rank of INDIAN/ PAKISTANARMY. He remained in touch with his village friends even after migration and retired as a brigadier around 1969. I asked him about Captain RAO FARMAN ALImy father laughed on my ignorance. BUDDHU (DUFFER), He is the same Major General RAO FARMAN ALI, who was the Chief of Staff ofPAKISTAN ARMY in EAST BENGAL (now BANGLA DESH). I was flabbergasted at such crass ignorance. He had been in the news for many days before surrender of the PAKISTANARMY in Bangla Desh.

194

How could I not link hisname? Then my father snapped, why are you asking me all this? Oh, I was just confirming because Uncle Balwant Singh, Zaildar uncle, had told me about them last night had said. Shut up, dont talk nonsense, my father was suddenly serious. I was utterly confused. I told him that he had narrated these stories to me just last night. What? Last night you met him? my father was shell-shocked. Yes, He walked with me I replied. I dont believe this uttered my father. Why, I asked. Because, he died on 15 December 1971. We performed the last rites. My father had muttered. I was stunned and shocked. It was unbelievable. How could that be? There was nothing like GHOST about him. He was a normal man walking with his stick,as I had always seen him before this. Then the fear overtook me and I went silent. I fell sick for week and my leave was a waste of time. I remained fearful of his coming again but he never came back. Whenever I narrate this story, it raises a number of questions. Do you have any? Tell you frankly; thereafter I never came across any such phenomenon but this incident and episode keeps haunting me for the last 36 years. There is no falsehood about thisMANO YA NA MANO
195

(BELIEVE

IT

OR

NOT).

196

SURATHKAL
I have decided to post some real life experiences of mine as well as those which were recounted by friends. Most of these incidents are from India. I will not claim them to be the absolute truth. But they do make you think about the unseen world. By the way, I myself am not fully convinced about the existence of Ghosts in the manner that we are thought to believe. Are these simply a spiritual reenactment or are these really the souls of the dead? Or are these just demons or evil spirits? My research so far has led me to tilt to the last possibility but all of us should understand things and make our opinions for our self. This incident is an incident of mine. It happened nearly 12 years ago in the South Indian coastal city of Mangalore. A bunch of relatives including my uncles, aunts and cousins had converged at Mangalore; where our grandparents lived. The house was actually in a town called Surathkal. It was a
197

large house surrounding by a nice garden on all four sides. It was a good reunion and all of us had a great time just catching up with each other and hanging out doing the routine family bonding stuff.

The middle portion of the house acted as the living quarters. A small guest bedroom facing this west side and a bigger master bedroom in the middle.
198

Most of us used to sleep in the middle bedroom while one aunt slept in the guest bedroom. There was a single bed there and above it was a window. That window faced out to a paddy field which was a little far away from our house and in the midst of that field was a very old temple and locals used to speak in hushed tones about strange things happening there and that one should never venture out at late hours in the night around those parts.

199

One of those nights was exceptionally hot and humid, Mangalore being a coastal city. At some point during the night, my aunt let out a terrifying scream. Most of us woke up, some went to see her. I was pretty tired that night, having spent most of my time in the day near the railway tracks that were
200

being laid nearby. That went on to be part of the "Konkan railway" project. Anyway, in the morningthe facts were clear as to why my aunt supposedly screamed. She was sleeping on that bed on her back. She had kept the window open because it was hot. The window would have been just inches above her next region and she could even see outside to some extent. According to her, at some point during the night (around 2 am) she woke up feeling uncomfortable. As she opened her eyes, she saw a woman standing right outside the window and staring sternly at her. She was terrified and rightly so...Who wouldnt?Just writing this gives me the chills. She was frozen for a moment and then gathered all of her energy to let out that scream which woke most of us. She had closed her eyes and by the time she had opened them, that woman was gone. Listening to this, I was scared out of my wits. For the next few nights nobody slept there that window was shut tight. My grandmother made light
201

of the issue. But something told me that she was perhaps hiding something from us. From the time I used to visit that place, I always felt the chills even walking around that place after 7 PM. In 2008, when I visited my grandmother I had to sleep in that room. I did not have the guts to sleep on my back nor open that window. It did help as the glass on the window was opaque and also the curtains were closed. I slept on my stomach and inside the bed sheet. Needless to say, I was praying till I fell asleep. Exactly what was it that my aunt saw that night? Was it a ghost/evil spirit trying to warn us about something? Or was it her imagination? Why did I feel restless and fearful in that room and generally about that side of the house? Psychological or truly supernatural. I don't know yet but I do hope to find out some day.

202

WITCHCRAFT
A chilling account of this witchcraft practice from India which occurred in 2005.A six-year-old girl was kidnapped, skinned alive and then beheaded. GULBARGA: Salitha, six-year-old daughter of a Dalit couple at Khajuri village in Aland taluk of Gulbarga district, has become the latest victim of the bizarre rituals of the practitioners of Banamati, a form of black magic practiced in this region. A team from two social organisations, Bharata Jyana Vigyan Samiti and Samudaya, that visited the village to study the mysterious death of Salitha a couple of days ago has come out with details of how the girl was done to death after being kidnapped allegedly by the henchmen of the practitioners of Banamati. The members of the team included president of the samiti K. Lingappa, its secretary Shivasharana
203

Malegaon, president of Samudaya Shankarayya Ghanti and its secretary Srishail Gooli. They told presspersons here on Wednesday that Salita, who was kidnapped on November 6, was killed by Banamati practioners.Mr. Gooli said the police were yet to recover the head of Salita.

The torso was recovered from an agricultural field on the outskirts of Khajuri village on November 10.Inspection of the decomposed body revealed that
204

the culprits had first cut her little finger on her right hand, removed her skin from the shoulder to the hip even as was alive and then beheaded her, Mr. Gooli said. Later, the killers cut the right hip, thigh bone and right arm before leaving the body to rot in the field, Mr. Gooli pointed out. It is said that Banamati practitioners use the bones, the little finger of the victim and the head of the victim in the night long rituals in secluded spots. Salita, who was born at an auspicious time on a Sunday six years ago, was kidnapped on a Sunday. Mr. Gooli said Salita was the third girl to fall victim to Banamati rituals in the district in the past one year and the police despite having evidence of the large presence of Banamati practioners and their henchmen have not acted against them. Last year, a girl was murdered at Honnakiranagi in Gulbarga taluk, and in April this year another young girl died in a mysterious fire accident at Mantigi
205

village, which is just 8 km away from Khajuri village. While the police arrested a few persons in the Honnakiranagi case, all those arrested were released on bail. In the Mantigi case, the police belatedly booked a case of murder after the samiti and Samudaya built up pressure on them and the incident gained publicity after it appeared in newspapers. However, Shivamma, the main accused in the case, is yet to be arrested. The police have also not registered a case against Pujar, who is allegedly the main conspirator in the Mantigi case.Even in the case of death of Salita, the police initially did not book a missing person's case when the parents approached them. The samiti and Samudaya members said the indifferent attitude of the police in dealing with the Banamati menace had emboldened its practitioners. They said the police should immediately act against those practicing Banamati in the district
206

BLACK MAGIC
Ifound the story of black magic really exciting and that is why I am going to share it with you. The story is about a Boy named Rajesh, who is a computer engineer, became depressed. All he did was stay in the house and he didnt even want to go to work. He didnt want to do anything, not even eat. Rajesh was in a deep depression. We had taken my brother to almost every doctor, even to other towns for check up. Nothing really helped him even though all of our family talk to him and try to help him if he had any problems. He was always afraid himself. We went to a lot of voodoo priests too to see if his depression was the effect of the bad spirit in our house. All of them gave him some thread to put in his hand but nothing really helped. One of our relatives also practices voodoo and most of the towns people would come to her. We went to her and she told us that we have a bad spirit in our house. It is not easy to control a bad spirit with
207

voodoo and when a voodoo priest does try it they tend to get many problems so most dont even try. She told us she cant help us with the problem and that we need to find a very powerful priest who has had much experience in using voodoo on bad spirits. She knew of one such voodoo priest. He is of the Hindu religion but he practiced many voodoo things. He learned his voodoo black magic from a Muslim as many Muslims are very powerful in voodoo. So even though he was of the Hindu religion he used the Muslims power. Because it is thought that using voodoo to control bad spirits can cause many problems for the voodoo priest he wouldnt help us until we pay him a lot of money. He was also not very sure if he could even do it and we actually didnt want to spend a lot of money on this type of voodoo things but we had tried everything else with the doctors and nothing was working. Therefore we went to see this man and as he respects our relative voodoo priestess he agreed to do this for us. He said that he needed three thousand rupees. From us to buy the things he needed.
208

Finally we had a deal and he came to our house to check on everything. He told us to go to his home every day for one week to pay him the money he needed to buy the things. The next day I took my brother with me to the voodoo house. The man was there waiting for us. He told us to sit on the floor, my brother in the middle of the room and I further away. The priest then got some roses and put them in his little Muslim temple. He then burned an incense stick and after that he opened one white cloth and put it on the floor. Then he took a black

209

cloth

and

placed

it

over

the

white

one.

He brought some water in a small pot and put it there as well. Next he drew some lines on the black cloth with some white and red powders, like the ones we use in prayers. Then he took out some lime and put them on the limes. He added more things and then lastly added some meat in between it all. Now he started to pray and ask for his power to come. He took out a large knife and one of the limes and proceeded to cut it over my brothers head. He
210

moved it from the head to his feet. This he did with all the limes that were there and after dragging the limes over my brother from head to foot he added it to the other things he had made. Now he put black cotton on my brothers arm. The priest then ties up all the used things and gave me the instruction to take these things and go to the place where Indian people burn their dead. He told me not to be afraid as no one can hurt me. He belongs to his baba, which has about 132.000 SULEMANI POWER SPIRITS. His baba always catches bad spirits which add to his baba's army. These bad spirits all become the slaves of his baba and so all of the powers then go to his baba. There are no small spirits that can oppose his baba so I would be totally safe.

211

I went there and did as the voodoo priest had told me to do. I threw out all that was in the black cloth and then I went back to the priests house. My brother and the priest were waiting for me there. He told me that the black cotton on my brothers arm could stay there until he himself removed it. This will protect my brother since we had done all things in the week. That was the first day and we went almost a whole week. He was doing the same things everyday of the week. Its mean he was taking powers of bed sprit every day so in end of week she
212

will lost most of her power which she used to scared to peoples. Sometimes he changes the perfumes and meat and he put some eggs or chicken on his prayer things. So we could see he really did spend the money on the things he needed to do this. During these days my brother was not supporting us as he didnt want to go to any voodoo priest. To get him there was very difficult. The priest said that it was just excuses of the bad spirit as she didnt want to come to see him. So no matter how angry or how many excuses my brother made we didnt miss a day. When my brother was near the priest he wouldnt dare oppose him. After the seven days my brother was really doing better day by day. In this time my nephew had a birthday. This nephew is the son of my brother and by that time he was almost totally well again. We arrange a small party for the family and he wanted to drink a beer. However the voodoo priests told us that as Muslim religious dont use alcohol he shouldnt drink any until the black tie on his arm was gone or his baba would be very angry. Still my brother went to drink beer. We all
213

tried to stop him but I saw him smiling after many months and I suggested he take the black tie off for a few hours, drink the beer and he could then tie it on again. He agreed. We were not really happy about this but he did it anyways. The next day he was again depressed as before. We were afraid to have to go tell the voodoo what my brother had done but we decided to go and tell him the truth anyway. Maybe he could still help us as he was not done with his magic yet. Therefore we went and told him the whole story truthfully. The voodoo priest told me that was bed sprit. Who was really smart and she fool us and my brother... So sprits think if my brother will drink alcohol... May be Muslim baba Power wont will be angers and dont help us ... So it was not our fault. It was just how she makes us fool. So he accepts to help us again. . He did the same thing one more day and promised us that he would come to our house one last time and work his powerful magic. We had heard that voodoo can
214

control spirits with black magic but that it really was very dangerous. Voodoo priests believe that bad spirits can only be controlled by bad powers. I spoke to him personally today and he told me that his baba would take the spirit from my brothers body. If we wished to speak to the lady spirit she would speak with baba through my brother. But the baba would punish the spirit for all she had done to all other people. So if the baba were to punish the spirit from one to seven years, my brother would have to accept it and he will get all punishment. In other words the spirit will get punishment in my brothers body. My brother would have to go to a special place where this kind of people goes. The punishment would depend on what kind of things the bad spirit had done to others. This place is next to our state and some of my family members had been there. There are about 300 people there at each time being punished as bad spirits. This place is called Javara in the MP state of India. The punished people sometimes sleep in dirty water, or
215

go into high trees and jump up and down and sometimes they hurt themselves. If you wish to see this type of place it is shown in the Indian movie, "Tere Naam (for you)". The star of the movie got a bad spirit and punishment by some baba. I became really scared as I didnt want my brother to go there so the voodoo priests told us he wouldnt talk to the bad spirit and his baba would just grab it and take it away with him. I agreed to this as all I wanted was for my brother to get well. Finally in the night time the voodoo priest came to our house. We opened my brothers room and as Marilyn wanted to see this too we put some chairs outside of the door to watch from there. Only my brother and the voodoo priests with my wife were in the room in case there was need of help. Some of the family and me and Marilyn sat on the chairs and we could easily see what was going on inside of the room with the door open. The priest put the black cotton on the floor, and starts with preparing all his things again. He had even more things this time. He started
216

