Aug 29, '09
Some times …. Solutions are as unpredictable & abnormal as much as the paranormal predicaments!!! …… Read on!!!
Chokolingam Vatapara, my close friend, is the only son of an unbelievable rich rubber planter from Iduki in Kerala. Life was nothing but fun for him…. expect when he is doing business, which he does most of the time. He lives in a farm house, just off the city limits & is known for his generosities as much as his unpredictable nature. Among many other things, he is an excellent host & most weekends were sort of ‘Jam sessions’ at his place for his close friends. The parties at our ‘Adda’ (as we call it) was special for one more reason, it was never just drink dance & make merry only. Ever week we used to decide a topic of interest in advance & used to have healthy debates, in half sane state of mind. But by the time, it used to get over, our mind, soul & body would have transmigrated to a state of eternal bliss!! That was life!!
Many a week had passed this way & one fine Monday morning, I realized that the coming weekend was my birthday. I was looking forward to spending it with my friends, yet I was not in for any debates this one time. The week passed on hectic & before I could blink my eyes properly, Saturday’s sun was out with all his glory. I was offered the privilege of being the birthday boy, since Choks ensured Mansoor picked me with pomp from office, costing me a party for my colleagues. You see, pockets were tight those days!!
After the rounds of hugs & wishes (Sam almost broke my ribs gracing me with his lavishly huge frame). My pals had arranged 4 covered pegs of Jack Daniels (Sour Mash) alighted candles on top for me to blow & say our ritualistic birthday prayer – “Though I am closer by a year to my grave, we thank you God for all the special moments & very special friends”!! Then it was the dry gulp & the customary burp!!
Now it was time for birthday presents, my moment of glory…. I was surprised to find one single big packet for a change. ‘Surprise, surprise’. I told myself….. I was even more taken aback since they asked me to open it right away…. It was my day, you see: and I had to put up my price. More over, I just love Jack Daniels. So I got to have another peg neat & then I was just about in the ‘ninth cloud’…. As I was unpacking the packed affection of my friends, there was this feeling of unease… increasing as & as the colorful papers were exposing the ‘nudity of the gift’!!
It was an ‘Ouija Board’!!!..... Frankly, my nozzles were worst than that of a bull to snort, yet, I loved ESP ever since I saw Frankenstein with Boris Karloff on the screens!!
I said ‘Whose grandmother you want to invite & whom so ever to spook’!!
Choks said… ‘It’s a gift from Arthur C Clarke’
‘When did the lord of aliens become the caretaker of the after deaths…? Anyways, what do thee propose??!! – I retaliated…
“Let’s play the game”…. This was in ‘Unison’!!!
So it started…. It was the best tribute we would have given to our dead Kith, Kilns & friends…. You know the best part, after a few tries, we even had “Hotel of California playing in the background as a medium’…. Forefingers touching the Ouija board in harmony, thinking of our most beloved dead… to not so beloved dead, we tried everything to initiate the dead!!! Instead of the trance, we end up seeing multiplicity & triplicate of our own self, thanks to jacks the Daniels!!! We slept… Drunk out of anticipation!!!
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One evening a couple of days later!!
“Please get me Garlic Flake”…. I was asking the waiter, as my phone rang!
“Hello…. Shabarish here”
“Pal where you are”….. It was like Donald Duck quaking!!
“Who is this,” I asked
“Your BIL called Choko... mate, where can I grace you”
“At Dominos”
“20 Minutes”!!!
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I had finished my ‘Gourmet’ & paying the bill when Choks walked in... I was a bit shocked to see this designer wear boy in an old jeans & T pulling along his bathroom slipper!!
‘I dint know there was a fancy dress competition in town Choks, you won?’ – I asked.
‘We have to leave, now’ & I was literally dragged out…
There was not much conversation on our way & I could sense that some thing was terribly wrong. As we entered the drive way & parked in the portico, Choks seemed more pale. That’s when I asked him what’s not right??
‘The house got haunted yesterday night Sabs. I am terrified to open the place. Do you think its ok to go in?’ – He looked like white chalk.
‘Let’s check it out. No point standing here’!!
We opened the house & moved to his bedroom. I entered it & switched on the lights. On first glance every thing seemed normal till he showed me the broken mirror & a few displaced vases… Then he pointed towards his bed which was totally crumpled with torn pillows.
‘This looks more like one of your passionate night outs to me Choks’ – I mumbled.
