Couple of weeks passed even as Sajjan and Amar covered the major portion of the region. Amar’s respect for Sajjan grew as the days passed. Sajjan had forced him to accompany him to those sections where he never had a welcome. One such large portion of area was called Kalamatti, inhabited by a sect of people who hated Amar’s caste and many other castes and religions. They were the belligerent of the lot and were notorious for attacking people who ventured into their territory.
Amar couldn’t believe when those people threw away their inhibitions, their hate after Sajjan’s speech and joined him in the plan of prosperity for the people of this region. They had genuinely promised in a loud voice that all hate and animosity lay buried and only trust and brotherhood will prevail henceforth. They accepted Amar genuinely.
Rajasaab was sitting in the lawn of his exotic farmhouse. He now had returned from his tour to New Delhi. All his assistants gathered around him, giving him brief description of what was happening around the region of Dheemapur. Many raised their concern about the growing unity amongst the locals and the farmers. They cited Sajjan as the conducer, for the unity amongst people, but had no clue about who he was.
Once, the briefing was over, Rajasaab asked them to keep a watch on the happenings and report daily to Devadatta, his political assistant. Once the meeting dispersed, he walked into the farmhouse with Devadatta.
“Deva”, he had a calculated voice, “who do you think this guy Sajjan is?”
“Honestly, Sir, I have no clue about who he is. I tried collecting information on him. All I know is – he has done some fabulous developmental work in the interiors of Kerala, then amongst the jungles of Madhumalai. It seems Amar met him somewhere in Orrissa and invited him to Dheemapur. One thing I’m sure about is – he is not a member of any rival political party. Even they are perturbed about the change in people of Dheemapur brought in by Sajjan. They also are trying to get information on him. Do you want me to arrange Amar to talk about him?”
Rajasaab looked at him, “No. Do not touch Amar. People here respect him and he respects me. I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable. Just be wary of the further happenings and keep a tab on anything dangerous for our political gain. Keep trying to fish out more information about this guy, Sajjan.”
Amar and Sajjan continued their tour of the region, meeting and convincing people to unite and join the plan of prosperity. Soon, they had covered every area in the region. They were returning to Dheemapur and were about 3 km away from it when Sajjan asked the bus to halt. The conductor asked them in concern if they really wanted to get off that point. Sajjan wanted to … they got off the bus. This was one area they hadn’t been to. The bus dropped them and left in a hurry.
Sajjan looked around and his experienced eyes found the soil around to be absolutely fertile to yield a good crop. The expanse was full of wild shrubs which grew about 5/6 feet high and unplanned trees, almost shielding the land with its density. He climbed up a small hillock and glanced around. He could see lush green crops about 2/3 kms away and on the other side a railway track with a cabin and a signal. He recollected all trains halting here for about a minute before proceeding to or from Dheemapur. The signal at the moment was glowing green. He heard a train toot its horn at a distance. He saw the train approaching the turn around the hill. It slowed down as it started turning to circumvent the high hill and slowly approached the green signal near the cabin. It halted there for no apparent reason for a minute or so and then rumbled off toward Dheemapur.
There was no soul around, either near the railway track or near the road at the point they got off the bus. Amar looked at Sajjan’s curiosity and explained, “This area is known as Rajapuri. All passenger trains halt here. The hill you see next to the railway line hides the massive and exotic farmhouse owned by Rajasaab. The river flows between the hill and his farmhouse making it impossible to approach it without being seen. All his important and secret political and business meetings are held at the farmhouse. Coming back to the point where we are standing now, this place is known as Ghostland.” he shivered at the thought and the mention of the place, “They say that ghosts roam here freely – no matter what time of day. Few people have ventured into this wilderness in attraction or adventure of meeting the ghosts. Most of them never returned. Few who did, were absolutely scared. No bodies of missing adventurists have been found. It seems the ghosts ate them.”
Sajjan smiled at Amar’s confidence in his belief of these ghosts. He knew ghosts didn’t exist. He didn’t say anything but decided to visit and investigate the area on his own sometime later. He waived at the next bus, knowing he wasn’t going to meet anyone there and they travelled back home.
“Sorry”, Leela said in apologetic tone, holding her earlobes in her fingers, “The dinner isn’t ready yet. I was preoccupied with something else. Give me some time and I’ll serve it to you” and she vanished into the kitchen.
“I’ll have a small walk around the lane.”
“Okay. Be back soon.”
Sajjan couldn’t help thinking about what he had seen and heard about Rajapuri. His experienced glance had told him that the soil there was absolutely fertile. No way, any sane person would leave such a land to waste with wilderness. Something about it wasn’t correct. He returned and opened the book of his maps. He marked the area. He started tracing the location on the map from Amar’s house. By road it was about 1.5 km. By railway, it was about 3 km from Dheemapur station.
If he walked cross country, it was hardly about 1.2 km. He drew a straight line from Amar’s house, through his fields to Rajapuri. ‘Not much distance’ he thought. ‘I can easily walk cross country and check what this ghostland is all about.’
His chain of thoughts was broken by the smell of delicious meal. Leela was standing behind him holding his platter of dinner intently looking at him, marking spots and lines on his maps.
“What are you trying to do on these maps?” she asked putting the platter on the writing desk even as he folded the book of maps. He told her about how his day had passed and how he was curious about the ghostland.
“Ghost Land?” she asked, her eyes filled with horror, “Why are you even looking at it?”
“In fact, I plan to leave in an hour. I want to go there and check out the place. I want to see if I could meet one.” he jested.
“No.” she said firmly, “I won’t allow you to go there. And, today is new moon. I have heard that the ghosts are very active and dangerous tonight.” he started laughing, “Don’t laugh. It’s not at all funny.”
“Okay, Sweetheart, I won’t go there tonight.”
“No. Promise me that you’ll never go to any ghostland.”
“I can’t do that. I came to know today that the place is known as a ghostland. I have roamed and will be roaming around remote places in this country. How would I know which place is a ghostland there?” he smiled, “and anyways, I have never seen a ghost in my life. These are myths created by people to hide their wrong doings.”
“You and your logic.” she said in a huff and entered the kitchen to have her dinner. She was too scared of ghosts and didn’t want to go out, even into Amar’s field for the regular walk. They sat in the backyard till they felt sleepy.
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- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/
- Prasad Deshpandehttps://storiesandme.com/author/prasad/