At night, the surface of water feels like it may be hiding something beneath, within its deep darkness. There could be numerous stories associated with an old pond like this old pond where the water remained still as the trees stood around, and suddenly there was a disruption on the surface of water, the sound spread through the air.
Some people rushed out as the street dogs started barking. They found a panicked Ramesh coming out of the pond hastily looking around.
A month back Ramesh had this idea that he needed a break from this corporate job and limited city life and wanted to go out there and solo travel. He did his research and his planning. Family and friends were concerned whether this was a good idea but Ramesh was convinced it was.
He narrowed down on a village at the foothills of Satpura Range. Ramesh felt this had the perfect blend of isolation and mystery. When Ramesh reached there, it felt different, there was green around, fresh air, and the houses were well built. Even though isolated, the village had developed quite a bit on the outside.
Most of the people living there still held on to age-old beliefs, and to the stories from when there was nothing here but a few huts here.
The first day, Ramesh had no specific problem, he was offered an empty room by one of the villagers, and he was provided food and water there, Ramesh paid for it all of course. There was no problem, things were planned, a bit of inconvenience would be having to walk the distance to receive some network signals in his smartphone.
Ramesh had planned to stay for four days; he wanted to stay more but his family had insisted against it.
Next day at night, Ramesh decided to interact with the villagers at more depth, so at night after dinner when some of the men sat down to talk before they retired to sleep for the night, Ramesh joined them. They talked about their life in the village; Ramesh talked about his life in the city. Ramesh’s curiosity led to the pond, which was believed to be associated with the spirit of a landlord from a distant past, who in his lifetime couldn’t get his hand on the village land.
When the conversations ended and everyone headed back, Ramesh decided to muster some courage and go to the pond, maybe make a video while narrating the rumour or story himself. Ramesh did it, the pond looked quite harmless. However, at night, when Ramesh tried to sleep, he felt a presence moving around outside the room, but he gave in to the strong sleep that was coming.
The next morning, Ramesh jokingly narrated the incident to the family in whose house he was living. He began to sense some unease as they did not find it amusing and Ramesh found himself without a room, as the family did not want a spirit walking in their house because of Ramesh.
No one now wanted him in their house. Ramesh thought he would have to return home, but someone suggested he could find shelter at the village temple. It was a twenty-minutes’ walk from the village. A priest came by in the morning and evening and there was a room, it had no door though, no ceiling fan. It felt uncomfortable even looking at it, but Ramesh was prepared for it when he decided to solo travel. This would be an interesting experience, he thought.
Late evening the villagers felt sorry for Ramesh, but what was to be done no one wanted to infuriate the spirit. A boy was sent with food for Ramesh and then Ramesh was left on his own for the night.
The next time the villagers saw Ramesh was when he came out of the pond. No one knew what had happened, Ramesh stayed silent the whole night and in the morning the villagers helped him get on a bus back home and Ramesh went away silently. While a new chapter was written in the story of the spirit haunting the pond.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 
One response to “Unintended Night”
Interesting read.
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