‘Cut it out Sabs… I am serious. Will you please listen to me?’
‘Go ahead Choks; I am all ears for you’!!
It seems in the midst of the night; Choks heard some voices in his room. He claims the language was something he had never heard before. Then suddenly the voices grew loud & an unseen hand seems to throw those vases around. One of them caught the mirror shattering it. Before he could react, somebody lifted him from the bed & hurled him into the corner. Shocked he felt he was seeing a ‘pillow war’ on his bed. He just mustered his strength & bolted out of the room. He went to Sams for the rest of the night!!
I looked at the bed once again & whispered – ‘Some passionate Spirits indeed’.
‘If what you are saying is true, it does looks like a poltergeist-type of haunting. However, there has to a trigger mechanism for that, you hiding something pal’ – I reasoned.
‘Well … actually… You see, I was bored yesterday evening so I took your Ouija board & tried initiating… And I don’t remember when I slept’!!!
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It was decided that I spent the night with him just to check out on things & give him company. Frankly, I was still not convinced about the whole business. We chatted for a while, watched TV & then went to sleep. Nothing happened that night.
Before I left in the morning, I tried convincing him that it should be some weird imagination of his or just a one-off visit from the after world. He was not prepared to drop the topic & ended convincing me to stay with him for the next few days.
This ordeal went on for the next 2 days to no avails. The spirit simply refused to return & this some what convinced Choks to spare me, though I was a bit disappointed too!!
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‘Sabs…. I just heard them again. You have 15 minutes’ – Friends are friends & love them that way.
So I took my ‘Yamaga’ & rode to his abode, as early as I could. Frankly, it took me 25 minutes!!!
I was pulled into the house by a fuming Choks, he was all crazy alright. He told me that he had heard them again & at that moment, I did not trust the trust of my life!!!
I pacified him & tried to relax him, as best as I could. I called Sam & asked him to come over for the night. Sam imposing frame can be reassuring, believe me… Choks seconded my thoughts & I was on my way home!!!
It was close to 2 am in the morning when I had a screaming call from Sam. I just rushed back!!
When I walked into the bedroom, other than the dazed & zombic Sa & Cho, the room was in utter disorder!!
From what I could gather… after a few hours of persuasion … Exorcism seem to be the only way out!!!
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Father Anthony Kariyil was our old psychology teacher, with aptness & un-hearsay in Para-psychology too. After the visit at the farm house, without an ounce of doubt, he agreed the place needed exorcism. May the lord be praised; he offered us a medium too… So it was settled that the father will visit us with the medium the same evening to have the place ‘Cleaned’!!!
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Actually, the medium looked ‘drunk’ to me, when I first watched him enter the room with Father Kariyil. He just barged, seeded & conceded to a particular place on the table with the Ouija board spread in front of him, for what he could do best, which all of us hoped!!
We, the lesser mortals, took our respective seats around him & Father Kariyil, sat just by the cross in the room.
The medium, suddenly looked at me & said – ‘You leave the room. You are unwanted’!!
Reluctantly, I walked out!!
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A few minutes later, the whole euphoria of the place seem to change. I could have related it to a Tsunami, if I had heard or seen one before. The dynamics changed in such a way, much worse then the ‘global warming’…. Hot, cold, hot cold!! Periods!!
I suddenly saw Mansoor, opening & banging the door closed as one possessed. Before I could take the next breath, he was gone!!
Mansoor was back with a small packet in his hand & his re-entry was so dramatic it reminded me of Superman!!
Must have been a quarter of an hour when suddenly, there was this brightness, capable of blinding even the blind. A few seconds, it was over… I thought to myself, ‘That’s Living Daylight for you Sabs in the reign of darkness’!!
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Father Kariyil was the first to walk out & said ‘God bless you its over’!! As I walked into the room I felt as if the room was hit by the latest typhoon – Chokolingam!!
The medium showed a discomfort towards me & walked off!! I saw that the Ouija board was spread with Garlic!!
As I stood contemplating the séance, the medium rushed back into the room & said – “Spirits don’t like Garlic as much as me & you reek of them’!!
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It was silence for a very long time & I was hungry…. To break the cold I said – “Beers & food … anyone”!!
‘What ever its pal, we need Garlic bread & loads of Garlic flakes’ Sa & Cho said in Unison!!
And I prayed – ‘Thank God I like Garlic’!!!
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