his prayer and invited his baba into his body. In almost half an hour nothing happened. He was still doing his power. I remember that in the middle of his prayer he took one lime away from all the other limes. Then in between the prayers he pushed the limes into the corners of the room. Then slowly he pushed them to the first lime he took away. I see that he didnt do anything but push the limes. After about a half an hour the back side of the door started to shake and a voice spoke and we saw that the priests body started to shake as well. Suddenly his voice change and he ask, "Who call me here?" (I would remind you.Baba is not human. Baba is one of Holly spirit which helps humans from Bad spirit) (so he enters in human soul as Voodoo Priest) my wife said that we had, to ask him to help us. The baba's voice asked my wife what the problem was and she told him about the problem our brother was having with the bad spirit. The priest then dragged his hand on the back side of my brothers head and took the hair and pushed him down on the floor. My
217

brother was quiet after the thing in him spoke. We could feel the smell of rose now, when baba spirit came into the voodoo body. Then he left my brother and the baba voice told my wife that she was to tell his son, the voodoo priest that he was sorry he was delayed. The bad spirit was a dirty woman spirit and she had made a circle of her mothers milk around the house and no power, baba or even god can cross the line of mothers milk. So he was not able to cross it but he really knew that his son needed his help so he went back and brought cobra soul. Cobra soul drinks all the milk and then he was able to come to us. The baba told my wife to tell his son, the priest to give my brother some water for a few days that he had put all over the room. After next Tuesday we were instructed to take the 5 limes and 5 iron nails all over to places where my brother would not visit again. Here we were to put the limes on the ground or floor and the nails dug into each lime. One nail in each lime with the nails pointing in different directions and in the center of
218

the space a fifth nail and lime. This would create a prison to catch the bad spirit and if my brother would never set foot there again she wouldnt be able to come into him again. If he did go there again in some future time she could catch him again. The following Saturday we were to go to a place and dig up two feet of ground to put the rest of the left over water into. Then fill up the hole so that no one would find it again. After the baba voice within the priest was finished the voodoo priest fell to the floor and started shaking. Then he opened his eyes and he was back to normal. We told him all that the baba had told us and he gave us all the things we needed with further instructions in how to complete it all. Then he removed the black tie from my brothers arm. Finally the priest tie up our house with a very thin silver wire with his powers so no spirits can come inside the circle or the string around the house. He only opened one little place so if any good wishes want to enter they could do so.Many say that
219

voodoo is just a game or nonsense but as my friends and Marilyn know, my brother who was in a deep depression for six months was no completely better from it. This all happened about a year ago and my brother is still doing well and happy in his life and also nothing more has been stolen from our house. The silver wire that the voodoo priest placed around our house is still there. I dont know if you will believe in any of this, but people who believe in ghosts and black magic will know this is a true and real story. I truly appreciate if I read more about black magic from you guys.

220

GURGAON
India, Nov. 2 -- In the early 80s, around the time the first construction license was being issued to a private firm, DLF, to build a new metropolis more efficient and accommodating than New Delhi, my parents moved into a small gloomy, decrepit colony for retired servicemen in Gurgaon. It was a spooky, unfamiliar and unsafe area to settle in, with heaps and mounds of barren, uncultivated land stretching out to the horizon on all sides, and only four to five houses to call it a neighbourhood. A family living in the corner of the colony, who became friends with my friends parents, would often complain of strange, paranormal events taking place in their home: unplugged electronic appliances like geysers and music systems would blow up randomly, servants would get into petty fights, which would spiral out of control (man setting woman's clothes on fire, or the cook getting fired for attempting to stab the employer over less salt in the meal), and their daughter would keep falling ill, and
221

behave abnormally at night. At first they were skeptical about spirits and would nervously joke about a poltergeist at play. But soon their opinion began to darken. About the time they were considering to move out of the house, a baba from Benares, who happened to visit the locality one summer evening, began to shiver uncontrollably while sipping tea in their house. He said he felt a strong presence of a woman's spirit. He was able to tell within minutes what kind of mischief it was up to, leaving the family stunned by his precise intuition. Before leaving, he turned to the lady of the house and warned her to move out at once; otherwise it would destroy her family and split her marriage.

222

In the old days, Gurgaon used to be a cluster of impoverished, uncultured and arid lands. The money, glamour and prosperity, which you see today, came very recently with rapid flow of urbanization. The poor, uneducated tribal and feudal belt, which was languishing for centuries, struck gold, and turned them into multi-billionaires almost overnight. This onset of mercenary modernization began to fuel other problems, including a gun culture, depletion of natural resources, khap diktats, pub brawls, gang
223

rapes, murders, organized crime, and real estate mafia, of which you find a lot of mention in newspapers today. But, something more eerie and sinister went unnoticed. Many educated people and migrants who were spilling in also began to report strange paranormal activities. Another house in the neighborhood, which had apparently excavated bones and skulls in its backyard while doing their garden, would have the strange misfortune of a car accident in their family every fortnight. They would also complain of hearing footsteps, voices, and seeing apparitions in their house.

224

A couple, a businessman and nutritionist, who rented out a floor of the house next door, would face a harrowing time when visiting relatives would throw inexplicable fits at night, hurling vile abuses and shrieking in a different tongue. The nutritionist herself would often say that she felt someone was strangling her in her sleep, and within months fell ill, and passed away. Cyber city, My friends grandfather who was a visionary farmer, educated in Mayo College and Doon School - who descended from a royal family - would often deem Gurgaon as the cursed lands. There's an ill omen
225

here, he would to say, that can't be washed away with progress or development. He'd point to the ground and say, "Something evil and unholy is buried and a lot of innocent blood has been spilled over it."

He would say, during the Mughal era and up till the 20th century, the area used to be infamous for being infested with dacoits. The bandits would hide along the arterial road connecting Delhi and Jaipur - a thriving trade route - waiting to slaughter and loot any convoy that would pass its way. The mutilated corpses of these tradesmen and their families would then be strewn and buried all over the place.
226

Rumor has it that a few years ago, when a school was being built near the Cyber City, the authorities were having a hard time finding securitymen to guard the premises at night. Strange sounds of men, women and children howling and anguishing in pain would emanate from the dark. By morning, the guards would be so traumatized that they would have fled without coming to even collect their pay. This went on for quite some time, till the owners had to organize a massive puja, and only now have things begun to quite down a little. Similarly, a call centre in Udyog Vihar, which was believed to be haunted, had to be shut down eventually. While there are many horror stories that still circulate today of the place, there is one freaky tale, which will send a shiver down anyone's spine. A girl who used to work in the BPO had just returned to work from a long leave. She must have attended a few days of work when one of her employees called her home to check on her, and found that the girl had died about two months ago (about the time when she went on leave). After that, even her spirit vanished.
227

They say there are essentially two kinds of spirits found in haunted spaces, intelligent and residual. The residual ones are like a fragment of someone's memory, like "a tape being played over and over", which you can see or even pass through, but it won't bother you. The intelligent ones, however, are more childlike, stubborn and menacing, who seek your attention and want to establish contact. They can also be highly territorial and vindictive; or possess you, if you're vulnerable and weak. If you ever encounter such spirits, your only defense against them is to have an impregnable belief system. Fear allows them a window into you.
228

Gurgaon, the so-called 'Millennium City', with highrises, metro, call centers and malls literally mushroomed out of a rustic village in less than half a century, over 8,000 hectares of land from a place they call 'out there'. In the past decade alone, the city's population has doubled from nearly 8 lakhpeople to over 1.5 million, with more trickling in with every passing year. Despite the fresh whiff of mint and opportunity wafting in the air, one is still unaware of the cultural past and historical significance of the land they dwell on and traverse.
229

Close to the Dwarka Metro station, legend has it; you see the spirit of a woman wearing a white sari at night who teases drivers and fellow travelers by asking for lifts. If you ignore her, she sometimes sprints along the car looking at you, and then disappears after appearing to come under your tires. Over time, too many people have seen her to vouch her presence, and many visit the desolate spot just to catch a glimpse of her for thrills, according to a report in the HT. While we may never know the exact evidence of whether ghosts exist or not, there are areas in Gurgaon on which great unrecorded atrocities have been committed. These are places where time doesn't forget and land doesn't forgive.

230

HAUNTED CALL CENTER

This Story is a real life story based on a Call Center where there were some unusual happenings going on or founded as it was a Jungle previously on that place and now its been a Call Center there at the same place.

Its night and a building is shown where its a call centre with all the staffs talking on the phone and one girl suddenly gets up and tries to open the window and due to the wind, all the papers starts flying and all of them see the girl trying to jump down from the window while laughing and they rush to her while she jumps down and is bleeding. All these activities are captured by the CCTV while the guard is were sleeping. Its said that the place used to be jungle which now has tall and high rise buildings. Back in 2011, a girl is shown skippering with her sister where the girls name is Divya and she tells her sister that she has got a job in a call center and she updates that the people there have been saying that there are some strange stories in that building and gives examples of stories she has heard like a person giving a lift to a guy and
231

moments later, he sees no one in the car and says another story that one guy was in the lift and he could feel like there is someone else behind him and Divya says that she dont believe in all these and the sister makes Divya scared by saying that there is a shadow behind Divya and Divya leaves for her nightshift. Divya comes for her work and sees no one around and as she gets inside the lift, there is another lady to whom she smiles but the lady does not react and the electricity suddenly cuts and Divya tries calling the security and the light comes back and Divya gets out of the lift while the lady remains in the lift. Divya enters the office and there is no one. Divya goes to the coffee maker machine to get some drinks but the machine suddenly starts moving and Divya runs in fear and gets scared seeing the Photostat machine printing things and all the phones suddenly starts ringing and Divya closes her eyes and someone suddenly holds her and she screams to see a few people laughing where all her colleagues played the prank on her and their manager scolds all of them that this is not a joke and not to repeat it. They look at Divya in anger and leave.
232

All of them complete their work and a start leaving the office and everyone starts avoiding Divya since them and Divya has no friends and even wanted to stop the job but she still continued. One day while Divya went to take drinks, she sees the same lady she saw in the lift and sits on another table and looks at that lady and decides to approach her and asks if she can sit with her and the lady nods her head. The lady says I am Navya and Navya says I am doing the same work as you but you have not seen me right? I love to be alone but others have made you alone and Divya asks how do you know and Navya says i saw what they have done and i would have done the same and Divya says it was nice meeting you and leaves. Divya thinks i remember where i have seen you, in the lift and when Divya turns, Navya is missing. Divya updates about her new friend to her sister and the sister really sees a shadow of a woman at the back of Divya and says but Divya does not believes and off her pc as she is leaving to her work. Divya is talking to Navya at work while the security guard who is watching through the CCTV sees Divya walking and talking alone. Navya says when i leave from here, i will bring you together with me and the ghost suddenly
233

appears on the monitor and the guard faints. Divya is shown talking to Navya but to others, they see Divya talking all alone where everyone is looking at her and asking who are you talking to and Divya says I am talking to her and they all laugh at Divya saying she is mad. The other colleagues update this to their manager and the manager speaks to Divya saying what is happening is not good and you need some counseling while Divya says all these is not true as they are taking revenge against me and Divya says Navya is my friend. The manager says what name did you say? Divya says Navya Rajendran who is our call centers Sales Executive. The manager and the colleagues all are shocked and the manager says she used to be around and she died after her commit suicide from this building and Divya says you do not believe me and Divya goes around calling out for Navya. Divya goes and sees a ile that says Navya is dead and while anoter colleague is watching the video footage and the ghost figure suddenly appears on his screen. Divya reads the newspaper about Navyas death. The colleague asks Divya to run from here and he leaves while Divya goes and watches the footage where she sees herself all alone and Divya updates this to her
234

sister saying she dont want to die and the real sister shows that it was her sisters last video call that she had recorded. Divya is shown at work while Navyas ghost is behind Divya and says i have came to bring you together hugs her fellow colleagues in fear and says she is sorry for not believing them and all of them run to the pantry where the door closes as Divya enters and Navya is inside while her colleagues are knocking to open the door. Navya updates that one year ago while she was talking on the phone, she hears a voice saying i am dying and i cant save you and says i was murdered and Divya starts running where the lift is not working. Divya runs back into her office and as Navya walks front, Divya screams. The next day, everyone comes to work and Divya gets up and opens the window (same scene as the start and the same that happened to Navya) and Divya jumps down. 1 year later, a new girl is shown joing work and as she enters the lift, she meets Divya who says that she is Divya which means that Divya is dead and this is keep repeating as new staff joins
235

THE HAUNTED RAILWAY STATION

Paranormal Activities some of the very few most goggled keywords. When it comes to the supernatural, India surely attracts a couple of extra votes and why shouldnt it? India is a country with diverse cultures, religions, diverse nature of people and obviously so many different superstitions. Paranormal Activities in India has been setting up their own benchmarks. True or False, Believable or not, these stories have certainly mesmerized people for centuries. Often, we overhear different incidents, reports, myths of variousghost stories in India. These incidents are rooted at various locales such as historical forts, railway stations, hotels, hill stations etc. Talking about railway stations - so many apparition stories have been reported worldwide. These are often referred to as Ghost Trains, Haunted railway stations, Abandoned stations
236

etc. One interesting thing when it comes to history of railways is that there are loads of incidences which may seem to be the probable causes to myths & legends. Railway lines and stations have stories of grisly deaths in which the victims stick around in spirits form. People die as a result of accidents, natural deaths and suicides. Obviously, the iron lines mesmerize people who are determined to end themselves. Some say many of these unfortunate souls linger on and are trapped within the physical boundary of their death.

