The Shadow on the Wall by Manoj Nair

  The next day, the two friends started of early after breakfast. October 2, was was Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday and a holiday at the office.

  “What a waste of a perfect day. I could have slept until 1 P.M., then woken up and had a heavy lunch and again gone off to sleep. Instead, here I am trudging through this forest searching for an old priest! The sacrifices that I make for my friends,” said Vijay theatrically.

  “Don’t worry. To compensate for this I will take you to a movie. Also, I will be the ‘elder’ when you plan to get married. I promise”, said Hari. They were walking along the path, Sumangali used to run away on after her conversations with him.

  “That, my friend will take some time. Now that you have mentioned it, let me see, what kind of a girl would I, want to marry. Hmm, that is an interesting question. Let’s see…. she should be beautiful, intelligent, should be able to understand my jokes….Manju could have been a good choice.”

  “Why do you say ‘could have been’. You liked her didn’t you?” Hari asked.

  “Which part of the world do you live in my friend? Are you not aware of the latest gossip in the ODC? Sunil and Manju have been inseparable of late. They are together all over the place - cafeteria, library. Someone even saw them making out at that movie theatre near our office.”

  “Yuck. I never said this before, because I knew you like her, but that girl disgusts me. She has a such a low sense of morals,” Hari said.

  “Unfortunately that is how the world is my friend. Which century do you come from? It is quite normal these days for girls to have boyfriends before marriage. No wonder you like this girl who still wears half sari’s, “said Vijay and started laughing. “ By the way talking about ‘your girlfriend’, where exactly do you think are we going?”

  They seemed to have walked into the thickest part of the forest. The trees had totally blocking out the sunlight and there were huge boulders and rocks all around. Soon it became obvious to the two that they were lost. They looked in every direction and it was all the same. It was then that they noticed the stillness; it was absolutely quite in this part of the jungle. No birds or animal sounds, even the wind did not seem to be blowing. All around them there was a deadening silence.

  “Ok now where do we go from here? I don’t see any point in us carrying on unless we know exactly where we have to go,” said Vijay. He sat down on some rocks and began massaging his legs, “I am too tired to walk anymore”.

  “Let go a bit further and then if we don’t see anyone, we will return,” said Hari.

  Reluctantly Vijay got up. The two friends made their way through some huge boulders and came upon what looked like a clearing in the forest. All around them, they saw huge stone blocks lying on the ground. They seemed to have delicate carvings on them. A little ahead, there was an old ruined structure, which looked like an old temple. There were stone pillars in all directions, most of them broken and crumbling. Weeds and vines were growing all around and grass almost a feet tall covered everything. There was no statues of gods there, but a small oil lamp was there right in middle of the structure. The lamp seemed to have been in use for it was full of oil and there was black soot all around.

  “I think your girl-friend has made a fool of you,” Vijay said “there is no temple here. There is nothing here but these ruins. Come let’s go back.”

  That evening Hari did not speak much as he was accompanying Vijay to the main road. Vijay had to get back that evening and could not stay the night. They found an old man sitting at the bus smoking a beedi, a handmade cigarette with a pungent odor. A bundle of branched and twigs was lying on the floor. The colorful shawl he had on looked to be of tribal origin.

  “Baba, do you live in the forest here?” Vijay asked him.

  “Hmm,” the old man replied blowing out thick smoke from nose.

  “Then you must know these forests quite well. Do you know if there is a temple here in this forest?”

  The old man did not reply, but his hand with the beedi stopped halfway to his mouth.

  “I think he is slightly deaf” whispered Vijay and repeated his question in a louder voice “Is there a temple in this forest. A Rama temple?”

  The old man looked at both of them and replied,” Why do you want to know?”

  “ We wanted to meet the priest of the temple. This man, my friend likes the priest’s daughter and wants to talk about her hand in marriage”

  Hari shifted his weight on his feet uncomfortably and said “Well, We just wanted to talk to the priest. Please can you tell us where we can find him?” Hari asked.

  The old man threw his beedi away and got up from the bench hurriedly. He looked at the two friends and in an angry tone asked, “Is this some kind of a joke?”

  Hari and Vijay did not understand how to react to the aggressive tone of the old man and just stood there looking at him. Vijay replied in a soft tone,” No baba, we just wanted to know if there is a temple in this forest. We searched for it the whole morning and found only some ruins there.”

  “Why were you searching for the temple?” the old man asked suspiciously.

  “The priests daughter had asked him to come and meet her father at the Ram temple,” he said pointing at Hari.

  The expression on the old man’s face changed from anger to one of curiosity and then of concern. He turned towards Hari and asked,” She spoke to you?”

  “Yes, baba. She had mentioned about the temple. She did not ask me to come to meet her father, but then I wanted to meet him.”

  The old man sat down again on the bench. He looked in the distance and kept quiet for some time. Then he said,” Why don’t you two boys sit down.”

  The bus was due any minute, but they did not want to disobey the old man’s wish and sat down awkwardly next to him.

  “So how do you know this girl?” the old man asked.

  Hari quickly told his story. How he had found the hut and later moved in. How he first met Sumangali and how she would daily come and talk to him.

  “How well do you know her? I mean have you seen her from up close?” the old man asked.

  “She always stays at a distance. Does not come close. Why.. Why do you ask?” asked Hari.

  The old man looked at Hari for a long time. Hari felt uncomfortable under the old man’s stare and tried to avoid eye contact. Then the old man said,” Young man, do you have any idea how lucky you are?”

  “Lucky? Why? I don’t understand” Hari asked.

  The old man did not reply immediately. He looked straight ahead at the trees in the forest for a long time and then let out his breath as if he had been holding it all back for a long time.

  “ I can see from your face that you are an honest person and have not made up just to make fun of an old man. Both of you are young but since your very lives are in danger here I think I should tell you the truth,” the old man said.

  “The truth.. what are you talking about, baba ?” asked Vijay.

  “The girl you say you have been speaking to she died a hundred year ago in these forests. You have been speaking to a ghost. An evil ghost,” the old man said.

  Just then, the bus turned around the corner and halted at the bus stop.