I knew Jagdish from my college days. While he had a sharp analytical mind and would not let go until he got a logical explanation of anything that puzzled him, he also was a very religious person who spent good 30 minutes every day worshiping in front of his devhara which had a photo of his guru framed using a very expensive glass. Basically Devhara is a small wooden altar, often designed like a temple. It usually occupies a small corner of the kitchen or a bedroom. It is nothing ornate, but usually a clean, sparkly, and well looked after space for the family deities.
After graduation, Jagdish was picked up immediately by a multinational firm and in few years he grew very fast in his organization and left us far behind in terms of income and status. He was also about to get married and for that he decided to renovate his house. It would be better to explain the structure of his housing complex as it has direct relevance to what happened next. It consists of five buildings in a straight row one after the another. There were walls on either side of the buildings with a narrow road on each side. Because of the space crunch one entrance was marked as "Entry" and the other as "Exit". And a watchman was placed at each gate to ensure that everyone followed the practice.
Jagdish's flat was on the ground floor, third building. While renovation he also fulfilled one of his long standing wishes to re-decorate his Devhara and shift it to his bedroom in such a way that first thing he could see after he gets up was the frame of his Guru.
During the last few years our contact was not what it used to be. So it was a pleasant surprise when he called me and invited me to his place on Saturday. He said he wanted to show me something that might interest me. He knew my experiments with the occult and about our group.
After lunch his mother left to meet her friend. Jagdish then almost dragged me towards the bedroom. I had done no preparation for this visit but the moment I stepped in the room, my mind was immediately flooded with dark thoughts. For few seconds I could remember nothing other than the hypnotizing effect of the ceiling fan going round and round, overhead. I then saw the photo frame of his Guru. The frame was badly cracked and taped in many corners. Gone was the grandeur of it and it looked as if it was just about standing with support of one of the Devhara walls. The back-stand of the frame was broken. Suddenly for a briefest of the moments I went into a trance like situation and clearly saw face of Subhash who took occasional interest in our research. A very reliable and street smart guy who worked as a regional sales head of a tea company and was master of the art of getting introduced to unacquainted people and generate confidence with his friendly and assuring way of talking.
I pushed these thought all out of my mind and asked Jagdish what he was worried about. His story was rather strange. Every morning after a bath he used to complete the worship of deities in first in 10 minutes and spend time in reading the book of about his Guru for the next 20 minutes. But things started to go wrong after the renovation. On the third day just when he was about the complete his prayer the frame crashed in his direction as if something was pushing it from behind. Remember this frame had a solid back stand and it was always tilted backwards like any other frame. He got it mended but the phenomenon continued.
One obvious conclusion was, it all started after the renovation and the subsequent change of location. There have been so many incidents where claim of occult intervention has been proven to be wrong because of specific direction of winds and certain vibrations due to train or air flights. So a first thing Jagdish did was to look at internet and book stores for all such occurrences but could not really find any reason. He still firmly believed that there was some sort of scientific reason to this, because the moment he moved it back to the kitchen it remained stable.
But human nature is a strange one. Though a true devotee of his Guru, his analytical mind won't let him rest in peace until he found the reason. So he kept on moving it to his bedroom after a while and time and again it used to crash. And all this had led to the current pathetic state of that frame. I thought this over and over again.
While driving back home I was convinced about the involvement of something unnatural about it. The main reasons behind my conclusion were the eerie and dark feeling I got in the bedroom and during my chat with Jagdish I had found out that the frame had crashed at different times during the day. Sometimes as early as 7.30 AM and sometimes as late as 12 PM. I was also puzzled as to why Subhash's face had floated in front of me. Somewhere I needed his help to solve this but apart from real passion for occult and sales skill; he did not possess any intuitive qualities.
This problem would perhaps never have been solved except for a very odd coincidence. When I returned from Jagdish's house I forgot one of my technical books borrowed from my boss and I dare not go to the office without that book next day. So I called Jagdish early on Monday. Told him that I will reach his place by 9 am and then he can drop me on his way to office. That day quite a few coincidences took place. I woke in a very alert and trance like mood which though has happened before, is not something that I can control. I did complete sadhana before leaving. Second coincidence was that I entered the housing complex from the "exit" instead of "entry" which I never do but I was preoccupied in my thoughts and there was not guard around... By the time I reached his building a couple of cars and few walkers passed by. Suddenly my body was alive with feeling; it felt strange and tingly and then I heard a crash. I entered the house. The frame had crashed again.