237

Though many railway stations in India have their own set of tell-tales, theres one who leaps higher. Now, this is not just another one of the spooky stories in India since this one affected the lives of common middle class population localized in Begunkodor. Begunkodor is a village in Purulia district of West Bengal situated 46kms from Purulia. The village included a haunted railway stationthat remained closed for almost 42 years (from 1967 to 2009). According to villagers, one of the railway employees died in 1967 after witnessing a female
238

specter draped in white sari (Indian female clothing). All the railway employees were terrified of the spook; they abandoned the station in fear. Soon this station was no longer a stop for the passing wheels. Basudeb Acharya, former chairman of the Parliaments standing committee on railways argued that the railway staff cooked up this story to avoid their posting at such a remote location. Mamta Banerjee, the railway minister in 2009 dismissed all the reports of the apparition appealing I dont believe in ghosts. It is all man -made. The railway station was reopened calling it for celebration for the locals there. On one hand the facts still remain vague while on the other hand there are reports affecting the locals for nearly half a century. One question that would certainly worry you would be: how did the senior officials agree to such stories from their employees? Isnt India now way above developing nations? But all the bureaucrats are the same arent they? You scratch my back and Ill scratch yours!Many
239

thoughts rush up to me when I think about such stories. Why remote railway stations? Why not buzzing airports? What would have the ghosts done even if the trains continued going through and stopping by this station? Would the trains disappear in thin air? How do the trains passing by trouble the shades anyway? Would the noise of trains be disturbing them? Some questions remain unanswered (for the higher good) and yet, living mortals continue to witness such unfinished businesses.

240

GP BLOCK MEERUT
Meerut is a metropolitan city located in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. This is an ancient city having its origins since the hay days of the 'Indus Valley Civilization'. In this bustling city lies an area called GP Block, in which is to be found one of the most haunted locations in the city's history. The most common ghostly sighting reported correspond to a double storey house in which 4 guys sitting around a table with a single lighted candle are seen enjoying themselves over a couple of beers! Reports have also been generated about women dressed in red clothing moving in and out of the building. The scenes keep repeating all over the house- beginning at the first, second floors and culminating at the terrace. The reasons behind the ghostly appearances remain shrouded in mystery and the house has remained locked for as long as people in the area can remember. However the spooky sightings are so
241

frequent that people, these days, generally avoid the road stretch lying in front of the house. How to get there/Accommodation: The nearest airport is at New Delhi, located at a distance of 80 kms. Meerut has 7 railways stations associated with her amongst which the 'Meerut City' railway station is the busiest and is well connected to New Delhi and other major cities of North India. Certain weekly trains from the southern and western parts of India also ply to and from Meerut. There are regular bus and taxi services connecting Meerut with all major cities of North India. There are numerous hotels and guest houses in Meerut. A little research on the internet and advance reservation of the same would save the travelers any last minute hassle!

242

ROOPKUND
Roopkund is a place in Uttarakhand state of India, and it is the location of about three to six hundred skeletons at the edge of a lake-Skeleton Lake in the Himalayas.

In 2004 a team of Indian and European scientists set off to the location to gain more information on the
243

skeletons. The team uncovered vital clues including jewellery, skulls, bones and a preserved body. DNA tests on the bodies revealed that there were two groups of people, a short group (probably local porters) and a taller group who were closely related. Though the numbers were not ascertained, it is believed that three to six hundred people perished. Radiocarbon dating of the bones also accurately pinpointed the time period to be in the 9th century predating the earlier inaccurate tests. After studying fractures in the skulls, the scientists in Hyderabad and London determined that the people died not of disease but of a sudden hailstorm.

244

With landslides in the area, some of the bodies made their way into the lake. What is not determined was where the group was headed to. There is no historical evidence of any trade routes to Tibet in the area or any places of pilgrimage. Tucked into the remote corners of the Himalayas at an altitude of 5,029 meters (16500 feet) ASL in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Roopkund holds a mystery that has intrigued generations of myth busters. Better known as The Skeleton Lake ever since a park ranger came across a mass grave containing around 300600 skeletons. Following this awesome discovery of 1942, the skeleton abode of Roopkund has generated
245

a phenomenal sensation. A remote and un-inhabited frozen lake, which requires a four-day trek to reach from the nearest locality, has become a hotspot for studies and speculations recently.

Carbon dating processes conducted on these skeletons have revealed them to belong to any time between 12th and 15th century. On a primary level, it was assumed that the deaths were caused by some
246

form of natural disaster like a blizzard, landslide or an epidemic. However, still today controversies galore among locals, anthropologists and sociologists on this topic.Some went ahead to mystify the deaths with fictional possibilities and creating folklores out of it. Others suggested multiple causalities of the skeletons being those of wandering Tibetan traders who had lost their way, royal pilgrims, people committing ritualistic suicides, vanquished army etc. More recently in 2004, a team of European and Indian scientists sent by The National Geographic Channel visited Roopkund to carry on with the probe. Their research has unearthed interesting hints and information. Part of their findings includes anthropological treasures like well-preserved corpses, jewelry, bones and skulls belonging to the dead. By conducting DNA tests on these bodies the experts have found that the dead belonged to two different teams. One team is marked by the shorter stature of the skeletons while the other is
247

significantly taller. The first group is thought to be of local artisans while those belonging to the second group were possibly members of the same clan, like porters.

A fresh set of radio carbon dating was carried out on the bodies to reveal that the previous dating had come up with incorrect chronological data. The dead are ascribed a new 9th century date. The scientists of London and Hyderabad examined the skulls closely
248

to find out fractures, which they deem to be the result of an abrupt hailstorm. The hails were unusually large in volume about the size of a tennis ball each!No wonder that anyone exposed to such a calamity in a mercilessly open Garhwal Himalayan plain were doomed to be perished. The raw air and icy hail blasts contributed to their holocaust. It is speculated that more than one landslide has struck Roopkund ever since the massacre. This has served in burying some of the bodies inside the lake the ones that are still found intact, preserved under ice.Even if the dating and possible causes behind such tragic death have been hinted at, the mystery continues about a different aspect of the Skeleton Lake. It still puzzles experts to think about where these people were going. Roopkund was never a historically significant region and no traces of any trade routes have been found to Tibet nor could it possibly be a site for pilgrimage to attract large groups of people.However, the documentary Skeleton Lake made by the National Geographic Channel has countered this assumption.
249

The film claimed that Roopkund was the venue for the Garhwali religious festival called Nanda Jaat yatra held in every 12 years. A procession consisting of a newborn four-horned ram considered the familiar of a Goddess starts from the nearest village and heads towards Roopkund. Coming back to the Skeleton Lake riddle, probably the skeletons were those of the devotees participating in such a mass procession centuries ago. The folklores say that a certain king had participated in this religious yatra with his company of female dancers. This had offended the Goddess Nanda and she vented her rage by bringing down the snowstorm at the hapless revelers. Such accounts might sound mere fairytales, but it is quite possible that at least the taller bodies were of royalty and the short statured bodies scattered everywhere along Roopkund were of local porters all killed by a destructive hailstorm. Whatever may be the reason of their death no one still knows what lead so many people to take such an arduous journey so many years ago.
250

HAUNTINGS OF MUMBAI
Neighbors swear that these properties take on a new dimension after sunset. There are places in Mumbai city that could inspire the likes of the Ramsey brothers and Ram Gopal Varma, whose names are synonymous with celluloid mystique and horror. Stepping into the twilight zone, I had investigated the phenomena of the supernatural, which allegedly exists in the heart of this concrete jungle we call home. Apparently, we are not alone. With no intention to spread superstition, we provide our list of 12 of Mumbai's Most Haunted. Own, the unexplained in the city's twilight zones Over 16 years, a spacious, uninhabited bungalow, in the by lanes of JVPD scheme and in the neighborhood of many Bollywood stars including the Big B, is being gradually reclaimed by the elements of nature. An array of imported cars gathering dust in its compound, a mass of vegetation and thick
251

undergrowth now cover the prime property worth crores. Neighbors swear that the property takes on a new dimension after sunset. The chirping of birds, the only residents of the bungalow, reaches a crescendo and what follow is an abrupt silence and the presence of an eerie energy. Neighbors further claim that the owners of the bungalow, which is now under government custody, apparently vanished into thinair after they were accused of pilfering money from a public limited company they had floated. Numerous water wells of Mahim which never run dry are not only a Mecca for the water tanker operators, but also a source of forbidden mysteries. With water tankers parked on the either side of a lane, right behind the Paradise cinema, lies a building called Ram Sakit and in its compound is a sealed well, supposed to possess the spirit of old lady Sulochana who met her watery grave on the
252

very spot, over 20 years ago. "I knew the lady, who was in her fifties and hailed from a Maharashtra family. It was around 10 am when she stepped out to wash her clothes and slipped into the well and died," claims an old resident adding that the entire neighborhood believes she still appears during Amavasya and vanishes in the morning. The belief is said to be so strong that a person called Richard, who claims to be the landlord, carries out exorcisms of laying flowers on the well every day, to mollify the spirit, which is said to not be malicious in nature. In less than a kilometer radius of the Mahim railway station, lies the dreaded Nasserwanj Wadi, where no local likes to venture after midnight. "Don't venture inside or you will get possessed. Don't expect any one from the area to come and help you," warned a group of ladies standing near the gate as this reporter approached the wadi (old settlement) compound.
253

Folklore has it that the property once belonged to a Parsi gentleman called Nasser, who was brutally burnt in a cabin close to a well inside the compound. "The gruesome murder was committed around 16 years ago, but the Parsi landlord still takes his daily stroll over here after midnight, keeping a watch on his property. He is known to torment anyone who crosses his path," alleged Francis, a resident. Francis confessed that moving out of his house was a total taboo for him and his family and they always kept a crucifix and slept with a light on. "More than seven people have lost their lives here, within a span of one year after the Parsi landlord died, so we concealed the well under a pile of rubble. But this has not really helped," he alleged. Eight months ago, in a scene right out of Omen, a huge, black dog appeared out of nowhere and made the second floor corridor of a building in Santa Cruz (W), his permanent home. His uncanny presence coincides with the death of a lady, simply known as
254

"second floor ki bhabi", who committed suicide after a tiff with her husband. The dog simply doesn't budge from his place; he just sits there quietly. But every night, he lets out a series of low frequency howls and a veiled lady appears and strolls in the corridor. Next, the silence is broken as the building lift mysteriously comes to a standstill on the floor, as if on command, casting ghastly shadowsfrom its tube light. "The veiled lady never harms anyone, but has all the neighbors scared to death and they refuse to even speak out her real name. You just have to be in the building at midnight to feel her presence," alleged 23-year-old Nadeem Sheikh, a local resident. A famous South Bombay hotel is supposed to have a friendly ghost in the form of its original architect. Folklore has it that the Frenchman, who created the blueprints, went off on a trip to his country in 1903. On his return, he was stunned to find that the hotel frontage had been made in the reverse direction, and committed suicide. His ghost is still believed to
255

manifest in the old wing, but has never bothered anyone. Close to the Pawan Hans quarters, near the Juhu aerodrome is a century old peepal tree, which residents claim is the home to a 20-year-old girl called Salma who poured kerosene and set herself ablaze for no apparent reason in 1989. Her presence was so strongly felt that a resident called Anthony D'Souza, a devout Catholic, built a Hanuman mandir to protect residents from harm after he was apparently guided to do so in a dream. "On special nights, the girl can still be seen running, with her clothes still on fire and disappears into the tree," claimed Mehboob Sheikh, a local resident. In the backyard of SNDT, Girls College, Juhu are a few dilapidated structures, once used as staff toilets by the gardeners and other menial staff workers. Residents of the neighboring building swear that post 1.30 am; sounds of a teacher thrashing her students can be heard clearly.
256

"First the lessons start, and the teacher can be heard reciting mathematical tables, invariably followed by thrashing sounds and the wails of children. It's been practically heard by everyone in our building and goes on till the wee hours of the morning," alleged Riyaz Ansari, a local resident. "Once, out of curiosity, we formed a group of 10 boys to investigate the phenomena, but found only an eerie emptiness. By the time we reached back home, the cries from the structure had restarted and no one has ever dared to venture out there again," added Riyaz. With mangroves on either side, a narrow strip of road, which leads to Marve and Madh Island, is notorious for many automobile accidents. It's said that a lady in full bridal attire, seen especially on full moon nights, distracts the drivers, which leads to the mishaps. Dozens of uncharacteristic sightings have been reported, not only by locals, but by staff of beachfront hotels who return from late night shifts.
257

