Raju's Spirit - A Ghost Story

We lived in a house that was quite old, there were 10 houses in our society, all had the same entrance via a big gate. We lived on the first floor, the house was big but had one major drawback, only one bathroom, the bathroom was in a corner of the house facing a big empty field.

Summers were great, during the days we roamed around and played cricket, it is amazing to hear my kids complain about boredom, growing up we had no Computers, Internet, Video Games, Ipods and all the gadgets yet we did not have one single boring moment. Nights were even more fun, most of the houses had adjoining terraces and we would sleep on the terrace during summer months. Our neighbors did the same so we would be up late talking to our friends. Sleeping under the stars with a gentle breeze blowing was a great feeling. In the mornings we would come up with creative ways to avoid the sun so as to sleep in.

When I was around 8 my aunt visited us from US and brought a kitchen aid that had us all in awe, an electronic Blender/Mixer. My mom would make Mango or Chickoo Milkshakes or Watermelon juice at night and we would invite our friends for drinks. Little did I know that this thing that brought so much joy to my taste buds would be instrumental in introducing me to the ghost.

Due to drinking excess liquids before bedtime I would wake up in the middle of the night to answer the call of nature, since our bathroom was on the opposite side of our house, I had to walk through the terrace, two bedrooms and living room to get there. My mother was (and still is) quite into locking doors so opening the locks up at 2 or 3 at night was tiring not to mention scary as the stoppers and doors squeaked and made scary sounds. There was a small open passage that lead to the bathroom and since there were no houses behind the bathroom it was quite dark at night.

I vividly remember that one night when the Mango Milkshake made me wake up to take a leak, I made to the bathroom alright but on my way back I heard some rustling noise, my initial reaction was to run but something made me look outside and the sight had me terrified. I looked at it for a few seconds but the image is still with me, I remember seeing a white shirt, round face with red eyes and smoke coming out of the nose, I moved from side to side and the image moved with me. We lived on the first floor, I looked down but saw nothing underneath, the ghost had no legs or arms. I wanted to run but my legs froze, suddenly the ghost moved and appeared to be charging towards me and I ran as fast as I could and climbed in my bed.

The rest of the night I chanted Hanuman Chalisa and hardly slept, the next morning I got an earful from my mom for leaving the doors and lights open at night. I wanted to tell her what I saw but was afraid but I knew I had to talk to someone. I opened up to my close friend Prashant and to my amazement he knew about the ghost, he told me that he too had witnessed that ghost and had inquired around, he did not reveal the source of this but informed that the ghost was that of Raju. Raju was a young boy with poor co-ordination in sports he was picked on by other kids due to his lack of sporting skills, he badly wanted to play cricket but was never given a chance.

One time there was an all important match between local teams and the star batsman came down with a flu, the Team had no choice but to let Raju play, he was all excited and practiced all week long, as luck would have it the star batsman recovered well and Raju was de-listed at the last moment. He pleaded his case but was ridiculed, they made him do tasks like getting water and setting up stumps. At the end of the day the dejected Raju killed himself after leaving a note blaming all the boys but people knew better and ever since then Raju’s spirit had been hovering around the open field behind my bathroom.

Prashant further explained “His ghost is harmless as long as you keep your mouth shut, if you tell about this to your parents or other elders they will perform a pooja that will hurt Raju’s spirit and he will torment you”.

Well as a kid seeing the ghost was bad enough, now with this story I was totally petrified, that day I visited 4 temples, for the rest of the summer I gave up cricket and milkshakes and chanted Hanman Chalisa every time I got a chance. The dreaded summer ended and it was back to routine, things changed and I grew up and never told about this to anyone, as I believed less in ghosts and spirits, yet I was not able to ignore the fact that I did see something. At times I wished I had stayed put longer to see what would have actually happened or wondered what would have happened had I told my parents. All the thoughts of confronting the ghost was during daytime, at night time I could not gather enough courage to see the ghost.

Well it all came to comical end some 5 years ago. I was visited my one of my neighbor from back home and we were reminiscing over a drink, we were exchanging stories about our escapades and he said “Nothing can beat what Tushar (his elder brother) and his friends used to do, My dad would make them stay up at night to read but they would hang around the field smoking and one day they decided to scare people, they tied two long sticks with a rope and put on a shirt on the pole, they would then put a clay pot on the top and make two holes to insert incense sticks. Our houses were old and at night time opening and closing of the doors made a lot of noise, they would rush to the house that appeared to have some activity and move that effigy to scare people. They even started the story of a spirit of a boy named Raju” he continued “Its funny though that no one from your family appeared to have seen the ghost”.

The pride in me wanted me to shut up but I couldn’t help but laugh and tell him the truth, I felt relieved that evening.

 

Dear Pragati : Thanks! Glad you liked this post.

The incident about you was hilarous, I believe that there is such a thing as ghost but it is not that easily visible and for the most part our mind plays tricks with us and makes us believe in things. Your incident is a prima example of that.