Our college was a little far from the main city. Since we were under a lot of restrictions in the first semester , it was little difficult for us to explore the area outside our campus. Roads
were dark after evening , seniors were always keeping an eye on the juniors and their activities. People generally take the college and studies seriously in the beginning days. Our small
group had not been outside before too much. I can not say much about others but I did not get a chance. The only time I asked for Pandit sir's signature on the leave pass was on
saturday for visiting home. I guessed it would be too much to ask him for permission to roam outside the college in between the week.
One semester was already over and results were expected to be out anytime. Everyone was anxious about the results. I had worked hard a lot in that semester. I saw many batchmates
making chits and micro xerox. But I had always feared these. I believed in hard work. I knew that my answers would be in my own explanatory language and not copy book one and
may be that will fetch me marks. That evening Hubba entered the room quite dressed up in a blue jeans and funky t shirt. He told me in an excited tone , " Hey mota , Pinki and I have
decided to go outside. There is a market near by two stoppages away. It would be fun." He also mentioned , "there is a temple of Kali goddess near Sarisha". Sarisha is the place where
we would be going. I was in a puzzle and did not have time to decide. I asked whether all will be going or not. He said he would inform. We went to inform Somen and Pande. They were
in Somen's room. Somen was interested to go but he started thinking about the complications that may happen. All the negative things like Pandit sir's refusal , seniors may mark us , the
village may be dangerous outside , the roads are dark and lorries and buses run like aeroplanes on runways. He gave a lot of negative ideas. We were waiting for his silence. After he
finished Hubba gave a blank look to him for few minutes and said , " Are you coming?? yes or no" ? Somen went towards the almirah quietly and said with a low surrendered voice , " I
just told the mishappenings that may happen , did I say I would not go ? " We were looking at Pande . He was lazy enough and we knew the answer and we also knew how to make the
trip interesting for him. Hubba added , " I have heard there are some good food stalls. ". Pande smiled and replied , " please bring some mutton kima and rotis for me. Thanks in
advance".Hubba poured water in his expectations and said, " will bring some cow dung for your dinner panda. You have to come with us to eat mutton kima" . Pande told that he would
go some other day. He wanted us to do the experiment trip first and depending upon the reviews he would go next time.
So it was 4 of us. We did not have much problem getting the permission. Pinki Somen Hubba and me going out for the first time. Hubba was more excited about the temple which he had
heard from someone. He was never so religious before. I could have expected this eagerness from Somen but anyways. Pinki was excited because of the freedom feeling. I too started to
have an excitement. The roads were dark enough and we decided to walk for a different experience. With the buses buzzing away from the sides with continuous terrifying horns it was
really dangerous. One wrong step towards the middle of the street and one can fly off to Sarisha itself. We were making fun and pulling each others legs on the whole way. Hubba started
giving names to Pinky. It was his hobby to give names to Pinky. He would also count his names. The number had crossed 108 and therefore he said that Pinky was more famous than
LORD KRISHNA.
We reached the market. There was nothing exciting only for that it was a freedom that seemed quite different. Hubba had bought fruits for eating in hostel. He had the household
material always. Everyone had come for the sake of experience of roaming outside. I asked Hubba , " hey is your shopping finished ? Or now you want some rice and daal also ? Can we
just visit the temple and go back to hostel. Its getting late and its already dark there. " Hubba calmed me , "okay , we will go now. I am not sure of the turn . Its the first right turn or
second right turn from here. Let me ask someone. " . He asked a van driver , " Can you please show us the way to the nearby crematory where there is a Kali temple " . The man showed
us the way while we gave a shocking gaze to each other as well as Hubba. Pinky almost moved back two steps and said , " Why on earth do you have no other place to visit ? You did not
tell me that your temple is in between the burnt dead bodies. I am not going. I will go back." Hubba shushed him by saying , " Witch, you have to come. Its a nice place. Very quiet place.
We all would have a different experience." Somen was also not so comfortable . Me neither. Somen told that, " We have to take bath again after going back to hostel. See I am not afraid
but its about hygiene". I had no idea what to tell. I was opinionless. Hubba literally forced us with excitement ," I knew you all would react like this and therefore I did not tell before.
Just don't think it this way. Its a quiet place and very peaceful as I have heard. We all will enjoy only that the roads are a little dark and sometimes there are dacoits in the way. They
only harm if they find you rich. So switch off your mobiles and act like you are the local guy " . We all had our eyebrows raised. Pinky almost raised his hands and said , " I am not going.
No ways.. I did not come here to do all this. I am going back. Who is coming with me ? Please raise hand ." No body did. He waited for few seconds and said ," Okay , I would do this for
the sake that I want to support and you would not enjoy if I don't go ." He paused a little and asked again , " How far is it" ? Hubba did not answer that one and started walking. We
followed in sake of adventure. Pinky followed still expecting someone would answer.