The trick, they say, is to not look directly in to the mesmerizing eyes of the beautiful lady and to just ignore her. Legend has it that an unknown bride was brutally murdered on her wedding night and her body dumped in the isolated mangroves over 25 years ago. The spirit is apparently still on the lookout for the culprits. In the dead of the night, it requires sheer guts to cross the dimly-lit Aarey Road, which connects Goregaon to Powai. Danger lurks not only from the leopards that come down from the National Park to feed on easy prey, but also from the paranormal. The spirits, which seldom attack the locals, are known to target only outsiders, especially rickshaw drivers who would rather take a longer route to reach their destination than risk this terrain. A strange old man in white kurta pajama is known to hire a rickshaw. Within a span of 15 minutes, the man disappears into thin air, leaving the driver under a strange state of hypnosis.
258

Said one driver who was 'struck' by the spirit, "I felt as if I was surrounded by a flowing water body and was helpless Covered in perspiration, I was vaguely aware of being approached by another man, who slapped me to get me to my senses." In the heart of IC colony, Borivali is an open garden plot so dreaded that no child has played here for the last 30 years. Old residents claimed that a gardener committed suicide here after fearing he would lose his job when the property changed hands. Said to be so possessive of the land, the gardener allegedly targets any child playing on the property, which is now covered in undergrowth. The mango groves surrounding the LIC colony at Borivali add a strange mystique to the quiet area. But it is the tall water tower, surrounded by huge boulders, known as the 'reservoir', which emits a creepy energy. Residents make it a point to never go near there alone. Those who have, complain of giddiness and vomiting, beyond the spectrum of medical science that vanished within a week. Moving across the newly
259

completed Jogeshwari Link Road stands a row of pink buildings, said to possess the spirit of an airhostess who was allegedly murdered in her second floor flat. Residents say that soon after her death, the company flat was allotted to another airhostess, who encountered a weeping lady on the terrace one day. On enquiry, the sobbing lady stated that she was unable to go home, as the flat she was residing in had been occupied by someone else. When asked for details, she quietly pointed her finger at the same flat where the new airhostess resided, before vanishing in to thin air. Ghosts or not, all these 12 places are said to have an unexplained energy... believe it or not if you will, but fiction overrides fact in these Mumbai 'haunts' One Boy told me that he have one ghost acquaintance in his life. It was when He was studying in collage back in India. Those days he used to stay in hostel. He was around 20, and was having his exams. Some friend of his saw it. It was
260

around 1 AM, they all were in the study hall preparing for the exam next day. There were a few more girls in the study hall. After feeling tired of reading, and because it was so late at night was feeling sleepy, so just for a change and to refresh, He looked out of the window. There in distance he saw a lady in white Sari (Traditional dress of Indian ladies), she was some 5' tall, had long black hair (it was knee length long), was combing it with her fingers. The best part is, this lady was not standing on the ground but she was at top of a house, he could see her so clearly because there was light from the street lamp above her. He blinked his eyes, but still it was there. He did it again and again, but no change he could still see her. He showed it to his friend, she too could see her. They called the other girls, but by the time they came it was gone. I should say it faded away. The next day after their exams, they all walked to
261

the direction where they saw this lady the previous night. There was nothing, not even that house. The lamp post was there, but the bulb was broken and was covered with spider web. He had totally forgotten about this incident, but now after reading the other stories, He sometimes remembered it. And told me that he still don't know what he saw that night. Was its the mind playing trick after he got exhausted studying, but how it is possible that my friend too saw it... Guess it was a ghost itself.

262

A STRANGE INCIDENT
It was May 13, 2011; I got a call from my friend Ram. He wants to go for a long drive and then have some Dhaba food and come back. I said I am fine with it and immediately called up another friend, Venkat, to check if he is free. He had agreed with that plan. Next 15 minutes I get a call, it's Ram again. He said that they are waiting for me outside my house. Since it was mid-summer and the summer heat was killing, they wanted to do a bike ride. I took out my bike, 3 of us (on 2 bikes) started towards Medchel and then too fran its around 60Km drive from my place. When we crossed Medchel, the roads are free and the wind was blowing. It was a good weather out there. We crossed the toll gate in too fran. We found few Dhabas out there, ordered the food and by the time we finished dinner it was 11:45 Pm. Now start drive back home. I don't know but I had
263

some mixed feeling that something is wrong, as if somebody is watching or following us. I ignored it, was enjoying the breeze. The roads were empty, very less traffic for some reason. We were maintaining same pace of 50Kmph speed, all of a sudden both me and Ram (bike drivers) both saw it and pulled the breaks hard. We almost ran over a black cat which was crossing the road. I have never seen such a pitch black cat in my life. We looked at each other, laughed and started to drive. After few kilometers drive, just to check how dark the night was, we switched off our head lamp for few seconds and turned it on. Man that was really dark pitches dark. We wanted to do it again for the second time. It was fun driving in the dark, so tried it for the third time. To our horror, for the 3rd time when we switched on the lights, we were couple of meters behind a halted lorry. If the head lamps were switched on after a second, we would we would have smashed on to the halted lorry. Trust me guys, my heart almost reached my mouth. I realized that
264

something is not right. No more switching off the lamps. By the time we were about to reach some village, Ram's rear tire was flat. We thought we were lucky to have a flat tire few meters close to a village. Thought we can get it fixed sooner. We found the shop and the guy took out the tube and was about to glue it. To our fate, power cut. The shop fellow managed to fix the tube with some emergency lamp. But the problem is, to put the blow we need power. Since it was already late, the people in the village might have slept off and its dark everywhere. Suddenly I felt pat on my shoulder; I thought Venkat was calling me. I replied what? No response. When I turned back there is nobody. I called Venkat, he responded and the voice was coming from the other side. I was stunned again. Ram was a meter away from me and I asked him if he has seen some one behind me, he said no. It was strange, now I know that something is following us. After half hour, the power was back, the tire got
265

fixed, and I was still in a thinking mood. Back on the road again, I told them what had happened near that shop. They laughed at me and told me that it was my imagination. I tried to accept that I was imagining, but my mind was not accepting it. It was around 2:45 Am by the time we reached Venkat's place. Since it was already late, we thought to sleep at Venkat's place as he had a separate room on the terrace, so no need to wake any one up. Took the stairs and reached the room, it's a newly constructed room. It was around 3:00am, the beds were arranged, and both Ram and Venkat went to sleep immediately. I was still thinking. I was about to fall asleep. In fact, I was half asleep, when suddenly I could see a huge beast falling directly on me from the ceiling. It was very heavy. It happened in a fraction of a second. I screamed. Both my friends woke up, started shouting at me, "What's wrong with you? Why the hell did you shout like that? Do you want to disturb the entire colony?"
266

I told them that something heavy fell on me from the roof. They just ignored it and asked me to go back to sleep. Apparently I had to sleep. I woke up in the morning and told them that its not my imagination. It was real. Even today I feel the incident fresh in my mind and I still have that figure, that beast in my mind. It was like a gorilla, a huge gorilla with long fangs and green eyes. I can't forget that day ever in my life.

267

DELHI CANTONMENT

The Haunted Destinations in India! Youll find loads of them; even our National Capital has not been spared. Yes, there are many haunted places in Delhi. Many true Indian ghost stories have been acknowledged here and one of them is in the Delhi Cantonment. Delhi Cantonment popularly referred to as Delhi Cantt is one of the three statutory towns
268

that make up the National Capital Territory of Delhi. These cantonments were originally established by the British Indian Army. With few strange incidences and bizarre events, this has become one of the most eerie places in Delhi. So here goes this real Indian ghost story.

269

Delhi Cantt area is full of green lush trees and haunted forests. It is reported that this place is haunted by a vengeful spirit of the lady clad in white sari asking for lift from the motorists. If people dont stop their vehicle, she starts running swiftly with the same speed and reaching ahead of them. Some people claim that possibly the lady was a traveler while alive; hence she waves at lonely passersby to stop. There is another true Indian ghost story which says that a woman in white dress roams around the Ashok Vihar flyover between 1am and 4am. Anyone who passes by at that hour, and stops to ask her for directions, will not find their way home that night. Their vehicles break down or they go around in circles. She is also been spotted under a fig tree in Dwarka Sector 9 and in Andheria (Mor) Modh, where call-centre employees and their cab drivers are strictly advised against pulling over to have a chat. Sometimes, she appears in the middle of the road, only to disappear under the wheels.

270

Hold on! Do these white-sari-woman stories seem to be heard somewhere? Aint this the Bollywoods foray into the empire of horror. Aint this a kick -off to the genre of Indian horror movies? Remember Bees SaalBaad, released in 1988, in which Dimple Kapadia stops the traffic as a vengeful ghost? There are many more.. The white-sari-clad spirit is an old clich! Such stories of Indian female ghosts have being coming from ages as if wanting to increase the number of haunted destinations in Delhi. On one hand, a female Indian ghost wearing white sari gliding around with a candle is a popular sighting in many parts of Delhi while on the other hand; cynics refute the eyewitness justification of all ghost sightings. They believe the limitations of human perception and mundane explanations can account for such sightings. However, it is difficult to believe how the limitations of human perception could happen to more than a dozen people. Keeping aside the facts of the matter, these stories and incidences are proving
271

to be another reason for ghost hunters to visit these haunted destinations in India. In addition, these Indian ghost stories have also been cooked, boiled and fried by different media and guess what! It is very well received by their target market. News Media, Ghost hunters, Critics, Eyewitnesses and of course the name Delhi, they all combine to brand as the top haunted places in India.

272

THE HAUNTED HOUSE

A Personal Encounter by R. S. Raghavan (New Delhi) My experience is a true experience of the unexplained. Though my parents didn't share these experiences with anyone, this is the first time this story is being shared. I am now 44 years old. When I was 16 yrs old in 1984, my parents shifted house from janakpuri where we had our own flat to a government quarters Type 5 in Dev Nagar area of New Delhi. Since i was an only son i was used to being in a flat and i and my mother were initially not inclined to shift base. However my dad was fully in favor of this move as he was of the opinion that this was quite a big house, of the European style of the early part of the 19th century and had a servant quarters, a garden etc.
273

My first impression of the house was amazing, it was quite huge, had two big bathrooms, 3 huge rooms, a big garden etc. There were four such houses in the block. Opposite house neighbors were an old Bengali couple, who lived alone after having lost their children in some accident. Next house neighbors had gone for holidays and the third house was unoccupied. Although i felt a bit uncanny when I saw the huge garden with lots of vegetables which had not been plucked and the fruit trees had fruits which had perished as if someone had left the house in a hurry.

274

My experiences with the paranormal started, with our visiting some old neighbors (From 1968 to 1973 we had lived in the same area although at a different location, in a rented house and were close to a family who lived right opposite the house. This family mentioned to us that their grown up son had died recently in a tragic car accident. WE felt bad and since we had moved just that day, for a change we decided to visit our Bengali neighbor couple.
275

The moment we entered they mentioned that in that house a girl, who was just the same age as me had died the month before and since they had left in a hurry as they couldn't bear to be in the house where their grown up daughter had died due to some illness. It was then something came to my attention, there was a trace in the hall as if a garland had been placed over a photo, and the trace of the garland could be clearly seen, this i remembered while i was sitting and hearing to the bengali couple's comments. Further they mentioned that the girl's body was brought and kept in the same house directly from the hospital before cremation. Hearing all this we felt bad that we had shifted in such a house as normally people like to shift in houses with pleasant memories. The first night went off without incidents but the second night the light turned on by itself. This has been one of the mysteries which werent solved till the last. For two consecutive days the light in the bedroom turned on. The first day since myself and
276

parents slept in the same room I yelled as to who had turned on the light to which my mom replied that it must be you, but I was sure as i am a very light sleeper and wake at the slightest noise. Then she turned to my dad who was snoring and on waking him he said he had not turned on. SO we assumed it was a loose connection. When this happened the second night I and my mom both were scared and didn't sleep the whole night. Since we had shifted in, the whole place used to be dark and the servant quarters was also unoccupied...so the place used to be in total darkness causing an eerie feeling as it is. The second incident was around a week after we shifted someone would continuously on the bedroom door and if we opened no one would be there. Since it was a heavy knock it couldn't have been the wind also. This would go on every night continuously till a month or so for which we didn't find any explanation other than it being some stray dogs knocking/banging against the door, but would
277

they do it continuously in the same place at the same time on the same door...Beats me! The third incident was, about 15 days later we were conducting some repair work and my mothers nose ring disappeared, she had been wearing and found it to be missing in the melee. We searched everywhere and asked the laborers even although it itself would create an idea of stealing even if they found it. We even went to the local police station as it was located at a yard's distance. We asked the contractor to personally check and search as it was a diamond nose ring which my mom after taking bath had carelessly worn loose. Well in the night while closing the door we found it lying behind the door (the same one as the dogs knocked) but the surprising thing was as a nose ring is attached to the nose by a bolt like knob, if the nose ring falls off the knob naturally would be lying separate, but the surprising thing was that it was screwed on to the nose ring which till the last we were not able to figure. If at all a person had taken it why would he bother to screw it and put it
278

there instead of simply taking it away as there was no chance of his being traced. The last incident was things getting lost without any reason, like money disappearing, books disappearing, things we were sure we had kept in a particular place which would disappear without a trace. Since we are south Indians we conducted a big puja after which these incidents stopped except for the one off sporadic incidents later on. The next door neighbor returned and mentioned to my mother that the house is as itself cursed, both the head of the family or someone related dies and also the family gets divided. This happened in case of us as after that year I was forced to join college elsewhere and since I was not in the best of health afterwards getting epilepsy attacks and in one such attack getting my arm dislocated, my mother was forced to stay with me and my father stayed in the
279

same house as he was a government servant and his base was permanent in Delhi. This continued from 1984 to 1997 in which I and my mother were forced by circumstances to stay away from that house as I took up a job in Chennai and again due to health issues my mother was forced to stay with me. During this time i had raised a cat as my sister and she was in the best of health. We took her to the ill-fated house in 1997 end, as my father was about to retire and we had to vacate the house in 1998 may. Imagine one day in Jan 1998 my cat went out for her morning walk and was found dead outside the walk just adjacent to the gate. Till now her death could not be explained. We felt like one of our family's own member had died. We left the place in May 1998 with a heavy heart as we could never explain what caused my cat bushs death, she was really healthy and not even a single scratch could be found on her body.