I was shaking at first, scared, because I could feel the panic rising still rising. Outwardly I kept calm and suggested that let's get the frame redone. Once in the office I completed some urgent work, told my boss I am not feeling well and left early. I definitely had sensed something but needed to cool down a bit before I could think straight. I slept for an hour or so and when I woke up it dawned upon me why I was uneasy. The alert sensation that I had felt was before the frame crashed. That means I had come across something unnatural at that moment.
And then there was a small explosion inside my head. What my subconscious mind had noticed in the extra alert state came to the foreground. Images of everyone who had passed me before I reached Jagdish's house floated past me and zeroed in on a thin man in his early fifties. Rests of the details were not clear but my instinct told me there was something abnormal about that person. I also realized why my mind had suggested name of Subhash. He was a game for spending half a day with me and I also managed to do some convincing in my office.
The next day both of us waited outside Jagdish's "exit" gate. We did not know at that time but this moment was a start of most extraordinary investigation which went very fast and surprisingly with no obstacles and yet revealed one of the most complex cases of evil I have ever come across. Whatever had passed me that day was not good. I could remember most of the other faces that crossed me. But about this particular person, apart from a vague recollection of someone inconspicuous but well dressed nothing else had registered...
We waited making sure we are hidden in the cover of a tea shop so that Jagdish does not notice us. He left at around 9.00 and while we were tired of waiting and were planning to take a tea break "he" came. A sudden chill went up my spine. This time I recognized him and also the strong negative aura around him. At that instant I realized why the image was crashing. Years of dedicated worship and the spiritual energy of the Guru himself had given the frame some sort of positive dimension. Since the bedroom is adjacent to the road, both these forces were close enough to clash and the positive aura of the frame was getting defeated. Kitchen was in the middle and perhaps these two remained separated without sensing each other. But at that moment it was just a thought. And not a very happy thought.
Since Subhash was around I did not want to waste this opportunity to find out more information. We met the security guard and found out the location of his flat. Subhash made some excuse of the flat being offered on rent.
The chap's name was Avinash and he had rented a 2nd floor flat of the last and 5th building. His door was locked but thanks to Subhash we managed to speak with all the neighbors using the same pretext. This man had come to stay around 2 months back which exactly matched with the frame crash. Last month the family staying in the next flat to him had lost their second son in a bike accident, the family in the flat opposite to him was about to shift to a smaller house after sustaining losses in their small business. The third person worked for a bank and was on forced long leave. He was accused of a fraud which he time and again explained to us that he had done nothing of the sort...
Something was going wrong and that too in the broad day light in the middle of this densely populated area. I refused to listen to Subhash's suggestion that we should consult the house-owner and request him to kick the tenant out. Somehow I was not ready to take that route.
I waited until next Saturday improving my sadhana and preparations. This time I took my scooter near Jagdish's house. I was not sure if he, Avinash, would make an appearance. But he did and that too around 8.10 AM. He turned left and started to walk. I was in two minds as it is not easy to follow anyone who is walking, using a scooter. But I did not have to wait long though. He took another left turn and entered a garden. I parked my scooter outside and followed him. In the next two hours my head started to swim. It was a big garden and he was just roaming around looking for something but not in any specific area as such. He looked at bushes, sat on a bench looking at the ground and even went to the children playing area. At around 11. 30 he came out and hired an auto. I followed. The auto kept on going on for around 45 minutes and then stopped near a small unused bushy patch... He quietly stepped into the bushes. I did not follow him this time. There was only one way to come out and by this time I intuitively knew I won't understand what he was doing. He came out from there at around 4.30 and there were leaves and other stuff attached to the front of his dress as if he had been crawling for some time. He cleaned himself and started to walk again towards the nearby auto stand. The homewards journey was again event-less and around 5.20 he entered the housing complex.
By this time I was convinced that he was well above me when it comes to an internal strength and was operating in a different dimension completely. He had noticed me but either it did not register or he did not care. He knew I will never be able to figure out what he was after and would not be able to understand the meaning behind his actions. But I did something which I have done very often in such situations, to trust my guru and the sadhana that I had done. I simply pressed his doorbell. He immediately opened the door, looked at me and pushed 350 Rs in my hands. I could not make head or tail of it.