We took the right turn and started walking through a narrow lane between two fields. The road was extremely dark. We could hardly see our own hands. We only recognised each other
by voices. The environment was really giving goose bumps. Pinky had become speechless and tried to be calm. I was trying to make some conversation so as to know the position of my
friends via voices as I was total blind like a bat. We reached a gate which was big enough assuring us that we have reached our destination. It was not so dark now. I can hardly explain
the atmosphere. We entered through the gate. It was like a small park. We saw a small temple of Goddess Kali . It seemed unattended at that very moment but the gaze from the idol and
the surrounding environment left me mesmerized. There was an eternal peace. We had forgot about all the troubles we encountered while coming and all became silent. We sat on the
seats available and roamed about inside and hardly spoke to each other unlike everytime. Hubba sat next to me when I was seeing all this and feeling the sense of peace. He asked me , "
What did I say " ?I only nodded my head in admiration. Somen had gone a little further. I could see him standing aloof looking at another end of the park. When I went closer to him I could see another lane starting from that end. He said as I came closer , " Mota , just walk a few steps on that lane ". As I did that I could smell a beautiful essence of Rajanigandha. It was really enchanting. It filled my body pores with sweetness but at the same time as I walked the smell as if became stronger and it felt like it was pulling me like a magnet. The sweet smell from the dark endless lane carried some fear and shivers. I moved back my steps. Somen said, " you couldn't continue right ? The feeling is wierd. Isn't it ?" I nodded. We could see a dead body burning quite unattended. The smell of burning ghee imposed a different feeling now. The burning continued with some crackling noises and we could also see the only person standing looking after the process was using a stick to whack down the body and keep it in the flames. I could not stand there much and went back. Hubba and Pinky were sitting on the seats. Somen and I went there and I said ,"lets go now. Its getting late. " They agreed. Pinky did not jump off the seat as I have expected. He seemed to like the peace quite unexpectedly. We went back through the same dark road but this time we did not face any anxiety. We took a van rickshaw from Sarisha to our college. The experience in the van also made us believe that our coming today was a total success.
As we entered the college hostel , we could hear batchmates telling that results were out and all of them know by that time. We went to the computer lab and checked the internet for
our results. I got almost the lowest among all my friends . It was 6.83 . The average was over 7.5 . I knew now what to do in rest of the semesters. What works and what doesn't was
clear to me . Maybe the visit to Goddess Kali was a little late.
were dark after evening , seniors were always keeping an eye on the juniors and their activities. People generally take the college and studies seriously in the beginning days. Our small
group had not been outside before too much. I can not say much about others but I did not get a chance. The only time I asked for Pandit sir's signature on the leave pass was on
saturday for visiting home. I guessed it would be too much to ask him for permission to roam outside the college in between the week.
One semester was already over and results were expected to be out anytime. Everyone was anxious about the results. I had worked hard a lot in that semester. I saw many batchmates
making chits and micro xerox. But I had always feared these. I believed in hard work. I knew that my answers would be in my own explanatory language and not copy book one and
may be that will fetch me marks. That evening Hubba entered the room quite dressed up in a blue jeans and funky t shirt. He told me in an excited tone , " Hey mota , Pinki and I have
decided to go outside. There is a market near by two stoppages away. It would be fun." He also mentioned , "there is a temple of Kali goddess near Sarisha". Sarisha is the place where
we would be going. I was in a puzzle and did not have time to decide. I asked whether all will be going or not. He said he would inform. We went to inform Somen and Pande. They were
in Somen's room. Somen was interested to go but he started thinking about the complications that may happen. All the negative things like Pandit sir's refusal , seniors may mark us , the
village may be dangerous outside , the roads are dark and lorries and buses run like aeroplanes on runways. He gave a lot of negative ideas. We were waiting for his silence. After he
finished Hubba gave a blank look to him for few minutes and said , " Are you coming?? yes or no" ? Somen went towards the almirah quietly and said with a low surrendered voice , " I
just told the mishappenings that may happen , did I say I would not go ? " We were looking at Pande . He was lazy enough and we knew the answer and we also knew how to make the
trip interesting for him. Hubba added , " I have heard there are some good food stalls. ". Pande smiled and replied , " please bring some mutton kima and rotis for me. Thanks in
advance".Hubba poured water in his expectations and said, " will bring some cow dung for your dinner panda. You have to come with us to eat mutton kima" . Pande told that he would
go some other day. He wanted us to do the experiment trip first and depending upon the reviews he would go next time.