280

After leaving that house we learnt that the whole area was being modernized and the houses were being torn down. I visited the house last after i got married in 2002 and found it to be in ruins, almost like a forest and learnt we were the last people to have lived there. However to this day we live together back in our own house Even though I was in the prime of youth at that stage I can never forget those frightening experiences in that house.

281

THE FARMHOUSE
As Ive mentioned it in another story what happened with me and my friend at his grandfathers place and since then; we have developed some sort of addiction with supernatural.

So whenever we hear something like that we try to go and investigate if possible. We have spent couple of weekends doing such things like setting up an audio recording instrument, sometimes a camera too and obviously night watches; but the experience we had at a friends house last month was not only scary but it was our first real encounter with something supernatural. Let us stick to word supernatural rather than ghost or spirit because we didnt see or felt something clearly distinguishable like a figure but energy, So be it. In our college a common friend had told us about strange happenings at his farm house which is located in eastern part of India close to one of the most beautiful hill stations. So we decided to go there in our one week festive vacations. We had enough time to prepare so we were able to arrange
282

a tripod camera stand, a good quality USB voice recorder and our most longed instrument a DVD recorder handy cam with night vision-recording capability; along with our laptop and air pistols and other baggage. Well here I would mention that though people have commented in my previous post it was foolish to carry air guns; but to be honest it gave us some feeling of security so we did carry our air pistols this time not the air guns for the ease of carrying. The farm house is an old two story building situated on the north eastern corner of the field; almost 2 kilometers from the house where their family stays. The ground floor is used for the tools and other supplies and the upper floor is used as a living room by the person who ever keeps the watch. This upper floor has two rooms in the back and a big balcony in the front along with the galleries on other three sides to keep the watch. There are no trees or bushes around which leaves a fair view of the field and around. We had our dinner and went straight to the farm house accompanied by him. There we lashed our
283

USB recorder with the front door and we took our handy cam and laptop with us to the upper floor and attached another high definition microphone with a long extension cable to the laptop. Whole night we spent watching for something but we didnt get anything except than occasional howling or some wild animal wandering by. It was fun to feel this thrill as we were very close to the jungle and were quite safe due to the 15 feet height of our balcony and the iron doors on the ground floor. And nothing happened for continuous 4 nights despite putting our devices at different locations and trying other settings. Even on the fourth night we fell asleep and woke up late due to the boredom and tiredness. Then all it happened on the fifth night it was a full moon and Saturday. Two of us walked to the farm house after we had our dinner and this time we left our handy cam on the ground floor lashed to the staircase and after shouting a couple of questions we left our USB recorder to the gallery on the back of our rooms. We attached the microphone with our laptop and started watching a movie using headphones. Suddenly around 2330 hrs a stray dog
284

started howling so I threw a stone or two and it disappeared in the dark. About 0020 hrs the electricity was cut so we decided to stop watching movie so that the battery could last till morning. After 10-15 minutes our recorder graph on the laptop started to flicker. And both of us got excited. Then we put on our head phones and listened; it was like scratching sound as if someone was rubbing on it. We clearly felt goose bumps rising on our hands. It went on for 5-10 minutes and then we decided to go and check the microphone which was placed on the terrace. We slowly climbed the ladder with our air pistols in hands. The moment we touched the top a cat jumped out of nowhere; passed touching my left hand and disappeared in the dark on the staircase down to the ground floor. We were both pretty taken by this and to make things normal again we spent a couple of minutes on the terrace and then descended. Well to tell the truth this was the first time when a cat made me so taken away if not scared. But the strange thing was yet to be noticed, when we came down our recorder graph was still flickering and the
285

same sort of scratching rubbing sound was on the headphones. This made us reconsider our situation. We pulled the microphone and placed it in the room which we had occupied for our stay, and the sound stopped. Now we were at bit ease, but not for long. After 10-15 minutes when tension was starting to reduce suddenly the graph started flickering again; and now we were scared, pretty scared. Whatever the reason was it was-in-our-room-now. Once again we gathered ourselves together and decided to check out. We switched on the emergency lantern and checked the room thoroughly but nothing was there. It was an empty room except than our beds and luggage. We decided not to spend the night in the room and took our beds outside in the corner of the balcony and bolted the room from the outside. The sound had stopped once again. We kept listening intently but nothing happened for next 30-40 minutes. Then around 0230 hrs both of us got the same scratching/ rubbing sound again and this time it was wilder than previous as if the same cat was trying to rip off the microphone from the
286

cable. But it couldnt have been possible as we had checked the room thoroughly and had bolted it from the outside so there was no way to for the cat to get in or any other thing. This made us so scared that we put aside our headphones and grabbed our air pistols instead. The graph on our laptop was flickering wildly. It went on for couple of minutes and then it stopped again; and after a minute or two we heard the scratching again but there was nothing on the laptop. It was very faint in the beginning but then we spotted it. It was coming from within the room as if someone was scratching the door. And what happened in those 2 hours we wont forget for our lives. The faint scratching turned to tapping and then slowly it was as if someone was knocking the door from within the room to be opened. It got to wild banging twice and we didnt know what to do. Our hearts were beating wildly, Goosebumps were all over our bodies, we were sweating like anything, our throats were dry and we couldnt speak a word and our air pistols were pointed in the direction of the door while we knew if something comes out these would be of no avail but still we did. We had
287

barricaded ourselves behind our cots in the corner opposite to the staircase and we were too afraid to get the stairs in the dark as electricity was out. This scenario went on for next couple of hours. Sometimes the scratching almost stopped and then suddenly it started again like someone was doing it rhythmically to make as afraid and then to put us at ease and then to scare again. Around 0500 hrs we heard the second banging on the door and then the sound stopped. It was getting dawn and we were so exhausted that we dont remember when we fell asleep. Our friend came about 0700 hrs to wake us up and was quite alarmed to see us asleep behind the barricade. We told him everything what happened that night and he laughed heartily first and then he told us to move to their family house what we did. When we heard the recordings from the USB recorder we got the same scratching sound along with some grunts and screams, very faint, and it is really hard to tell whether the screams are of some wild animal or of some human being; these lasted only 23 seconds. While on our laptop we got
288

total 86 minutes of recording, leaving the duration when there was silence in between. Our handy cam recorded the fleeing cat from an opening in the ground floor wall but there is something strange in the video. The moment the cat jumped from the staircase there was some sort of dust/ smoke rising from there and moving up the staircase. Its not very clear, because of the night mode but one can make out by watching those 8 seconds on the recording. Now it could be simply dust or it could be that supernatural energy which came up after we disturbed the cat; at least thats what my friend and I think. In the afternoon we were told that 4-5 years back there was only a hut from which the fiends were watched, and that a watchman was killed by the wild animals, probably wolves, at that time; before the villagers could have rescued him. Then the farm house was build so that anyone can stay comfortably and safely to watch the fields. But since the watchman was killed there have been such haunting despite the villagers efforts to put the dead mans soul to rest. And the interesting fact is that the cat belonged to the same dead watchman.
289

KALYAN
Well, I will tell you a very real incident which happened with me...You decide if it involves the paranormal or it's just a case of simple misunderstanding...either way, it was the creepiest experience in my life... I am an Indian & I live in Mumbai, one of the biggest cities in the world...An hour's drive from the city and we come to a place called Kalyan, which is one of the distant suburbs of Mumbai...it can be best described as a village-town...It is surrounded on one side by hills & woods, where there are many villages & vast expanses of farmland...these places are very sparsely populated & it gets quite spooky at night...there is a good road running through these places, but no light-poles or illumination...I used to go to a farm-house in one of the villages called Dahagaon, with my team to party & let off steam... Once you leave Kalyan towards this region, you
290

have to pass a bridge which is built over a small river...the river-banks are said to be haunted & is a favourite place for people who practice blackmagic...vehicles plying on the bridge at night generally break down or lose control... One of the guys with me had actually been involved in a very scary case of black magic at that very spot but that is a different story...We were a group of 7 guys on 4 motorbikes...It was really late (around 10.30 PM) when we reached the outskirts of Kalyan & it started raining heavily, unexpectedly...we stopped awhile & after the initial downpour, we resumed our trip...It again started pouring & we had a hard time seeing the road ahead & keeping our bikes balanced...it was pitch-dark & rain was pouring down our faces making it difficult to focus on the road...we were driving real slow... One guy who was driving his bike alone was having problem in keeping his balance at such a slow pace, on the slippery, sloping road and had to stop every
291

often... By the time we reached the bridge (must be around 12.15 AM), two of the guys on one bike had passed ahead of me...I was on the second bike with another guy...the third bike with the lone guy stopped approximately 50 metres behind us & the fourth bike (with 2 guys) stopped to help him... We were just a few metres shy of the bridge, so we stopped & looked back...we (me & the guy with me) could see the head-lights of the two bikes behind us...it was still pitch black, but the rain was now drizzling, instead of pouring...we were talking to each other & after about 10 minutes, we turned back and there was......nothing !!!We were shocked & went back to the spot where the 3 guys were supposed to be...there was absolutely no sign of them...we both were seriously spooked & considered going back to the town... Then we decided to continue ahead, atleast to inform
292

the 2 guys who had gone ahead of us on the first bike...so we crossed the bridge & there were the rest of the guys (all five of them) standing waiting for us. I came to understand that the two bikes behind us had passed us & one of the guys waved to us, but we happened to miss them...now you can logically put it down to the fact that it was extremely dark & raining, so it was fair to assume that we did not see them...or was there a more paranormal explanation for what happened??? From what I understand about incidents involving the paranormal, there are always two explanations for such incidents...one would be a logical explanation, though the logic would be slightly stretched (for example our missing the two bikes, which generally would not happen, but just might be possible) &another a more sinister one... I know that it does not sound so spooky when I write it down here...but believe me, it was real spooky when it happened & I am a guy, who do not get spooked easily !!! Thinking about that incident
293

still gives me goose-bumps...it is also not a blatant ghost story, but a real story in which you can form your own conclusions... My wife thinks that I was extremely lucky not to have turned back from the spot where my friends "disappeared"...she firmly believes it was a paranormal occurence & in case of such ghostly events, you are supposed to go ahead, not return back...if you had returned back, something bad or evil was sure to have happened to you, she says... I tried to be as descriptive as possible...but words cannot sufficiently describe the atmosphere, the surroundings and the chill that ran through my spine !!!

294

ARMY GHOST
Soldiers at the Khalpara International Border Out Post (IBOP), managed by the Border Security Force of India (BSFI), have been facing a number of unwanted problems for a long time. This has come to light from an incident that took place in the BSFI camp that lies on the India-Bangladesh International Border under Haldibari Police Station (PS) at Jalpaiguri district in the Northeast Indian State, West Bengal (NEISWB). The Jawan (soldiers) of the BSFI Khalpara IBOP camp noticed a number of snakes within the camp area. This caused anxiety among the jawans and they were frightened. The snakes went away, but after they tried to drive out the snakes, they reappeared again later. As a result of this, they had many sleepless nights. "On the 8th of June, 2009, Pravin Kumar, one of the Santri (guards) noticed a number of snakes in the camp areas. I saw them myself, and so did others in the camp.
295

At once, we had taken steps and drove the snakes out of the camp. But, we can't stop the coming of the snakes in the camp. The snakes come again and again and have caused fear among all. Other Jawans and I have tried their best to clear up the snakes; but, the coming of the snakes cannot be stopped. "The incidents have occurred repeatedly", revealed Sub Inspector (SI) - Sunderlal Singh, the platoon commander of 95-Battalion (BN), in-charge of the IBOP BSFI camp in October, 2009. Apart from this incident, the residents also confronted some unearthly incidents, which have created a great fear among the jawans of the Khalpara IBOP BSFI camp.
296

After 2-3 days, one night, one of the other guards, while on duty felt someone slapping him. The other guards also agreed to his story of an invisible man, who was found slapping some other guards as well. "This happened, when sometimes the soldiers were negligent or became unconscious during their duty (at night)", claimed Constable Prakash Singh, (BSFI 95-BN) who posted at Dangapara International Border Out Post. But, initially, Sunderlal Singh denied the matter or didn't want to believe the facts and subsequently, didn't pay any heed to it. He neither lit any candle nor burned any incense sticks beside the martyr's alter. As a result of this, these unwanted incidents begin to occur there. At last to
297

mitigate the problem, Sunderlal started to light candles and burn incenses sticks beside the martyrs tombs. Not only that, he had also ordered all camp residents strictly that nobody should show any negligence in their work during duty period in that particular Khalpara IBOP.

