Unwelcomed Return

Sarath had come back to the mountains after completing his graduation down in the city. His parents Mr and Mrs Aryal were quite surprised to see him back all of a sudden without any prior notice.

 

“What else was I supposed to do there?” Sarath asked the next day to his mother who was preparing lunch. Sarath had understood his parents were not pleased with his return

 

“You could have found a job there, a nice girl for you to settle and grandchildren for us to leave this world with content,” said Mrs Aryal

 

“What? I am hearing all this for the first time. I did not know you had thought so far ahead,” said Sarath to which Mrs Aryal did not respond

 

Later when Sarath was talking to his sister Ashika and she revealed, “mother had told everyone around you would not come back and maybe we would have to shift with you in the city”

 

“Why?” said Sarath, “I never said I would live in the city after my graduation. All of a sudden, I have come to know about these expectations I never knew existed. Father would understand, when I was leaving for graduation he said ‘live the life you want to..’ ”

 

At dinner Sarath sat with his parents, expecting some words of relief from his father.

 

“You were the brightest of your siblings,” Mr Aryal started speaking, “while your elder brother didn’t complete his schooling and joined our handloom work, you were good at studies and completed your schooling. So, I sold half of the land I had for your graduation in the city.”

 

No one spoke anything for a while and then Mr Aryal looked at Sarath with a serious look, “Why did you have to come back? A big city like that is a place with many bright opportunities. Don’t tell me you don’t have a plan”

 

Everyone looked at Sarath. Sarath was prepared for it, he had been wanting to tell it to everyone all this time. .

 

“Homestay,” said Sarath

 

“You want to stay at home and do nothing?” asked Mrs Aryal

 

“Noo.. No, homestay is something that has come up recently. Like hotels, we offer our house for tourists to stay,” said Sarath

 

The family thought about it then Mrs Aryal said, “you want tourists to stay here in our house?”

 

“Not here, we will build another one. We have land in that village upwards,” said Sarath

 

“Where are you going to get the money for it?” asked Nihar, Sarath’s elder brother

 

“I was hoping father would lend me some,” said Sarath and Mr Aryal coughed

 

Mrs Aryal handed the bottle of water to Mr Aryal who poured some in a glass and had a sip.

 

“That is almost a ghost village after the fire, people claim they have actually seen ghosts. Barely anyone lives there anymore. Why do you think tourists will come there?” asked Mr Aryal

 

“People love to go trekking in the jungle. I think some good tracks can be found there. Besides, the rumours of the place being haunted can also attract people,” said Sarath

 

“A place being haunted it not a joke Sarath,” said Mrs Aryal

 

“Yes brother, ghosts are real,” said Ashika

 

Sarath could feel the environment in the house suddenly change.

“What is with this seriousness? It’s like you have all seen a ghost,” said Sarath

 

“We did build that house you wanted,” said Nihar, “We opened the homestay, it was beautiful, we were happy, but a fire consumed it, with us in it. We cannot move on because you are not ready to accept it. You keep coming back here on the day when you came back to the village after completing your graduation and each time we have to pretend like it is a reality which actually is occuring.”

Sarath now had a good understanding of why everyone was not pleased by his sudden return.  

Written by Anuran Chatterji

Hey, Connect with Us:)

• WordPress
• Instagram