A tryst with the ghost - 2

I know what you're thinking about. Doesn't this guy have anything else to write on? What is this, his fantasy about ghosts? OK OK. I pledge. This is gonna be the last one on this particular ghost :). This one goes this way.

We were a bunch of people fresh out of college and with a job. Not just any job but a call centre job. After that short stint in that profession ,I so much love that job. You get everything that a man craves for. Yeah you got it right my friend. Its so damn easy there. I don't know what makes the people over there different from the rest of Indians or makes soo much oomph. I learned this word recently and I have been using this word wherever I can.

After getting a month's free stay in a hotel we had to fish for an apartment. Finally we got the right building. There were 18 of us who got 3 flats from the same building. Looked like the owner had a vision from god and his only purpose in life was to rent-it away to us 18. Or was he expecting some visions knowing that we work in a call centre :)) .

We had to stay in a make-shift apartment for two days before moving to the our respective houses as the real ones were undergoing some repair. All the girls were put up in a flat in the 2nd floor and the guys were in the fifth floor. All was going well. It was a dream to stay with so many chicks all around. Oh yeah I didn't give the split yet. We were 6 guys and 12 girls. We were lucky bastards and you'll curse us more when you know how lucky we got with them!!

All were going well. We kissed good night (just to get a hollywood flavor) to the pretty women and went to our room. Me and Atul were sleeping or trying to get sleep in the front room. Other 4 were split in the two bedrooms. We were trying to get a sound sleep remembering the sleepless nights of conversations with Americans ahead. Just as we were inches far from the dream land I heard foot steps walking from the entrance door towards the terrace. I got up to see who was walking at this hour ,but couldn't see anyone. Atul also had got up with the same feeling. May be we were sharing the same dream. A strange creepy feeling ascended from our toes. It was impossible to dismiss that, but we wanted to think otherwise and tried to get sleep. Just after a little while somebody was banging on the door as if the supporting actress who often get raped in bollywood runs for cover.

We were equally frightened and forgot that we were in an apartment with minima 100 people around us. When you get that feeling ghosts cannot do much. They lose the battle like swines. I like beating them often like this.
Noone wanted to open the door. The bang was on........ Suddenly Kiran mentioned about the girls in the second floor. They might be wanting some help. Yes! It must be the girls. Everyone ran to the door. I was opening when the bang no 31 was in progress. I slid the latch down and opened as fast as I could proclaiming the arrival of the savior.

I had frozen there. Don't know about others. There was no-one at the door. It was impossible by any law of physics to get away to the stairs in that fraction of second. Because the passage to the stairs were atleast 15 metres away. I even checked the duct to confirm. The about to get raped girl might have jumped into the duct to save her "aaabrrooo" . The most invaluable thing for women in Indian cinema. All the parallels match here for all regional film industry too. If I could manufacture this "aabroo" , I would have been the richest guy in the planet looking at the amount of rapes happen here every day.

But noone was there in the duct too. No one wanted to go to the stairs and take a peep below. We locked the door and got in. Everyone ran to the bedroom inside. No one wanted to sleep at the end of the mattress. I somehow managed the third position. If I were to be attacked I would be the third one from left side and fourth one from right side. I was quite safe. The ones at the ends were already passing out I guess. Somehow we slept back after the hectic ghost chase.

Suddenly it was thundering or may be it was B-17s pounding hyderabad. Whatever it was, it didnt sound friendly. Was the ghost back at the door? This time it should be banging with the strength of 10 arnold sized ghosts atleast. We had no other choice but to check on what was it. Somebody announced that it was 4 in the morning. yes!! that word "morning" gave us some relief. Moreover ghosts are not allowed to operate past 1:00 AM. Even the rarest of the ghosts cannot be operating till 4 in the morning. We reached the door. It wasn't the door. It was coming from just outside the door. Could it be cult worshippers in search of the evil? I had heard that cult worshippers made strange sounds in the jungles of rajasthan. Just like any story even here there were rumors that nude women danced during the procedure. And if anyone sees it, their face would get as ugly as it can. Just as all the wonderful stories, even this one had a twist in the end. Otherwise who the hell would been in hyderabad.

No one wanted to open the door. Atleast I didnt. This time Atul gathered all courage and opened. Our eyes had swollen to accommodate the worst sight possible. But again there was nothing! But the deafening sound was still coming. We looked left from where this 100000 dB sound was coming. We could see something. After a frantic moment we got back into our senses .We were laughing our asses off. It was the sight of a "griha pravesh" or house warming in the neighboring flat. There was a oldie with amazing strength in his arms banging on a mridangam.

I never thought that this thing can make such horrible sounds. That's why noone must have thought of amplifying this instrument. Finally at cracking atleast one of the puzzles in the night we felt a little OK. We got to our beds and didn't even try to think about the incident that night. It might haunt us in our dreams too.....