298

This helped to solve the problem at the camp. But, the people of this area neither believe nor disbelieve in it. According to some, it is an imaginary matter or a made-up story, while others say there may be truth in the stories of Sunderlal or Pravin Kumar. But, the
299

Jawans still believe in it and the incidents still take place when there are any lapses during duty hours in the camp. In fact, they believe that it was three Jawans who had become Shahid (that is, courted death) during the 'Liberation War, of 1971' who had died in this particular Khalpara IBOP of Jalpaiguri district, near the International Border Pillar 781/09s, opposite the Bangladeshi villages of Dangapara, Jadurban and Vogdaguri (near the International Border Pillar 781/07-s) in the Nilphamari district of Bangladesh. In the afternoon of 11th August, 1971, the Jawans were killed by a bombshell of the then East Pakistan which is presently Pakistan State (that is, popularly known as - Purbo Bango or Purbo Bangla, presently, called - Bangladesh) and were of the 73rd Battalion of BSFI. The titles and names of those killed were: - Head Constable (66733027) - Anil Kumar Sircar, - Head Constable (66733112) - Mohini Mohan Roy, and - Constable (66733522) - Man Bahadur Rai.

300

"..... It was around 05:00 pm; suddenly, we found a jeep which appeared on the other side of the international boundary, and about 3-4 soldiers of the then East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) came out of the jeep. They were carrying something (which turned out to be a Mortar Shell) upon their shoulders and then jumped to the ground. After around 25 to 30 minutes, a murmuring sound was heard and subsequently a fireball exploded on the ground. We were astounded and ran to a safer place. These EPR soldiers also visited this place in the early morning, around 08:00 am .....", said one of the eyewitnesses, Ashok Roy, who was a little boy, 7 years old, at that time in the Khlapara hamlet. "..... Our house stood just 250 yards away from the international borderline between India and former East Pakistan (that is, present Bangladesh). Like other days, that day also, I went to bring jutesticks, which were lying beside the nearby field for drying. Then, while I was returning from the nearby field with jute sticks, unexpectedly, I heard a series of unceasing firing. I saw volleys of bullets coming
301

from the gun triggered by the EPR solders from across the international boundary.

Hearing and seeing these, I rushed to our abode bending my head down. While going to our hut, I saw a BSFI Jawan on the ground with a bullet injury, and the other Jawans were busy carrying away that injured Jawan towards their camp. Then after just a few minutes (perhaps 3 to 4 minitues), I heard another terrible sound but couldn't see properly. In the meantime, I had already entered into our courtyard, but I was feeling warm in the right side of the waist. I reached out my hand and found that I was bleeding profusely from my waist. At once I cried out in fear and fell flat on the
302

ground. Others,(my family members) who were there rushed to my body after hearing my appalling sound and my loud crying. When the family members saw my ugly situation, they at once took me to the Haldibari sanatorium, and subsequently shifted to me the Jalpaiguri District Hospital at Jalpiguri district headquarter town to pull out the bullet from my waist.

After this, I do not know what had happened. But, after a month, when I recovered from this serious injury and returned to our house from the hospital, I came to know that 3 BSFI soldiers of our Khalpara IBOP camp that was pitched hardly 50 to 100-yards from our hut, had lost their lives. Their camp was totally burnt down by mortar shelling by EPR soldiers of the east Pakistan side .....", briefed Charan Dashi Mondol, who was about 14-years-old at that time, but now, 55-years-old and residing in Khalpara village. Supporting the facts, 76-year-old Sumitra Roy, mother of Ashim Kumar Roy recalled, "We were drying our clothes in the Uthan (courtyard) of our
303

hut, which stood just on the international borderline (which is called 'zero-line') between India and former East Pakistan. But, when I was sweeping the courtyard of our house, suddenly, we heard a terrible sound, which shook the area and subsequently I saw a fireball drop flying onto our roof-shed. At once, our house caught fire and began to burn with a great flame. Not only that, the entire area was covered by smoke and our villagers were running here and there trying to save their lives. We also fled from the house with others, and then, within a few seconds of this incident, another ball of fire dropped on our adjacent BSFI camp and burnt it to ashes. We rushed to the camp and found 3 BSFI Jawans were lying dead there. We cannot forget that frightful incident of the day .....". "..... 15 to 20 minutes later, some jeeps rushed to our village and cordoned the area without any loss of time. The personnel, who rushed to the spot where our Sena Jawan of India (BSFI). All of the village reached there in a body and found that the BSFI camp that lay there was burnt to ashes
304

and the grass had turned black, having been burnt by the fire. We also found the bodies of the three BSFI personnel who lay dead there. The Indian BSFI soldiers took the bodies from the spot. The scene still floats before our eyes, when we think of that day .....", evoked 46-year-old Naren Sarkar, resident of Khalpara hamlet.

. ".....At that time, I was a boy of four, now, I am 45. Around 15:00 pm, I was playing football in a nearby field (beside the international borderline, between India and former East Pakistan, that is, present
305

Bangladesh) with my friends, while my sister was reading in the courtyard, and my mother was drying jute in the sun. Our house stands just on the Zeroline, between India and former East Pakistan (that is, part of former West Pakistan and presently, Bangladesh). About 17:00-hours, when we would have almost completed our daily football game, unexpectedly, I heard a terrible sound and saw our house was burning and everybody was running here and there for a safer place. Seeing this, I was also began to run for a safer place .....", said Ashim Kumar Roy, who had a house on the zero-line and has now shifted the house inside Indian territory the International Barbed Wire Border Fencing (IBWBF) was erected on the international boundary in 1993."..... Look, first Mukti Bahini (a freedom fighter) of Bangladesh burnt down the Dangapara IBOP, at Dangapara village, near Chilahati under Domar Upazila in Nilphamari district of EPR of East Pakistan, which was near the IBPN - 782) and as a result of this, EPR withdrew their soldiers. Later in retaliation, the EPR soldiers had visited Khalpara
306

IBOP from their side (that is, East Pakistan side), in the early morning around 08:00 am in a jeep. Suddenly, at about 16:30 pm, some mortar shells had been carried out by EPR soldiers with 3 vehicles and then started shelling about 17:30-hours from around 800 metres away from the international borderline (near Dangapara village, where their [EPR] company headquarter was situated) and left the place. After a little while, I saw 16 or 17 EPR soldiers come once again and set fire to the rest of the huts of our village - Khalpara, the ones which were not affected by their shelling", pointed out 78 years old Mukti Joddhha (that is, warrior), Balaram Dutta, who was associated with Mukti Bahini during the 'Liberation Movement of Bangladesh' in 1971, and at that time was around 33 years old and living at Pabna Colony, Ward 6 under Haldibari Municipal Board. "I was on duty in another nearer IBOP, Hudumdanga, which is just three kilometres away from Khalpara IBOP. It is a fact that there was a heartrending sound, and I rushed to the spot, but
307

everything had finished. Our brother soldiers were dead. Today, we are free from all these anxieties because we are living 200 yards inside the IBWBF on Indian land and Bangladesh got freedom and Pakistan is no longer on this side. India takes such a good steps to make this IBWBF safe. We are happy, but commemorating the day for our brave soldiers, who died to save our motherland and to commemorate these three Shahid ( Martyrs), the soldiers as well as the populace of this Khalpara village area built this Shahid Bedi (Martyr Tomb) in the name of the soldiers to show honour to those victim soldiers. Since then, it has become a practice to light up this martyr tomb and burn incense sticks to show love and respect to those honourable martyrs. Not only that, if any of soldier finds lapses during his duty period, he also faces the same situation .....", disclosed septuagenarian Naren Roy, who was working with IBSFI - and at that time was around 31 years old and living at the Khalpara village.
308

MEERUT CANTT
A cold winter evening.Swirling mist... as you walk down the Mall Road in Meerut, head down, shoulders slightly hunched, battling the cold wind as it howls and swishes through the trees lining the road. If you are a passer-by, out quite by chance, your footsteps will hurry down the shadowy road, your mind focusing on a warm hearth and home. But if you happen to be a member of the elite Wheler Club, you have just that well-deserved glass of wine in the warm bar room taking up your attention. Wheler Club built in 1863 AD, by Col. Wheler, under the aegis of the Her Majesty, the Queen of all she surveyed. Suddenly, you look over your shoulderWhat was that you just felt? Who was that shadow that flitted across your path? Can you see the smart young officers wearing tail-coats and hats over their eyes? Can you hear the laugh of the lady in the evening gown? That talented artistic
309

genius, that young British Officer, who is sitting quietly in a corner of the bar, observing, and making brilliant sketches of his colleagues. Why are they so faded then, as they adorn the walls of the club? Did you just find yourself in another time and place, a hundred and fifty years back? - The high-domed halls of the club, the white facade, the sprawling gardens, and the clock on the table in the main hall, which was presented by the Duke of Connaught are they really here, or also a figment of your imagination?

The Duke of Connaught lived from 1884 1886 in the building now occupied by Allahabad Bank. So he must have presented his clock to the club as an inaugural gift. As you halt mid-stride, you see the dark trees swaying to the cool breeze across the road. You know you are near Gandhi Bagh, also called Company Bagh locally. Ever wondered where the
310

name Company came from? - The East India Company, of course! It houses a musical fountain now, and a grand cricket field inside. Walls of prison height surround it now, built by the De fence Estate Office some years ago. Walk further, and you will see the famous Officer's Mess of the 2nd Lancers..Where the 200th year celebrations are going on. The Chief of Army Staff and many of the top brass of the Indian Armed Forces are here. It is a grand, warm, well-lit Mess, but has no windows.. Because they say, Bahadur Shah Zafar was once imprisoned here, and all the windows were hence walled-up. Lost in your thoughts, you just reached the Meerut Cantonment railway station, which bears the mantle of the legacy of history. It was built in 1869 and is now managed by Northern Railways. There is also the Martyr' Memorial (Shaheed Smarak, as its now called), close to West End Road. It was supposed to have been built in memory of Ashoka, the Great.
311

Your footsteps have reached the Augarnath Mandir. Sigh! You are safe! The ghosts of the past seem to have been left behind somewhere. The comforting clang of the bells shakes away your fears. Then why did you just imagine the patter of hundreds of horses hooves? And the battle cry of the Indian soldiers led by their prince, as they reach the Kali Paltan Mandir to seek blessings from their deity, ready to ride out on yet another victory procession. The old part of the temple has an ancient Shiva Linga, which is fabled to have risen out of the earth itself! No, you are definitely not safe from the haunting shadows of the past here too! You quickly retrace your steps, and hurry back. This cantonment of the town was after all established in the early 19th century by the East India Company. Thoughts of the glories of the lives of the British families who lived in this town flit through your mind, and you find you are at the other end of the Mall Road! The
312

tolling of the church bell jerks you into the present! You walk towards the St. John's Church, carefully avoiding the ancient graveyard, where the moonlight shines on the magnificently sculptured tombs of the nobility and the officers and families of the British Raj, that came, conquered and perished on this fertile land between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. The first War of Independence of 1857 cannoned Meerut Cantonment into a fireball of fame. You can see the people dressed in their Sunday best, as they emerge from a service in the church on 10th of May. The icy fingers seem to clutch at your throat...Were those shots you just heard? The Indian sepoys clutching guns running out of the bushes firing blindly! And nary had a shot fired inside or outside the church premises on that fateful day! The screams of the ladies and the frightened whimpers of the little boys and girls, as the sepoys of Her Majesty's Army rose in rebellion as one. The oldest church of North India, established by Chaplin Reverend Henry
313

Fisher on behalf of The East India Company in 1819, and completed in 1822 was dedicated to these people by the Mitred Minstrel (Poet Bishop) Reginald Heber, Bishop of Calcutta. It is said that he travelled all the way from Calcutta on an elephant, and took three months to reach here! The church that could seat 2,000 people seems suddenly empty. The scars of the mutiny are here for you to see in your mind's eye. The burial register with the names of all who died here that fateful day lies carefully and proudly maintained within its walls today. No, you cannot shake off the ghosts of those that lie buried in history. Not as long as you walk down the Meerut Cantonment. There are too many of them to fight. Just join them, and walk hand-in-hand with them, and re-live the magical history that makes the place what it is!