Yet, I pushed past him as he was quite thin and I was beyond any feeling of fear. There was a very mild surprise on his face but there was no anger. He muttered something about milk money so he must have taken me for a milk man. I moved along focusing internally. The front room had a sofa and a pillow but other than that all it contained was a stained mattress where no one seemed to have slept for months... In the kitchen there was no refrigerator but lot of bottles of soft drink, packs of biscuits scattered around. There was some water in one of the most unclean jars I have even seen. Both the rooms had not been cleaned for months...
I finally entered the last room which was supposed to be a bedroom. When I remember what happened next, I still get a lump in my throat and goose bumps. I will never be able to tell for sure whether the room was empty. There was something that hit directly on the nerves, tiring the body, enfeebling the vision. It was accompanied by a soft purring sound that instantly ceased when I looked in that direction. I could hear the blood singing in my veins, I knew that whatever it was didn't want me there. I realized it was not from our world but had no clue where it had come from and what it wanted. Pulling all my courage together I took a few steps in. Now whatever it was stopped reacting. I felt it was somewhere around, "looking" at me.
All of sudden I felt like looking at my right. For a briefest of the moments I think I glimpsed something. Some sort of existence which was more like a constantly changing shape of vibrating dots,
It had a behavior, some unknown wish and this distorted sort of anger that was capable of causing immense pain. I actually felt the pain in my right temple. I was on the verge of hallucinating. I was Avinash and I saw a small cat. The cat didn't have a collar. So I took it home and then realized that it was not a cat. It grinned. It wanted something. Then there was a smell, the putrid smell of filth and rot, prevailing over all. As if the entire city had been dead for days and I was the only one who was left.
It slithered towards me in a strange dragging like movement. Nothing in Heaven or Hell - and certainly nothing on earth could match it. It moved inside itself, very fast, changing patterns of it's shape, hurting itself, Almost colorless and border-less, tearing at it's own empty body and swallowing the pieces. I then realized saw it was me! In some other form, my left hand was paining like hell. Finally I lost courage and ran into the hall. Avinash was sleeping peacefully, but his right hand was dangling from the sofa, making some movement.
I pulled him up, shouted at him for being evil and inviting trouble but there was no expression in his blank eyes. I almost ran through the staircase and started my scooter. It was not until the watchman pointed out that I was bleeding, I had not realized the pain. It was indeed bleeding and the wound was something I did not feel like looking at. I went to the doctor and looking at my situation I was shown in immediately. While he dressed my wound, he gave me a very curious look. While leaving he made a remark that if the wound worsens, I was to show him again and get rid of whatever pet I had.
Once in the safety of my bed, I let what my subconscious mind had noticed surface. First thing I realized was, what I had broken while stumbling in that room was a saucer. I still could not figure out why I was not able to see clearly in that room when it was a broad daylight. I remembered the 350 Rs that Avinash tried to give me for milk. The milk man collects weekly which meant around 3.5 liters of milk was being consumed in that flat. Where was all this milk was going? Avinash seemed to be surviving on biscuits and soft drinks mostly. And lastly the action he was doing when I left. He was in a trance like situation and the movement his hand was doing was like scrawling the neck of something that must be way bigger than a cat. And two of his fingers were missing. If he recognized me as someone who followed him he showed no reaction to that.
There is nothing much to tell after this. I won't consider it my success as I refused to go any further in the investigations. After some persuading from Subhash and others I went there after few weeks. Meanwhile I continued to ignore Jagdish's call by using heavy work load as an excuse. When we went there we were surprised to know that Avinash has left without letting anyone know.
Only guess I could haphazard is Avinash was up to something. He intended no harm to anyone and have achieved great deal of success in occult operations. He ability to crash the image of such a powerful Guru proved that. I will never be able to understand what he was hiding in that room and out of the two who was in control. I do not mind admitting that the rosary I threw in was not capable of breaking such a powerful evil. So it will always remain a mystery what made Avinash leave the house. When the owner opened the flat he found around 20K RS scattered in the hall, filth and dirt and few bottles of soft drinks. Rest of the house was empty and completely harmless.
Loading comments....
