The story goes back to 2012 when I was coming from Jaipur.
I was walking down the road on NH8 with very little supply of food remaining in my bag hanging around my shoulder with half portion of strap on my left hand and half portion tied around my lower right back.
I was not sure if I would be able to reach my home as it was 11.00 PM.
Why should I blame anyone? It was my mistake.
I remember my school days. God school days that never came and will never come in future. I was very shy not talking much to boys. Girls were strictly no.
If any girl says good morning or hi, I would respond with same words. It was same for leaving for the day from the school. When someone says bye-bye, I would respond simply saying bye-bye as saying nothing would have offended them.
I did not talk much with boys also. I sometimes think, interacting with boys and girls would have been beneficial.
When you interact with students of your age, compatibility is great. You share your thoughts and interests. You go out with them, have fun on bike, playing around games, walking in parks.
Anyways, I came out of school life and joined college.
I matured not much in thoughts, but in age. I thought of doing something great in college that I could not do in school.
But here again, I was the same-shy and introvert. Not talking much with students of my college. I did not go to college fests much except one time when I was in first year of college. May be new thing, as I felt at that time. It was good. Listened to music and danced with some guys and gals.
But again next day I was same guy. Nothing changed.
I graduated and started working. I switched jobs to gain exposure. Definitely salary increased in every switch though there was not much progress on designation front.
Here I shed some of my inhibitions and started feeling better. But after initial months in every switch I returned to my normal though process. I used to think on it whenever I got time during weekends or inn evenings whenever no one was around. These thoughts come better when one is in isolation.
So back to the dark night when I started my story. It was January 2012, I went to Udaipur from my office for team building activity. Around 20-25 people went t in train. It was good and we had fun. We laughed, cracked jokes, had snacks and dinner. It was a night journey. We reached early morning next day at around 5:00 AM. We reached our accommodation. Rooms were very nice and enjoyed a lot there.
Finally after 3 days of joy and enjoyment we had to come back to Delhi. Journey was by bus. We had insisted that we would be coming by train as it was fun earlier going from Delhi to Udaipur but our rude manager was reluctant and we finally settled for bus. It was a reasonably good bus without AC as it was windy. The bus started at around 2:00 PM in the afternoon after having lunch at sagar ratna restaurant. We had north Indian, south Indian food and of course Dal Batti Choorma, a famous rajasthani dish.
There had been stories of ghosts, spirits on NH8 especially in dense wood.
I heard many stories earlier. Not sure if these were true.
We halted at some stations to take short break and to refresh ourselves. But it was noon or at least dusk.
It was around 10:00 PM when bus halted at Dol-Thakra. I was uncomfortable. It was not due to travel by bus.
But it was due to heavy pressure being built in bladder.
My colleagues advised me to hold it for some time as it was dark outside and dense forests was approaching.
But I could no longer hold it. I had to pee right away.
I asked driver to stop the bus. The bus came to halt and I came down.
Shiver ran through my spine. It was dark with wind blowing at high speed. There was no moon.
I walked some steps as it was not a good sight for people sitting in the bus watching me peeing.
If they would not have seen me as it was dark, they would have listened noise falling on leaves scattered on the side.
I could not find suitable place that could be hidden from bus.
I walked rather run some distance ahead and there I thought to start my work.
The moment I started I heard noise of crying. Cry of an old woman in a low pitch. I could not concentrate on noise as I had to finish my work first.
I finished and felt relieved and thanked god that my wait was over now. I thought of my home and calculated that I should be at home in one hour from now.
I turned back…
What I saw I could not imagine.
Something was hanging with loose Threads around it.
I switched on torch in my mobile. I saw a face hanging in upside down position with loose hair around it. Shriek came out of my mouth.
I could not think anything and it seemed as if everything was moving round and round.
I gained my conscious after few seconds. I tried to look at it again to check if it was some dream.
Now the face was of an old woman and body was hanging with feet tight around branches of a tree.
I turned back and walked around some steps to get out of sight of this horrible thing.
I turned back and saw that face was coming towards me as if following me with same speed and distance. The body was still tied to branches in the same way. I was not sure what was happening…
It was like a conveyor belt that keeps on moving continuously.
I ran few hundred meters without looking back. I stopped and felt my heart beating very fast. Sweat was all around face in this cold weather.
I could not think where I had come. It was a forest with no end. I felt like crying. My mobile light had become dim now and mobile battery was very low. I thought of calling my colleagues in the bus.
I dialed number but oops… The phone was not reachable. I became nervous. I dialed another number but no response came as if the number was dead. I looked at my mobile. The battery was gone. I could not use my mobile now. I started crying finding no way to exit this forest. After 10 minutes, I stopped crying. It was not use in crying. I had to show courage, I had to start thinking of ways to come out of this mess. It was now or never.
I started walking cautiously and after 5 minutes of walk, I heard bell of a cycle. I felt relieved. I ran to catch the sight of cycle as I do not wanted to miss this. I had no choice in this dark with my mobile light off. I reached the cycle and saw an old man riding cycle. I waived hand but he did not stop. I ran after him and shouted babaji-babaji. The man stopped and looked at me. I saw his wrinkled face. He must be around 60-65 years of age. I asked for help. He promised to give life to me but if I do not speak anything as bad spirits might have come.
I promised.
After about half an hour I was on the main road. I thanked the old man and started walking again.
No one was around. I walked for about half an hour with limited supply of food. I stopped and opened my bag. I took out packet of biscuit and ate it. Now I gained some strength and looked if anyone was passing by on this deserted road.
No one was there. Suddenly I heard sound of some engine. I was not expecting at least noise of engine. After few minutes I realized that it was some bus.
The bus was approaching and I waived hand to stop the bus.
Fortunately the bus stopped and I boarded the bus. Few passengers were sitting tin the bus. I asked where it was going.
The conductor was a young guy with reasonable good sense of humour. He confirmed that the bus was going to Delhi.
I was so much relieved that I bought ticket and did not ask anything
The speed of the bus was slow. I was feeling sleepy. In about 2 hours later, I opened my eyes lazily and saw familiar sign boards in Delhi.
Finally I got down at ISBT and took auto for my home.
At around 2:00 in the morning I rang bell and got inside my home.
Everybody asked me why it took so much time to reach home. Everyone was excited.
I had to tell them the whole story.
Next day I received call from my office and came to know that the bus from Udaipur to Delhi met with an accident and everyone was seriously injured.
I had no clue if they will believe this incident. I took 2 days leaves from my office.
I could not conclude what had happened and why it happened to me on that night.
Finally I thought of telling them some story that I thing they would believe.
There are some incidents which if buried inside us is more beneficial that telling it to others.
It has been 4 years and shiver runs through my spine whenever I think of this incidence.
But life should go on…
I am thankful to God that I was saved because of this incidence.