314

HUMAN FLESH
This is really weird and strange. Read for yourself, the following article from the Times of India. In what could be termed as an advanced form of banamati or sifli ilm, members of a nameless sect have made eating human flesh a part of the pujas they perform to find hidden treasures. The human flesh comes in a package along with other articles required for a special puja. The samagri, as the package is called, which includes a 100 gm piece of roasted human flesh, is reportedly supplied to members of the sect through some agents in Hyderabad. "Maas to samagri ke sath hi aati hai (the flesh comes with the samagri)," Boudhey, a member of the secret sect, told The Times of India. Boudhey is presently involved in a puja on the periphery of Dadgi village in Humnabad taluk of
315

Bidar district. Though the sect is still in the initial stages of formation, its practices are considered much more dangerous than banamati and sifli ilm, the two notorious forms of black magic in the area that falls in the erstwhile Hyderabad state. Most of the members of this new sect reportedly hail from Hyderabad, Medak and Bidar districts. But as the special puja must be performed only at a secluded place, they hire houses in small villages in Medak and Bidar districts. Most times, they are forced to leave the place once the villagers learn about their activities. In some instances, alleged performers of this weird ritual have been killed by villagers on suspicion of being practitioners of banamati. Since 1999, seven such suspected practitioners were killed by villagers in Medak district while 12 others were forced to leave the villages. Despite resistance, followers of new sect manage to rent small houses to perform the puja. The 40-day ritual, it is learnt,
316

starts on a new moon day which falls on a Sunday. At the conclusion of the puja, they believe, a supernatural figure that looks exactly like the person performing the puja appears and leads him to the hidden treasure. But to ensure success in the puja the ritual performer has to eat human flesh. If he fails in the first attempt, another puja of the same duration is conducted, this time with a greater quantity of flesh. The first incident that gave rise to suspicions of human flesh-eating practice came to light about six months ago in Hallargaon village in Bidar district. Some villagers stormed the house of a person in the village on suspicion that he was practising `banamati. They were shocked to find a few human bones and pieces of roasted flesh. "He was an outsider and he never returned to the village," Abdul Haneef, a villager said.

317

BANGALORE
I am back after a break of 1 year. I have plans of writing about quite a few awesome supernatural topics so please stay tuned. Bangalore is one of India's most distinctive cities. Its status as an IT powerhouse has attracted people from all over the country. Bangalore also has a great amount of history attached to it. Since it is founding by KempeGowda to the time of Tippu Sultan, going forward to its use as a military cantonment by the British to being chosen as the capital of Karnataka, Bangalore has seen a lot. It is no wonder then that Bangalore also has a few haunted places and legends about ghosts. Let us examine one of them today.

Haunted house / mansion in St Marks Rd:

Most old timers in the city would name this among their list of haunted places. The funny
318

thing is I have walked past this place like a million times when I was in Bangalore. I did my high school (or PUC) a t St Joseph's College and I walked past this house at least twice a day on my way to Brigade Road to enjoy the sights :)...Thought I did hear some rumors I find it strange now that I was not that curious about it back then. But I always did get a weird feeling when walking past it. Some places just give out that eerie feeling. But was it really haunted back then in 2001 or was this a more recent occurrence? Read below and find out. It is still fresh in my memories. The dilapidated state of the house along with that run down car just sitting there gathering dust over the years. The whole place is in decay and I haven't been there for quite a few years now. Maybe those of you in Bangalore can actually post some new pictures or maybe you will tell me that this house was broken down and
319

remodeled

long

ago.

Anyways here is the legend about it. The house belonged to two Anglo Indian sisters who were spinsters, Vera Vaz and Dolce Vaz. Dolce Vaz was murdered in this house by an unknown assailant in front of her sister. The legend then continues that the lady was buried in this house. She was 75 when she was killed and her sister was 80. The killer was
320

never caught. The house was then deserted because nobody wants to live in a house like that. And the place was soon deemed haunted. People claimed to see things, hear noises. A bunch of folks even went in and were attacked by a supernatural force. But the reality is this murder happened fairly recently. 2002 in fact. The Times of India actually reported the murder. So all those times when I walked past this place when I was in college (19992001), it was actually not deserted. However I have been walking past this house after the murder in 2002 and it still did not make much of a difference to me. The place was just as eerie and rundown before Dolce's murder. In articles like statues, furniture and other stuff lying around in the house but nobody has had the courage to go steal them. From time to time, so called ghost hunters (actually groups of students with no better work to do) go here and post about their
321

"experiences". This one takes the cake. So what do you think? Is this place really haunted? Or are we witnessing the creation of a ghostly legend that over the next few years will grow to be more frightening. If you happen to be in Bangalore, please do visit it and let me know. I would appreciate newer pictures of this place. Footnote: After this murder, the house and its property is under litigation. It can be assumed that poor Dolce was a victim of murder. But with this haunted legend gaining steam, I wonder who would dare to come forward and buy this property. I think builders are one of the most superstitious folks out there. Would you like to buy this place? We are not superstitious... we went there with an open mind, said Arjun Thimmaya of Spirit Seekers Army, a group of friends curious about experiences with no rational explanation. Aishwary Narolia, Swapnil Jain, Arjun Thimmaya and Dinesh
322

Choudhary, students of Jain University on Kanakapura Road, have formed the group, and want to be Indias first professional paranormal research group.Narolia and Thimmaya went into the St Marks Road house on March 6.We were armed with our cameras. There was so much of negative energy in the house... And though it was abandoned, there were half-full wine bottles, jam bottles and pickles. There was an old Horlicks bottle too, said Narolia. On the table, they saw a sign that they described as Satanic. We saw an inverted cross. It may have been a coincidence, but to be on the safe side, we put it back in position, said Narolia.And when they did that, I swear to God, I felt like someone was burning my back. I kept telling Arjun to see if there was something on my back. He didnt see anything, but there was a black hole in my shirt when we came out, recalled the 21-year-old Narolia, with a shudder.

323

The house has eight rooms, with each room leading to another. The scariest, they said, was the last. Here, they saw a statue that could have been either Mother Marys or Jesus Christs. And shockingly, they said, the head and the wrists were missing. They felt a powerful presence here. Next to the statue, we even saw a white stone with a black mark on it. And suddenly, we heard a loud noise. It was like someone had just smashed something into the floor or the furniture. It was scary. We were planning to stay for some more time but after that, we decided to get out, said Arjun.

324

Narolia said, I was always interested in the paranormal sciences. I wanted an explanation of things that cannot be explained. I discussed this with my other friends, and thats when we decided to form the army. Their interest was accelerated by inexplicable experiences in their lives, as individuals and as a team. About six months ago, Aishwarya and I had gone to a cemetery in Ahmedabad which had a creepy reputation. We were curious, so we went there with our night vision cameras. Shockingly, the cameras which were working perfectly outside started blurring once we were inside. It was weird, said Jain. Fear got the better of them and they quickly headed for the exit. However, the incident just strengthened their resolve to find practical explanations to such occurrences.

325

The marks on Aishwarys back The four boys want to go to cities across the country, especially places like Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan, which has a reputation for being haunted. And once we have enough money, we want to go to the UK and Scotland, which have violent histories. And we would also like to visit the abandoned mental asylums in America, said Jain. The group will take up other jobs to enable them to live out their passions. We did a lot of research on the Net on the paranormal... though we have just
326

started, we know about spirits. We hope to be the first professional paranormal research group in the country, said Choudhary Oooo says Anasuya, a 17-year-old student, I have heard about that house," with an artistic shudder (do teenagers have any other kind?). "Isn't it that the place where the gruesome murder happened?" remembers Mrs. G, a housewife in Sadashivnagar. This is the kind of urban legend it's hard to get away from, seeing as how it's based on a single, true event. The more people talk about it, the more the tone of the thing takes on a harder shade of black. So why does one person scoff when hearing tales of the 'haunted houses', her eyes getting round as she is told what people in Bangalore are saying? Perhaps because it's the house she grew up in since 1991. The woman who owns the house on St Mark's Road is a far cry from Vincent Price as Satan is from Cinderella. And she does not believe in ghosts. "I've never felt my sister is not there," she adds, but not in sense of transparent entity whispering 'Boo' in
327

her ear. "I remember her as warm, as alive. I don't feel death." In the slow, easy way of many 87-yearolds, she says, I avoid anything that gives me negative feelings. God has given me two things: A sense of humor and a peace loving mind." According to the laws of the universe, it is precisely someone like this whose sister would be murdered by intruders in (2002). Even though she continued living there and giving piano classes, the Bangalore police advise her to move elsewhere. "I don't know why. I used to have several maids staying with me when my sister went anywhere for a few weeks," she says, somewhat poignantly. "There were never any signs of (paranormal) disturbance there. I never felt frightened in the house. It was home." What about religious figures, did she leave some behind? "No. There was a statue of a boy-saint but no other statues." And certainly none with limbs missing.

328

So unless cultists with unusual fetishes have taken over, Bangalores people have nothing to worry about. But rationalists are not amused by the youngsters claims, and are taking the entire episode with a bucket of salt. All these things like negative energy and spirits are what normally people say. They think all this would add credibility to their story. These things are nothing but a figment of their imagination. Moreover, I will also say that they should stop watching horror movies. If I were in Bangalore, then my team and I would investigate the place and prove them wrong, said Narendra Nayak, national president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations, an apex body of more than 65 atheist, rationalist and humanist groups.

329

GRAND PARADI TOWERS

Arguably the most famous haunted house in Mumbai is situated in one of the citys most affluent areas. On the eighth floor of the Grand Paradi (sometimes referred to as the Grand Parrari) Towers in Kemps Corner a series of freakish suicides drew attention to what appeared to be a gruesome pattern of deaths and accidents in the building. In 2004 an elderly couple jumped out of the window of this apartment. Their children and their grandchild followed suit within the year. Residents who have lived in the building for 30 years tell us, There was something unacceptable to our rational minds that a whole family, three generations, living in one house should commit suicide in the same way. There have been up to 20 cases of fatal accidents and suicides since the building was constructed in 1976. Many involving children and even a maid who either jumped or fell out of a window. After the series of unfortunate events the building society began to believe that paranormal forces were at work. After
330

the suicides of the family the building society decided to do a puja and a havan and since then everything has stopped but the flat remains unoccupied. Lists of suicide cases in the Grand Paradi towers: June 14, 1998: Senior citizens Vasudeo and Tara Dalal jumped of the balcony of their eighth floor apartment flowing harassment from their son Balkrishna (48) and daughter-in-law Sonal (45). March 28, 2005: Fearing conviction for the suicides of Vasudeo and Tara, Balkrishna and Sonal jumped off the balcony with their 19-year-old daughter Pooja on the day of the verdict. April 26, 2001: Narayan Ramchander (36), a domestic servant in the building, threatened to jump off the parapet of the 19th floor apartment in a 10hour suicide drama after he was accused of stealing by his employers. Mr. Jain, an employee with a brewery company, in his early forties committed suicide, sometime in 2000.
331

After the suicides of the family the building society decided to do a puja and a havan (prayer ceremonies) and since then everything has stopped but the flat remains unoccupied," since then. " So Friends what are you thinking, what you say about taking permission and having a rocking haunted party there!!!!!!!!!"

332

KULDHARA
Kuldhara story is one of the weirdest and inspiring stories Ive ever heard. About 15 Km. west of Jaisalmer a city in western Rajasthan lays the ruins of a village which was called Kuldhara. The first sight of Kuldhara village, more a town actually, sends one imagination running to the time it may have been inhabited. A well planned settlement, the straight and wide streets ran in grids with houses opening into them. All design elements kept both aesthetics and utility in mind. A kind of a garage opened into the streets to park carts in. Temples, step wells and other structures were all signs of sound development over the centuries. Kuldhara was the name of the largest village in this community consisting of 84 villages. The village was established in 1291 by the Paliwal Brahmins and was a rather prosperous community due to their ability to grow bumper crops in the rather arid
333

desert. Paliwal bhramins were a very prosperous clan and were known for their business acumen and agricultural knowledge. But one night in 1825 all the people in Kuldhara and nearby 83 villages vanished in dark. Why did the villagers decide to leave their settlement after having lived there for more that 7 centuries?

334

The evil dewan or the minister in the ruling kingdom saw the young daughter of the village chief. He wanted to marry her and forced the village chief for marrying his daughter. He gave them a deadline for the marriage after which he would forcefully enter the village and take their daughter. All the chiefs of 84 villages met one night and for pride and honor decided to leave the villages in the dark of the night.

335

Nobody knows where they went but it is believed that they settled near Jodhpur another city in western Rajasthan. Though nobody knows exactly how they did it, everybody in all of the 84 villages completely disappeared that very night. Nobody saw them leave or figured out where they went they simply vanished. It is believed that they cast a curse over the village as they departed that would bring death to anyone who tried to inhabit the land. It is likely that this is the reason why so much of the ancient village still remains (though mostly in rubble, but not stripped for materials). The crumbling brick structures span out towards all directions and a ghostly silence is all that lives on there. There are still some double storey houses that are intact and the awestruck tourist can well visualize how life went on in Kuldhara, ages ago. Today the ruins of these villages can still be seen in western Rajasthan and are now tourist sites. The government today maintains the ruins as a heritage site. A walk through the village is akin to wandering
336

onto the sets of a ghost movie. Only, this one is for real. Anyone who is planning a visit to Jaisalmer should keep aside a few hours to catch this haunted setting in the eerie desert backdrop. Recently, Saif Ali Khans Agent Vinod was shot in this ancient village.

