Can't Help Falling in Love

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, events or locales is purely coincidental.

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HE PAST MONTH HAD MADE me stressed out. I had to do something, but I didn't know what to do. Father was sitting in the drawing-room, I took a deep breath and went inside. I sat on the sofa seat beside him and spoke whatever I had in my mind.

Father! Do you believe that we should keep on living in this place? Don’t you think that it is time for us like everyone else to leave this place and settle somewhere else? I know you and Mother have deep ties with this place, but we need to look after the young ones. This place doesn’t have the kind of facilities my kids require.  Now that Purnima is also married, you need to think for me and my kids, too.

He argued, What! Do you honestly believe it is going to be easier shifting to some other place than this? Everyone knows us here. We have got a beautiful house, unlike anyone in the village. We know all the nearby areas, and we are doing good business here. Moving to someplace else is not going to be as easy as you think it to be.

I demurred, "After Baijnath Tauji separated from us, bad things have started happening. 15 days back, Ramu, Kantilal's uncle's son, lost his eyesight. The doctors said his eyes are all good, but, he is saying he can’t see anything and so, he cries all the time, saying please don’t take my eyes! Please don’t take my eyes! The doctor is now saying that it is something psychological. And a month before that, a girl from 10 houses away, who was about to be married, suddenly killed herself by cutting off her neck. These things have never happened in our village before, but, they are happening now and I just don’t know why.

He scoffed, That is totally normal. Both of them probably got mad.

"The past week, I went to Tauji’s place and saw how wonderfully and comfortably they were living in that town. His grandchildren were happy too. All you want to do is keep us locked in this hell of a place. You should visit their house once; it will change your mind. If they can do it, why can’t we do the same? Also, I am concerned about my children, especially Amira after what happened to my elder sister, Madhumitha. Now, you can’t say it was a mere thing. Mother already told us the whole story and as she said, the event that was said to happen, happened at the same precise moment. I don’t want the same thing to happen to Amira or anyone else.

So, please consider my point. I know very well that you don’t believe in ghosts. But that thing happened. I didn’t believe in them before, but now I do. How could the ghost say to mother that he would take Madhumitha away with him, that she is too pretty, and he would make her his wife? The next day, she got burned in a fire at home. But, nothing else was damaged. How could her saree catch fire at that time and place? And, the most serious thing is that she was burned completely and nothing happened to her face. Not even a single scar. It was as if someone was protecting it. You know, this was not a dream of Mother as sister died at the same time, which he said he would take her away on. Please don’t say this is not true and just a dream.

Now, people are dying in our vicinity and it all happened on that day, the day when Tauji lost his younger son, Vijay. I don’t even know what happened to him. Tauji just told me he died. How he died, he never answered that. He didn’t even find his body. How could something like this happen?"

Father just kept on listening to me silently. Not even changing his expressions or moving from his place. I was scared of everything that was happening.

I continued, "After his death, Tauji and his family moved to sister’s town the next day, without even saying anything and are running a prosperous business now. We should move closer to them and ask him if we could join him in his business.

There’s gossip going on in our village that Tauji and his 2 sons, Vijay and Jagdish - were seen near the old abandoned house at around 9 in the night and were running away from there with something in their hands. I don’t know if this is true, but when I tried to ask Jagdish Bhaiya about where he and Tauji were the night before, he paused for a moment and told me that, they were out for a walk to discuss their future plans. People have been saying that they did something bad at that house and now the whole village is experiencing repercussions. Just what exactly did they do? When I went there with the villagers, all we could find at that house was some big cavity dugout in a wall and 2-3 broken vases. Maybe, the hole was already there as no one had been interested in going there for a long time.

All we have known till now is that the place had been deserted for close to some 70-80 years and the people who lived at that house suddenly disappeared one day. Some say, they moved to a faraway city; others, that they died due to old age. But no one knows the truth. Sometimes, people passing by can experience a strange- Aaahhhh! sound and in fear, they try to keep away from the vicinity of that house and never look at it any longer. I even saw Vijay looking around that house someday back, but I thought that maybe he had dropped something around there. 

Now see that all of Tauji’s family has gone away. Just how did they get so much money in such a small time? They didn’t even ask for their say in our ancestral home. Some people say that a snake pair lived in that house for a long time protecting something. Others say the previous owners hid something in there."

