The ghost in the bungalow
It was a
lovely, breezy evening when my friends and I were playing cricket in our
colony. Both the teams had two batsmen each, who were Nakul, Maanav, Sonu and
Mike. Anup, Ron and Rashid served as the bowlers, fielders and Mohan, the wicket keeper. Dhruv did the commentary. My friends, Razia, Sweety and Lakshmi
and few people in the neighborhood were there to watch the interesting and
nail biting cricket match. My
cousin/nemesis Shreya, (who looked almost like a twin to me, but very
different in character) was also present too.
Unfortunately, I was
appointed as an umpire along with another nemesis of mine, Bunty. He along with
Shreya and five others at school enjoyed annoying my best friend, Keerthi and
me.
The game
went on well, until Mohan caught the ball, which was hit high by Nakul. I was
about to say that he was out but;
“Not
out!” Shouted Bunty
“It is
clear that he is out!” I protested, “Mohan caught the ball”
“But I
don’t think that he is out!” shouted Bunty “Let Shreya be the third umpire and make the decision”
“Nakul is
out. You are just trying to save your team” I protested “I don’t think that Shreya
will make a just decision anyway!”
“You are
impossible!” Bunty smirked “And so is your clumsy friend, Keerthi”
I was
already angry at Bunty for trying to cheat, but him insulting my best friend,
was unbearable. I had no option but to tell it on his face. Grabbing at each other, we then rolled on
the ground, as our friends did their best to pull us apart. Finally my mother
came out and dragged Shreya and me into our house.
I got enough scolding from my
mother, and Shreya enjoyed watching it. To make it worse appeared Kumar uncle.
“Ritu” he
called Amma “I have a complaint about your children”
Amma
glared at us and looked back at him.
“I am
sorry, uncle. You see, Deepu is hot tempered, silly enough to fight with those
boys”
“That is
not the complaint” said Kumar uncle “In fact, I enjoyed watching those
hooligans fight”
“You mean
that they have done something more?” asked Amma, looking at us angrily
“Trust me
Amma. I haven’t done anything worthwhile today”
“The
matter is that” Kumar uncle continued “The bungalow over there, the one which
had been deserted for ten years, for people believed that the ghost of a cat
who died then prevailed there. Certain melancholy noises from that bungalow
have been disturbing us for ages. As I believe that ghosts do not exist, I
believe that…”
“Do you
girls have anything to say about this?”
“We will
investigate” I said, “We have been serving…”
Kumar
uncle raised an eyebrow.
“We will
investigate,” said Shreya.
After
Kumar uncle went, we plunged into discussion about the haunted bungalow, for
getting ourselves out of trouble and for serving our Shalimar colony.
“I can’t
believe this!” Shreya exclaimed, “When something strange happens in the colony,
we get the blame”
“We must
look into this case” I said thoughtfully “And prove ourselves innocent. I say,
we must visit that bungalow tonight”
“Tonight?”
“Yes” I
replied
That
night, I had to drag Shreya to the bungalow. I took my detective kit
(Binoculars, magnifier, scissors, chocolates) and put on my detective hat (just for
fun). The bangalow was totally cool inside, with rusty and dusty utensils, and broken
photos, mostly of the dead kitten. It gave the house a spooky look. Poor Shreya
tried to get rid of her fear while I had other plans.
“Shreya,
don’t get scared” she told herself “There is no such thing as. …AAAAhhhhhhhhhh”
“Scared
you” I said removing the cloak around me with triumph.
“Not
funny!” she exclaimed, “Look there!”
She
pointed towards a pile of chewing gum wrappers. We examined it, picked them up,
and searched for more clues. We also got a guitar string too. Then suddenly, we
realized that we were late and hurried back home.
The next day I told Keerthi all
about the bungalow. We were discussing about the bungalow at class, when
“Hey
look! Rudolph’s back!” Bunty said, smiling wickedly under his large shades
which covered his blackened eye. He was pointing at my nose, which he smashed,
during the fight.
I lost my
temper again. We were fighting again, when
“Mr.
Singh! Miss. Iyer!” shouted Father Samuel, our history teacher. We decided to
calm down. But for our shock;
“I will
give you an assignment about the freedom struggle for this Friday. You will do
it in pairs. Deepika will pair up with Bunty.”
I got
shocked and looked at Bunty, equally shocked. The other children were put in
pairs too, and then I met Bunty again after class.
“You can
come to my house. Mom wants to meet you anyway”
That evening, when I went there, Bunty's mother
greeted me. She was a very sweet lady, and also was a good friend of Appa and
his twin brother. She showed me a photo of herself as a girl and a pair of twin
boys, younger than her, with spiky hair and wicked smiles.
“They
were great,” she told me “Good boys who did the noble work of raising a new
generation of pranksters. Dhruv and Bunty are great fans of them.”
She
pointed at him and a bigger boy of eighteen, who was tall and had the same
straight, untidy hair as Bunty had, who was teasing him.
“Nice
spot, kiddo. Now Tiger has a twin too” He said, laughing wickedly, and was
pointing to a puppy, with a black patch around its eye.
“Now I’m
going to practice for my band ‘Disaster,’” he told him “and remember, do not
even think of entering my room”.
He
pointed at a notice stuck on one of the doors
‘No one
will be allowed inside without the permission of Mr. Dhruv Singh’
He was
soon gone, when Bunty said, “Let’s go to Bhaiya’s room”
It was
surprising, though. While we did the assignment, Bunty and I became good
friends. We talked about sports, food and the workload we have as we were now
in the fifth grade. Then I noticed something.
“Does
your brother chew?” I asked Bunty, pointing at the waste bin full of chewing
gum wrappers.
“Him?
Twenty four hours a day!”
“Does he
play guitar”
“Yes. It
is horrible. Yesterday, he lost a string in it. He was so sad.”
Finally,
I got the culprit. I told Bunty, his mother and Shreya about it and got ready
to welcome him. It was pretty soon, and as soon as Dhruv arrived, his mother
dragged him to his study. We circled around him, who was seated in a chair,
looking confused.
“What are
you doing here, imprisoning me in my own study?”
“What
were you doing in the bungalow?”
“What do
you mean, Mom?”
“Were you
and your friends making cacophonous mayhem in the bungalow?”
“What! We
were just practicing our new song ‘Pain’”
Bunty’s mother looked really angry.
Poor
Dhruv sighed.
We looked at each other.. and burst into laughter.