It was one of those late evenings carrying the chills of the incoming winter. Purab was out on a stroll with his dog. He loved this time of incoming winter, not only was it a time of festivities but it also meant that the heat of summer which Purab disliked was away for some time.
Purab had travelled to a travel destination situated in the hilly region to temporarily distance himself from the noise of city life. He had come with his wife and dog.
Purab was out on a walk with his dog late evening on the second day of his vacation. He reached a place which looked like a viewpoint, it was well lit with street lights which carried the looks of early street lamps.
Purab could see the lights of two villages from the point and thought of returning the next day while the Sun was up to enjoy the view to its visible extent.
“Trying to think of how the view might be during the day?” arrived a voice
Purab turned with a surprise seasoned with a feeling of fright. The dog became startled as well to see Purab react with sudden movement. There stood a young man with long beard and curly hair, he was wearing a black plastic rimmed aviator shaped glass.
“Oh.. I apologise, my sudden interruption must have startled you,” said the stranger
It had surprised Purab but what had surprised him more was the fact that his dog had not noticed the stranger approaching. Purab kept staring toward the stranger.
“My name is Ekansh Punekar and once again I apologise since you don’t seem to have come out of the surprise yet,” said the stranger
“I must return,” said Purab sensing something unusual about the interaction. He felt uncomfortable with such interaction in such an isolated place. If one believed the newspaper then ‘anything could go wrong’.
“All right then, good night,” said Ekansh as Purab walked away, “but we will surely meet again, I have a strong feeling about it”
Purab did not respond and kept walking without turning back, he could feel the attention of the stranger was still on him. He glanced at his dog who had not reacted to the stranger at all.
Purab glanced back a few times to see if he was being followed or not, since his dog was completely caught off guard by the approach.
At dinner he mentioned his brief walk, omitting the part with Ekansh so that his wife wouldn’t start feeling uncomfortable about the vacation.
“There is another viewpoint near the market. I searched online. We can go to the one you found and then this one,” said Akansha, Purab’s wife
“Let’s just go the one near the market, the one I found was nothing special,” said Purab and Akansha agreed
Next day, the couple drove to the market. They left the dog at the hotel, the hotel had staff specially hired to take care of the four-legged friends of the guests, it was a pet-friendly hotel after all.
The market was a delightful experience in itself, although the place had a bit of a rush of people, but it was clean and well organised and Purab and Akansha had a great time buying the necessities for the upcoming winter.
They headed to the view point near the market. It had benches organised for tourists to sit and there were eateries and café’s around. The view of the distant hills through clear weather presented an engrossing experience. Purab and Akansha took a few pictures and videos
On one of the benches sat a strangely familiar face looking at Purab and smiling. Purab hadn’t noticed the presence until he looked carefully in the direction. He was surprised once again but he did not respond.
‘I should calm down; I might be overthinking it. If I just ignore him it will be fine,’ Purab thought
“What are you looking at?” asked Akansha
“That bearded man wearing spectacles, I had briefly come across him yesterday,” said Purab
Akansha looked hard but she could not see anyone with the description Purab had given.
“Did he leave?” asked Akansha
“No, he is right over there, the second bench from start, there look” Purab said almost pointing at Ekansh, who was still smiling at Purab
“I see nobody there. Is this an attempt to scare me with another of your scary stories?” asked Akansha
Purab realised it was not just his dog but his wife as well. None of them had noticed Ekansh
“I need a good cup of coffee, let’s go,” said Purab and both of them headed to a café. They sat down and Akansha received a call, when she was done, she looked at Purab and said, “it was one of my friend, I sent her the picture of the bag I bought and she wants one too, so why don’t you enjoy your coffee and I will be back in ten minutes.”
“Do you remember the location of the shop?” asked Purab
“Ofcourse I do, and if I get lost I can easily find the way using map on my phone,” said Akansha and she hurriedly walked away leaving Purab behind with bags.
Purab enjoyed his cup of coffee and then called Akansha she said she would be back in another ten minutes. So, he thought of ordering another cup, the taste of the coffee was addicting and…
“… the view of the mountain makes it all better”
Purab recognised the tone and he looked at Ekansh who was sitting with his cup of coffee on the table to the left of Purab.
Purab thought ‘How? I did not see him coming, how is he doing it? Wait I know..’
“You are my imagination, you don’t really exist, I am imagining you. I guess the busy life of the city has taken its toll on my mind,” said Purab
Ekansh looked at the server and said, “Can I have an egg sandwich?”
“Sure,” the server said and went to get the order done
Ekansh looked at Purab and smiled, “Is this proof enough that I am not your imagination? There is nothing you can do Purab, I know everything about you, and you have no way of getting rid of me.”
Purab got up almost falling and hurried to get the payment done, then he picked up the bags and walked away.
Ekansh smiled and said, “Till we meet again then..”
Purab walked at a fast pace towards the market and met his wife on the way.
“Akansha, we need to leave, now,” said Purab
“But why? Are you not feeling well?” asked Akansha
Purab was about to tell Akansha about Ekansh but then spoke, “Some urgent work has come up, an important client is coming from abroad for a meeting. It’s a big deal.”
Akansha sighed with disappointment and the both of them walked to the parking spot and drove back to the hotel.
“You go to the room and start packing, I will take Nila for a walk and then we will leave as soon as we are done packing,” said Purab and walked to the area where dogs were kept
The receptionist looked at Purab and stopped him, “Sir, your friend has taken your dog up to your room.”
“My friend?” asked Purab
“Yes, Mr Ekansh Punekar, he is waiting for you in your room,” smiled the receptionist
“He is not my friend. Why did you allow him to go to my room?” screamed Purab
“He is a regular guest here and I thought you knew him since he is the one who got you room upgraded,” said the receptionist
Purab had thought they were lucky to find a room so fine at the amount they paid but it looked like it was something else from the beginning.
Purab took the elevator to the fifth floor and ran to his room. He found the door open and inside he found Ekansh sitting on a chair eating a sandwich. He could not see his wife, his dog or his belongings.
“What did you do to them?” said Purab and then he screamed, “Where are they? Who are you? What do you want?”
“What do I want?” said Ekansh, “I want a story. I am a writer looking for a story Purab and here is one, your story. That’s it.”
“I have no time for jokes,” said Purab and he ran towards Ekansh in anger and vanished into thin air
Ekansh opened the notebook in his hand and read the last line ‘and with all his rage Purab ran towards the one who had seemingly made things very difficult for him to comprehend.. ‘
Ekansh closed the notebook and he thought, ‘Looks like I need to inspire some more words into my mind before I get into this next part of the story.’
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 
One response to “The Viewpoint”
Nice story.
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