As the wind in the desert howls, a sandstorm envelops you with haunted sounds. A bunch of tourists sit in the middle of a near empty camp with ultramodern tents. A fluttering bonfire lights up the
337

pitch dark sky and traditional singers sing in the romantic reflection of the yellow light. Tall men with colorful headgear, royal demeanor and humbling humility sing their souls and the desert completely mesmerizes one and all. As the music drifts away and the tourists get restless, the local attendants are urged to join in and narrate stories from their lives in the desert. Flowing with the mood, the conversation soon moves to ghosts and the powers possessed by haunted spirits. The camp soon divides into groups of believers and nonbelievers and as the powers of persuasion go, the locals turn out to be more convincing than the urban disclaimers. Story after story is narrated as people talk about their chance meetings with ghosts and spirits in various shapes and sizes. Our thirty something cab driver pitches in and starts narrating the story of his meeting with a tantric guru. How he slaved with the well-versed witchcraft guru to witness the power of spirits and finally spent three nights in a cemetery to get lucky.
338

When the spirits came they were more real than he'd ever anticipated, real people--kids, old men with bent backs, young brides in their bridal finery-all real people with unfinished business but all with their feet facing the opposite side. Some spirits came too close to comfort and our cabbie had to use some special exotic materials to woo them away. Still unconvinced, real proof was sought for all these claims and then suddenly someone mentioned the name of Kuldhara. Kuldhara, a 13th century deserted village on the outskirts of the tourist city of Jaisalmer is considered an existing proof of the power of spirits by the villagers. Charged up by a real opportunity to prove their points, everyone packs into and on top of a huge SUV in the middle of the night hopeful of a meeting with the primitive spirits. After an exhilarating drive through the desert the car reaches the village which is in shambles. A rusty board reminds one that the village has been converted into a tourist spot.
339

As the story goes, the village used to be the residence of the rich and learned paliwal Brahmins. The daughter of the village chief was a doe-eyed beauty who'd just stepped into her sixteenth spring. The notorious king of Jaisalmer happened to lay his eyes on this beautiful girl and wanted to take her as his wife. The king was famous for his debauchery and some loyal friend tipped the chieftain about his mal-intentions. The entire village of Kuldhara evacuated bag and baggage in one night and all that remained was an empty village without a single soul. As the paliwal Brahmins left, they cursed death upon anyone who ever came to live in that village. Over the years, a few skeletons had been discovered in the village. As the old watchman, of the gnarled hands and stooped back lifted the lantern in his hand and opened the gate for us, we are informed of his misfortune. We are told he lost his two sons, their wives, his daughter and his own wife to a mysterious illness, all because he decided to visit his
340

ramshackle hut inside the boundary wall of the village. As we entered inside we saw an entire village--empty with broken walls and bricks strewn all around. A self-sufficient village with a deep well, a few temple like structures and houses. Home to people several centuries ago, complete with sleeping, cooking and bathing areas. The feeling was like being at one of those old archeological sites the likes of which you see on Discovery Channel. The dusty little village had long narrow lanes crisscrossing everywhere -don't know whether it was the heightened senses but one could really feel strange faces peeking from behind the walls. A local guy came running, breathless and nervous, saying that he'd heard a woman crying a little distance away. Everyone ran in the direction but all we got was a sense of something else in the air.

341

We could feel the spirits but never once got to meet them. The believers still stayed believers and the rest came back with a story to tell.

342

THE HAUNTED ENCOUNTER

A Personal Encounter by Vishal Jadhav (Pune, Maharashtra) Hi everyone, today I am going to narrate a true story that took place with me and six of my friends in the year of August (2012). We planned an overnight trek to the Sudhagad (also called as Bhorapgad) fort situated near Khopoli village (ahead of Pali village). We decided to go there on Saturday, at around 1 pm. I had been there once, so I knew the road up to the fort fairly. I also had a plan to cook some great Chicken Biryani for dinner, just to add up to the thrill. We rechecked our inventory torches, extra clothes, snacks and a plastic sheet banner, just in case the rains worsened (yes, it was mid rainy season) and we needed something to roof us. If you have been to Sudhagad, you might know that the fort is located within a dense forest, and the journey was quite an adventure. Everything went
343

well, except for the fact that one of our friends, Ashish, who happened to be an Operation Theater Assistant in Poona Hospital had to fill in some extra time and told us that he will join us as soon as he gets off his duty. He finally made it at around 6.30 pm. Finally, we left Pune in Sonus (one of my friends) Scorpio (an SUV by Mahindra) we were very excited and were looking forward to the big adventure, even Kushal (another of my friends), who happens to possess a spiritual eye (I guess every group has one)! We had hardly reached Hinjewadi (about 20 kms away from the city), when our car suddenly started to wobble. I was driving the car I asked Sonu what can be the issue he told me that he had no idea. I thought it might be a wheel alignment issue and decided to visit a garage and fix the problem. So we went back to Aundh (Dange Chowk), a place closer to the city. We found a garage but they had two cars in queue for wheel alignment so it would be quite some time till we were done. We decided to wait.
344

It was nearly 8.30 pm when our car was done. Before proceeding, we had to buy some raw chicken so that we could cook up at the fort. We figured out that we will have to buy the meat from somewhere nearby, since we wont be able to get it at our destination since it will be nearly midnight. We found a meat shop close by and bought 2 kgs of chicken. The butcher cut a live hen and packed the meat in a black polythene bag. We reached our destination the foot of Sudhagad fort at about 11.45 pm. The rains had worsened we had an option to spend the rest of the night in a local school or to start climbing right away. Some of us suggested that we ask a villager to escort us up to the fort. After talking with the village folks, we found two young boys who agreed to take us up to the Wada (an old residential complex) where we had planned to stay. The fees were 200 bucks each. We picked up our sacks from our car. I noticed that the bag in which we had kept the chicken had started leaking and there was blood all over the backseat. .
345

Ignoring the stains, we changed into loose t-shirts and shorts, comfortable enough for the trek. It was an Amavasya (New Moon) night and our path was quite eerie. The rain was pouring heavily with occasional thunders. The village boy was leading our pack and we all had our (electric) torches lit. One of our friends brother named Makarand was finding it difficult to keep up with the pace. All the rest of us were hardcore gym rats and were quite capable of trekking easily even with the heavy backpacks. Makarand, however, was puffing and panting, making all of us wait at every corner, all thanks to his extra fats. We had just completed onefifth of our journey when he stopped again, trying to catch his breath. Cursing him, we took a 15 minute break. About an hour or so later, we reached a point where we had completed about 70% of our journey. At this point, the two village boys backed up they started reasoning that they need to go home ASAP. Their tones, however, werent confident enough for
346

their reason. All they knew was that they cannot accompany us anymore they took their 200 bucks each and left us. I now led the pack, since I had been here once. The rains were heavy, and the path was quite slippery. Each of us slipped down atleast a couple of times before we finally reached close tone of the gates to the fort, known locally as the Buruj (a tower or turret). A little ahead, there was a tree branch which has hanging low I wasnt able to see it owing to the darkness. I bumped my head against the branch and fell down. I warned the rest of my friends so that they could safely pass through. All of a sudden, Kushal (the spiritual guy) started shouting and cursing the branch. Then, another of my friends, Ashish, started shouting back at Kushal. We were unable to understand what was going on. Since it was pouring heavily, we ignored the incidence and moved ahead. The rainwater had flooded the entire place and there was a river of rainwater rushing through. We had just crossed that small river when all of a sudden, our torches gave
347

off. It was quite weird, since torches dont just give off not all at once at least. There was dead darkness everywhere and a deep valley just steps away. To avoid any accidents, we decided to camp down in a corner, holding the plastic sheet banner above us. Some of our friends went to sleep, while we decided to have some whiskey (we had brought along), partly to cure the cold shivers and partly to pass the time till the morning. Kushal asked me to keep my sack (containing the raw chicken) away from our campsite, since it might attract some wild beasts (which were plenty in the surrounding forest). I walked some distance and kept my sack on the ground. It was around 3.15 am. We drank till 4 am and then laid down to get some sleep. We resumed our journey at about 6.15 am. I went to fetch my sack, but it was not there. Instead I saw the black bag containing the chicken lying around. I returned back and found my sack near our campsite. It was weird but we ignored the fact and proceeded. It was pretty cold and to top it all, we were wet. In
348

about ten minutes, we reached the Wada, where we joined other groups of people who had stayed there the last night. All of them, except us, were leaving the place by the afternoon. In an hour or so, we prepared some breakfast (Kanda Poha a flattened rice recipe). After breakfast, some of us went to sleep for some time while us others played cards. At about 11 am, we decided to start cooking our lunch. Kushal took out the chicken from the bag and found that it was half eaten (an animal had probably eaten it). I told him to remove the part with any teeth marks and use the rest. I gave the remains of the raw chicken to a local dog (which resided in the Wada). Surprisingly, he refused to eat it. I thought it might be the smell of the meat that was driving the dog away. After an hour, we prepared the Biryani, and ate half of it, while keeping the other half for tonights dinner and drinks. I tried feeding some Biryani to the dog, but again he refused to even be anywhere near to the Biryani. Again, this was quite bizarre.
349

By 5 pm, everybody, except the 7 of us had left the Wada. We started making dinner, since it would be getting dark very soon. We prepared some Veg Pulao. At about 9 pm, we started having dinner and drinks. After some time, it was just Kushal who was drinking, and everybody else, except the two of us, had fallen back to sleep. It was then that Kushal started narrating his part of the story. Back where I had bumped against that branch (Kushal started narrating), he (Kushal) saw a spirit sitting on the branch. When he started cursing the spirit, it got down and entered Ashishs body and began threatening Kushal. Kushal said that at this moment, Ashishs eyes had grown fierce red. Going ahead, he met two more spirits who demanded to him to give them one of his friends life. Kushal, instead, negotiated with the spirit and instead offered him some food (raw chicken) and some alcohol. At this point, Sonu got up and confessed that he too had seen two blurry spirits around us. Kushal went ahead and told us that it was yet
350

another spirit sitting on Makarands shoulders, who was causing him to lose his breath at every corner. He said that if he had told us the facts then, we would have been scared. It was the spirit (Aatma) who had eaten half of that meat. The spirit told Kushal that there were in all 7 spirits that haunted the wada and the surrounding forests. At about 12.30 in the night, it was just me and Kushal who were awake. I was quite hesitant to believe whatever Kushal was saying, since I hadnt seen anything myself. Suddenly, Kushal asked me to keep quiet, as he could see three spirits sitting behind me. I asked him to shut up and go to sleep, but he instead threw his glass of whiskey at me (rather, at the place where the supposed spirits were sitting). I looked back and saw nothing, but then, out of nowhere, I could hear a mixture of sounds (animalistic) yelling at Kushal. I could not understand what it was all about, but Kushal was fiercely yelling back. All of a sudden, Kushal sat up straight, looking directly at me. Apparently, one of
351

the spirits, thankfully, a calm one, had entered his body. I could practically see Kushals eyes bulging out and turning blood red. Kushal narrated to me many facts of my past life, which no one apart from me and my parents could have known. He also told me that I am destined to die in the coming morning. This scared the hell out of me. But even before I could respond, Sonu got up and yelled at me to go to sleep. I was fear struck and sat still. Kushal (now possessed) turned to Sonu and asked him who he was. Sonu replied saying that he was Omkara. Kushal asked him again who he was and Sonu replied the same. The spirit possessing Vishal couldnt say his name, maybe because Omkara is another name of Lord Shiva. Kushal challenged Sonu to leave me to him, but Sonu did not budge. About half an hour later, Kushal suddenly gave a jerk and became alert. He shouted at us to light all the candles. After some time, the candles started giving up. Sonu then told me that he will sleep besides me, but Kushal interrupted saying that he
352

will sleep besides me. Sonu told me to sleep besides him because he still sensed danger lurking around Kushal. It was now that Ashish (another friend) woke up and confessed that he too had sensed spirits around and was faking his sleep in order to get away from whats going on. Deeply disturbed and afraid to the core, we desperately waited for the morning. At dawn, we left for the foot of the fort, ignoring the heavy downpour. Suddenly, the same dog came out of nowhere as if he wanted to warn us - Pack your stuff and get the hell out of here! The path back was extremely wet and foggy. The good dog kept us company at every point actually it was him who led the pack. Every now and then he would run ahead to check if everything was okay, then come back and signal us with a bark. Believe it or not there was something very secure about that animal. Once we were down in the village, we turned to check onto our buddy, and saw him turning back and leaving up for the fort. He was indeed an angel in disguise.
353

Once all set in our car, we headed back for Pune. It was Eid (al Fitr) that day (the final day of Ramzan / Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting) and we had promised another friend, Kasim, that we would visit his place in the evening. However, overcome with exhaustion and emotions, we first went to visit the Mira Data Dargah (Raviwar Peth, Pune), which is known for waiving off negative spirits off a person. We then went to the Lord Shiva temple. Later that day, we went to Kasims house, where we narrated to him what had happened. It was then that his father, a trekker himself, told us that he himself had been to Sudhagad in the year 1984. He had then found out that about a year or two ago (1982 83), 7 people were killed in that place. We were shocked, and could do nothing more than to thank, for the millionth time, the blessings of our parents and that God in disguise.

354

It is upto you to believe or laugh at my encounter. For all I know, I have gone through this and it stays alive in front of my eyes till this very moment. I have pictures of tha dog and of the Wada we stayed in, if anybody wishes to investigate the case, or the genuine nature of my account. I also look forward to your comments.

355

356