He finally spoke up, Whatever it was, whatever it is, it is long gone now. And you know that I don’t believe in ghosts or any other stuff. But, I will think about what you have just said to me. Give me some time to think about this.

I WOKE UP IN THE MIDDLE of the night and felt a little thirsty. So, I decided to go to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Though we had around 9 living rooms in our big house, the kitchen area was a bit small and just adjacent to the entry gate of our house. I walked to the veranda (hall) and saw mother standing, with her back towards me, looking at the gate.

I shouted, Mother! Mother!

No response.

I shouted again, What happened, Mother? Why are you standing there in the middle of the night? You should be in your bed right now?

No response again. She didn’t reply to me or even budge. I walked to the front of her. Her eyes were wide open and she was not even blinking. It looked like she was spellbound.

I decided to shake her now, Mother! Mother!

She quickly blinked her eyes and panicked, I didn’t see anything! I didn’t see anything at all!

I replied, Mother! It’s me! It’s your son! What are you saying?

She trembled, There is an old lady over the dishwashing area, near the tap who is washing dishes. Don’t you see her too?

I was shocked, Where is she? I don’t see anybody. Maybe you were dreaming?

At this moment, she was sweating like hell.

No, I saw her... there she is...

She pushed me a little to my left by her hand to see the dishwashing area.

"Where did she go? The door is still locked from the inside. Check the kitchen, maybe she went in there?

I went into the kitchen to check, but there was no one there.

Calm down, Mother! What exactly did you see?

She described, "I woke up in the middle of the night after suddenly hearing the sound of utensils and water-dropping little by little, like Chap! Chap! I came out into the hall to find an old lady in her mid-60s, sitting down on the stool, the tap was on and she was washing the dishes. Her head was covered by her white saree’s drape. I looked at the entry door, and it was wide open at that time. Apart from the little light coming from the moon, it was completely dark. A cold zephyr was flowing inside from the door. At this moment I knew that she was something else...I called out to her, who are you? How did you get inside our home? Why are you washing our dishes in the middle of the night? But she kept on washing the dishes without saying anything.

I called out to her again? Why are you here? But, she still didn’t reply. Finally, I yelled at her saying that, if she didn’t stop, I will call my husband and he will beat her out. At that moment, she turned her face towards me but, I couldn’t make out anything of it, it was completely dark, even though her saree was scintillating somehow. I looked towards her hands and her feet, and they were dark, completely merging with the night as if they didn’t exist at all. A few seconds later, she tilted her head up a little as if trying to take a look at my face. It was then that I heard a shrieking voice dumbing my ears and a chill rushed through my whole body.

I was lost at that moment, unable to see, hear or feel anything at all. It was like someone had dropped me in a completely dark and boundless room wherein I couldn’t feel anything at all."

I was startled, Mother! You have said a lot. I think you should go back to sleep. Let me get you a glass of water. Whatever happened, whoever you saw, is long gone now. I will keep watching it for some time here.

I brought her a glass full of water and drinking it in a hurry, she replied in a childish tone, But what if she comes back?

I replied irately, No! She won’t come back now. You just go to sleep.

With a downcast face, she replied, Ok!.

She turned back and started to walk towards her room. After taking a few steps, she stopped and turned her head back, to look towards the washing area.

I beseeched, Just go to sleep Mother. Believe in me! Nothing would happen. I am here now.

Without saying anything, she finally walked back to her room and closed the door from inside. I checked the whole area again and double-checked the door lock. It was perfectly alright and locked. I went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water for me and after drinking it, I went back to my room to get some sleep.

THE NEXT DAY, MOTHER recounted to father, the whole scene that happened the previous night.

Father scoffed, Just forget it. Maybe it was just a dream and nothing else.

Mother implored, No! It wasn’t.

Father yelled, It looks like you are hearing a lot of fake ghost stories from the village ladies. Don’t listen to them. These ladies don’t want to do their household chores and all they do is mindless gossip. You are not free like them. Better focus on your home.

She replied in a puny voice, But...

No, but! This issue is dropped now. I don’t want to hear anything else on this matter. Is that clear?

I...

Spying on their fight from outside the door, I decided it was time that I discussed the issue with Father. I went into their room, Father was standing near his bed and Mother was sitting on a nearby chair.

I started, Father! Last night, Mother had a horrific incident...

