I wouldn’t say I am particularly scared of the darkness, but I won’t lie, I have a certain feeling of uneasiness when in it or around, especially if I am in the middle of watching or have just finished watching a horror movie. I am pretty good at dealing with it, thanks to all the horror genre books that I have read and the horror games with jump scares that I have played.
But it was not always the same. There was a time when I had sleepless nights thinking about what could be out there in the realm that is shrouded by pitch black, what was this darkness hiding.
My paternal grandfather’s house was beautiful, it had a medium sized garden full of green, a well which was always full of water, a compound to sit while having breakfast and enjoying it all. The mornings were very beautiful, out of the world experience, but at night is where the problem began with me thinking what could be lurking out there. Cats and owls were regular visitors and they further added to this horror.
There was an incident there once, when I was seven. The other members of the family had gone out and I, who was playing with my friend Munish, decided to stay back. Electricity cut offs were frequent, so my father told us how to turn on the generator in case it became night and the electricity wasn’t there.
So, as the evening slowly turned to dark it was no longer possible to play with the ball whose visibility was becoming a challenge. So, me and Munish sat down to talk. Thirty minutes later the Sun and the light of its presence had completely disappeared but the yellow light of the 60 W bulb in the compound was sufficient.
Munish’s mother did come by once to call Munish but when she got to know I was alone, she was kind enough to let Munish stay till others came back.
So, me and Munish sat and talked. My paternal grandparents lived in a small, beautiful town, where humans lived well with nature and I came here during school holidays. Munish was a local here, so when I came here, I told Munish everything about what all was happening in the big cities. Munish always said he would go there for education purposes, but he never came and I honestly don’t know what he might be doing today, perhaps continuing his father’s tailoring business.
Maybe it was the darkness beyond the spread of the light, but Munish was inspired to ask if big cities had ghosts. When I thought about it, apart from turning off light when going to sleep, there was never any place with darkness unlike here where gardens and fields around allowed darkness to arrive and stay on the ground.
I told him that I didn’t think so and he continued to tell how there are so many ghosts related incidents in the area, like about the huge banyan tree in the huge and otherwise barren field which was used for anything, people driving by, children playing and even for organising events.
The rumour was that a long time ago a girl not wanting to marry as a child committed suicide on the tree and since then her presence is felt there to the point where some people had even been attacked by her. I later asked my grandfather about it and he didn’t tell me anything but instead went to Munish’s house to ask Munish not to spread such rumour.
But, at the moment when Munish told the story it felt more real than ever because when a story is being told you are into it before deciding upon it being false or anything else and at this brief moment of belief the electricity went and we didn’t say anything for a while before I said, “Let’s turn on the generator” and Munish agreed.
So, the generator was near the well and we walked to it silently aware of all the sounds around. This generator had a rope called a recoil starter which is pulled to start the generator. I tried pulling the rope several times but the generator didn’t start. Munish said he would try and he tried a few times and the situation remained the same, but he decided to try one final time.
So, Munish pulled the rope hard with all the strength he had, but he lost grip of it, disbalanced himself and fell down and the generator did not start, but at this moment a neighbour whose balcony could be seen from the garden, his daughter came and stood on the balcony, and the story and the darkness that we had been in had messed with my mind and I screamed “it’s her.. she is here” referring to the girl in Munish’s story.
I did not wait for Munish and ran straight towards the gate of the house, I could hear Munish behind me, screaming as he ran and I thought ‘the ghost is real’. By the time we reached the gate a few neighbours had come out of their houses to check what was happening. I stopped to catch my breath and Munish was crying and wouldn’t stop anytime soon.
It was all fine from there. My grandfather told me about the girl who lived in that house and I was convinced it was her whom I saw till I saw her again at a grocery shop where I went with my grandmother and she introduced the girl to me and all the while she stood there, I thought ‘why does she looks so different from the girl I saw standing in the balcony’
Written by Anuran Chatterji
The Happening of the Darkness
Early Morning Memories 