So it was 4 of us. We did not have much problem getting the permission. Pinki Somen Hubba and me going out for the first time. Hubba was more excited about the temple which he had
heard from someone. He was never so religious before. I could have expected this eagerness from Somen but anyways. Pinki was excited because of the freedom feeling. I too started to
have an excitement. The roads were dark enough and we decided to walk for a different experience. With the buses buzzing away from the sides with continuous terrifying horns it was
really dangerous. One wrong step towards the middle of the street and one can fly off to Sarisha itself. We were making fun and pulling each others legs on the whole way. Hubba started
giving names to Pinky. It was his hobby to give names to Pinky. He would also count his names. The number had crossed 108 and therefore he said that Pinky was more famous than
LORD KRISHNA.
We reached the market. There was nothing exciting only for that it was a freedom that seemed quite different. Hubba had bought fruits for eating in hostel. He had the household
material always. Everyone had come for the sake of experience of roaming outside. I asked Hubba , " hey is your shopping finished ? Or now you want some rice and daal also ? Can we
just visit the temple and go back to hostel. Its getting late and its already dark there. " Hubba calmed me , "okay , we will go now. I am not sure of the turn . Its the first right turn or
second right turn from here. Let me ask someone. " . He asked a van driver , " Can you please show us the way to the nearby crematory where there is a Kali temple " . The man showed
us the way while we gave a shocking gaze to each other as well as Hubba. Pinky almost moved back two steps and said , " Why on earth do you have no other place to visit ? You did not
tell me that your temple is in between the burnt dead bodies. I am not going. I will go back." Hubba shushed him by saying , " Witch, you have to come. Its a nice place. Very quiet place.
We all would have a different experience." Somen was also not so comfortable . Me neither. Somen told that, " We have to take bath again after going back to hostel. See I am not afraid
but its about hygiene". I had no idea what to tell. I was opinionless. Hubba literally forced us with excitement ," I knew you all would react like this and therefore I did not tell before.
Just don't think it this way. Its a quiet place and very peaceful as I have heard. We all will enjoy only that the roads are a little dark and sometimes there are dacoits in the way. They
only harm if they find you rich. So switch off your mobiles and act like you are the local guy " . We all had our eyebrows raised. Pinky almost raised his hands and said , " I am not going.
No ways.. I did not come here to do all this. I am going back. Who is coming with me ? Please raise hand ." No body did. He waited for few seconds and said ," Okay , I would do this for
the sake that I want to support and you would not enjoy if I don't go ." He paused a little and asked again , " How far is it" ? Hubba did not answer that one and started walking. We
followed in sake of adventure. Pinky followed still expecting someone would answer.
We took the right turn and started walking through a narrow lane between two fields. The road was extremely dark. We could hardly see our own hands. We only recognised each other
by voices. The environment was really giving goose bumps. Pinky had become speechless and tried to be calm. I was trying to make some conversation so as to know the position of my
friends via voices as I was total blind like a bat. We reached a gate which was big enough assuring us that we have reached our destination. It was not so dark now. I can hardly explain
the atmosphere. We entered through the gate. It was like a small park. We saw a small temple of Goddess Kali . It seemed unattended at that very moment but the gaze from the idol and
the surrounding environment left me mesmerized. There was an eternal peace. We had forgot about all the troubles we encountered while coming and all became silent. We sat on the
seats available and roamed about inside and hardly spoke to each other unlike everytime. Hubba sat next to me when I was seeing all this and feeling the sense of peace. He asked me , "
What did I say " ?I only nodded my head in admiration. Somen had gone a little further. I could see him standing aloof looking at another end of the park. When I went closer to him I could see another lane starting from that end. He said as I came closer , " Mota , just walk a few steps on that lane ". As I did that I could smell a beautiful essence of Rajanigandha. It was really enchanting. It filled my body pores with sweetness but at the same time as I walked the smell as if became stronger and it felt like it was pulling me like a magnet. The sweet smell from the dark endless lane carried some fear and shivers. I moved back my steps. Somen said, " you couldn't continue right ? The feeling is wierd. Isn't it ?" I nodded. We could see a dead body burning quite unattended. The smell of burning ghee imposed a different feeling now. The burning continued with some crackling noises and we could also see the only person standing looking after the process was using a stick to whack down the body and keep it in the flames. I could not stand there much and went back. Hubba and Pinky were sitting on the seats. Somen and I went there and I said ,"lets go now. Its getting late. " They agreed. Pinky did not jump off the seat as I have expected. He seemed to like the peace quite unexpectedly. We went back through the same dark road but this time we did not face any anxiety. We took a van rickshaw from Sarisha to our college. The experience in the van also made us believe that our coming today was a total success.
As we entered the college hostel , we could hear batchmates telling that results were out and all of them know by that time. We went to the computer lab and checked the internet for
our results. I got almost the lowest among all my friends . It was 6.83 . The average was over 7.5 . I knew now what to do in rest of the semesters. What works and what doesn't was
clear to me . Maybe the visit to Goddess Kali was a little late.
No comments:
Post a Comment