He stopped me in between.

I already told your Mother that I won’t listen to her dream again...

But, Father! It was not a dream. I saw her in the hall totally spellbound, late at night. Something unusual happened last night. Mother is not lying.

Now you too... After this, you both would say that you saw a ghost glowing brightly, who was coming to kill you.

No, Father! I didn’t see it. But, I believe in Mother. She would never lie about this.

Are you both planning something to change my mind to leave this place?

I repudiated, No, Father! Why would we do something like that? She respects you a lot.

So, are you saying you don’t respect me at all?

I frowned, Father! I have always respected you and will keep on respecting you till I die. But, if something is not right, I believe I should let you know and discuss it with you. Now that Tauji has gone far away, I would fill his place.

He guffawed, Really? You are too small for that.

Father! I am already married and have two big kids. I am not that small. Please don’t disparage me. I would never go against you, but please try to give all this that is happening around us, a deep thought... please!!!

Father replied in a vacuous voice, Okay, I will. You can go now.

A WEEK FLEW BY, RESULTING in the death of a 4-year-old child who lived 2 houses away from us.

It was the day when Father finally called the whole family to assemble in the dining room. One by one, we all assembled in there. There was scruple on everyone’s face as to what father was going to talk about. I knew that it certainly had to do something with our move to someplace else because he called the whole family in; Mother, my younger brother, Mohan; my wife, Nandana and my two precious children; Jai and Amira - who were still four and five years old. I didn’t know why he called the children too, but I believed, whenever he meant family, it must include everyone, no matter what age they were. I think that’s the respect he gave everyone from his end.

I also had two sisters, one older and one younger, than me. The older one, Madhumitha was already dead and the younger one, Purnima, was married half a year back. Once there, in the dining room, we sat quietly, waiting for Father to speak first.

In a dead-serious look, Father finally replied, I have been in a quandary these past many days; whether to leave our ancestral home and shift to somewhere else or to remain here itself. A lot of baffling events have happened in our village and I still don’t believe that they were caused by something like a made-up word, Ghost, but something or someone is making them happen. Also, there is the issue of better education for the kids...

He took a breather and then spoke again, "I think the times are transitioning and maybe we should change a little bit. Leaving the home where our family had been living for the last hundred years is not easy. We have made a lot of memories here. I spent my childhood running and playing in this house. But it is time we break some bars and move ahead in life.

Gayatri and I have a little left to live and I believe that it is better to listen to your kids sometimes. We will all plan it out and move by the next month. Regarding this house, as to what to do with it, I have decided unanimously that we will not sell it and get money in return for it, as that would affront our ancestors. We will leave it as it is. We have ample funds as of now to buy a new house somewhere. The rest would depend on the new business we undertake."

HE NEXT DAY, I SENT a letter to my sister, Purnima, who was residing in a nearby town; for her to ask her husband, Sudhir, if he knew of a place available for buying there, so we all could move near her. I speculated when moving to a new place, it’s always better if you know a familiar face or if you have already been there a few times before. Plus, hers was a likable town, far better than our small village with limited facilities and connectivity.

I was ambling back home from the market when a passing Fakir baba started ranting about something abruptly just when I was about to enter inside my home.

You all are cursed! All of your future generations are cursed! Unless you return what was taken... unless you do the deeds of the dead. No one can save you from the approaching doom. All will die! No one will be left alive! Mark my words...for I speak in the name of the one and only one.

What did the nincompoop just yell! I don’t believe in anything he said, why would I? We haven’t done anything wrong to vex anyone. All we are doing is living our life as true to God as possible. I looked back at him again, closely. He had no eyes, was dressed in tethered clothing, barefoot and had a small drum in his left hand. His hair was the perfect shade of white and haphazardly put down. It looked like he wanted to instil dread in people, so they would give him some money to spare them. I had never seen him before in our village. So, I left him ranting and went inside. 

Once inside, Jai came running towards me, Father! Father! Who’s shouting outside? Can I go and see what is happening?

I yelled back at him, No, don’t go! It’s just a deranged person blabbering random stuff to demand money from good people like you, like me. So, he can just go and waste his life away from bad drinks.

I spoke quietly to scare him now, So, don’t you listen to his words and better stay away from such people. Sometimes, these kind of people steal away small children like you and then do wicked things to them.

He was startled, Wicked things?

Yes! Very bad things. Things that should never happen to anyone.

With a sad and scared face, he went back to his room. I just giggled.

AT AROUND 1 IN THE night, we heard a clamorous moan. I knew it was from our cow, but she wouldn’t be awake at this time. Except for the kids, everyone else had come out into the hall.

I stated, Father! I am going outside to see if everything is alright.

But, what if there’s a bandit. I will go with you. Just let me get my rifle.

Father! You don’t need to do that. I will just go and come back pronto.

No, you don’t! After what’s been happening these past few days, we need to be extra scrupulous.

When did Father turn this apprehensive?

Okay, Father! Let’s go, then.

Father went inside to grab his rifle and came back in the hall flashing it. I fleetly grabbed a lamp and lit it up. We exited through the front gate. The cowshed was just to the left of our house gate.

Father! The door is locked shut. So, maybe she had a bad dream. That’s all. Let’s get back inside.

Okay! But still, we need to check her out.

We had 3 cows with us and a calf who had just been born a few days back. I opened the door lock. It was a little dark inside. But, I could still scarcely see in the moonlight that they were all sleeping peacefully.

Let’s go back, Father! They are all sleeping. Nothing is wrong.

Okay! Let’s head back. It seems all fine to me too.

IN THE MORNING, I WENT to get milk from the cows. Once inside the shed, the one who gave birth to the calf was still sleeping. The other two were all up and ready. I went close to her to see how she was doing. I touched her and there was nothing, surprisingly nothing. What happened to her? She was all good and fine the day before. She didn’t display any sickness and was eating well too. Was there something wrong with her? There are no external injuries for that matter. I turned her to the other side and the view aghast me. It was like some kind of animal, like a wolf, had scarred her skin bearing the flesh outside. How did this happen? I need to call the village doctor, to take a look at her.

I went back inside the house and called out for Jai, "Jai! I have a noble task for you. Will you do it?

He was excited, Yes, Father! Yes! I will do it. Just tell it to me.

Okay! You need to go fetch the village doctor straight away and don’t you come back without him. Say to him, it’s an exigency.

He rushed away and after a few minutes, came back with the Doctor.

I praised him, You did a great job today, Jai. Your mother will be so proud of you. Finally, I can see that you are on the path to become a man soon. So, haste back inside. Hush now!

Once he went inside, the doctor spoke up.

So, what’s the exigency? Is it bad?

Yes, it is bad.

Where is the patient then? All I can see are cows in here.

The cow is your patient, doctor.

He spoke irately, You called me in such a hurry and now you are joking? Don’t joke with me! I had to leave a patient of mine in between his plaster.

I chuckled, He’s not going to die just because of some plaster. I really want you to examine my cow. She hasn’t woken up since the night and there are these strange marks on her body.

He scorned, Just for a cow, you called me this fast! Okay! Let’s check her out.

I went with the doctor near the new-fangled cow. While he was checking her out, I just stood there and waited. Some 5-6 minutes passed, but he was still checking her out. It looked perplexed to me.

Doctor, what happened? Is it going to take more time to check her? When is she going to wake up? Please treat her fast?

You are asking me what happened! Well! What happened is that she is dead and must have been since the night, judging from her body temperature and blood. Also, her eyes have turned yellowish purple, so I don’t know what to make of this as this is the first time I have ever seen such a thing. Did she display any obscure behaviour before all this? Was she not eating food or giving in milk? Her blood color is also not normal either. It has turned very dark, almost pure black. You didn’t give her anything rancid to eat, right?

I was startled, No, doctor, why would we give her something that would get her killed. She was only getting the usual, nothing else...

Then, I would say some alien disease got to her. Maybe some new kind of flu? You should be extra scrupulous now with the other cows and get them vaccinated as early as possible. They catch this stuff very fast.

Bewildered, I replied, Ok, doctor! I will. Thank you for your aid. I think you can go now. I will see the rest of it.

I was still unable to fathom why this all happened. It was not right. She was one of our most vigorous cows. How could she die so soon, without any antecedent?

I went back into my home and told Father that our cow died due to some plague and everything else if fine now. Also, that we need to cremate her sometime in the evening. Father got a little sad, but he didn’t ask why it happened. Maybe he already knew that something wicked happened last night.

AN HOUR LATER, WE GATHERED for breakfast in