One lazy afternoon I was thinking of the most adventurous thing that I had done, and was reminded of nothing substantial. I would not particularly tag myself as an adventurous person, having had not even a single vacation without my family. However, I was instantly reminded of the scary night that I had once spent at a bungalow in Ramgarh, belonging to a close relative, last January. The events that followed were truly hair-raising.
It all began with a split second decision to go to the bungalow at Ramgarh, which I had heard so much about. Ramgarh is a picturesque hill station located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand. We, that is, me, Sudeep, Abhinav and Sujata, hopped into our Swift with a weekend's supply of junk and headed off to our weekend destination. I remember waking up at 3:30 in the morning and rushing to pick our friends up by 4am, cruising through the uncannily silent and empty highways of Noida. By early afternoon the next day, we were watching the stray monkeys on the road, from our car windows, and waiting to reach our destination.
The moment finally arrived when we reached the small town. We were all excited to spend the weekend in the beautiful summer house, where we were headed. It was lodged amidst the rocky path towards the river, nearby, and thus we had to make do without the car for a while, as we struggled through the rough and narrow path ahead to our destination.
The room had a beautiful view, and was cosy too. After freshening up and arranging for our dinner at a hotel nearby, we ventured to explore the area nearby. It was a small locality snugly accommodated amidst the forested valley, and there was little habitation near our bungalow. However, the winding path leading to the river nearby, was what drew our attention. All four of us hopped down the path, joking and chatting our hearts out. It was Sujata, who suddenly pointed out that hilly areas are known to have spirits hovering about, and one should make sure that one ties one's hair up, as spirits are known to attack young ladies who leave their hair untied. I laughed off this concept, though, as soon as the Sun set, I knew that I would not be having a sound sleep that night. It was chilly and we shut ourselves up in the room, reminiscing spooky tales from our past. There were tales of spirits having entered someone's body, there were real-life accounts of the 'ouija board' and of how a 'planchette' went wrong when the spirit did not leave at the end, but stuck to a lady, making her attempt to jump off her terrace. As the night grew darker, we decided it was time to go out for dinner at the hotel where we had arranged it for.
Four of us, decked up in our woollens and armed with torches began walking down the rocky path again. This time, the locales looked straight out of a horror movie. With no signs of life nearby, we noticed dim and faint lights far off, showing signs of hilly habitation. The same site which looked tremendously beautiful in the daytime, seemed scary in the nighttime. We somehow reached the car in the dark, and headed down to the hotel, nearby. I heaved a sigh of relief as I saw some lights again.
The hotel was called 'Whispering pines' and was a pretty sight. The TV was on, and there was a lot of food to choose from. We were in the middle of a sumptuous dinner, when just for the fun of it, we asked the waiter casually whether there were wild animals around, since the forest below seemed very dense. To our utter horror, the waiter replied smiling, that just two days earlier the half eaten carcass of a cow had been found near the village below and that leopards were a common sight there. This news ruined my appetite and I wondered if I would be able to get back alive in one piece. After dinner, we rushed back to our bungalow, and I was petrified of the surroundings. The trees seemed like giant monsters and I was mentally preparing myself for a sudden attack from behind, by a spirit or a leopard or whatever!
The night was even scarier for me, as I made sure each window and door was locked. I made a lot of attempts to sleep, but to no avail. The tales kept coming back to my mind, and coupled with that was the disturbing sound of running water, gurgling through the night, which to our dismay we found out was being emanated from a faulty water pipe.
Finally, I was relieved when I heard the faint chirp of birds in the balcony. I was sure now that I had survived the night of terror, and then I saw the faint ray of light through the cracks in the window, and I fell asleep, relieved that no spirit would be able to harm me now.
I was just half an hour into my long awaited sleep, when I was woken up and told to get ready for our day's events. It was decided that we would visit Nainital. A few hours later, we were enjoying a great sunny day at the Lake, offering our prayers at the Naina Devi temple and shopping for designer candles at the local market. It was as if, the night before had never existed. The terror was replaced with joy.
It was on our way back to Noida, when the horror returned. We were rushing back, when the traffic came to a halt on a busy highway, probably due to an accident or breakdown. The police asked us where we were going and guided us to a 'short-cut' to the nearest city, Ghaziabad. "Do kilometer baad hi sheher hai", he said with confidence. We were suddenly travelling through a narrow, dark road flanked by trees on both sides. This seemed even scarier than Ramgarh. It was apparently a village that we were travelling through, and not a single light was seen. It seemed like all villages in UP, this one too went to sleep by 7 or 8 in the night. And worse still, we suddenly noticed that as we drove through the winding road, the few cars which we had noticed were behind us, suddenly were there no more. We realized they probably found another 'short-cut'. We tried following the car right ahead of us, but we lost that too after a while as it sped ahead. So, now, it was again the long, pitch dark road ahead, the terror, and the four of us, praying for this ordeal to come to an end. After a long ride for about 15 minutes, when the 'do kilometer' seemed like 'bees kilometer', we were almost sure that we had lost our way and there was not a soul who could help us. All of a sudden we noticed a faint light and 2 people, armed and uniformed. We reported our situation and asked how far the 'sheher' in question was, and were told, "Do kadam aage". The "do kadam" again did not end, we drove along and luckily came across a tractor sluggishly moving ahead. We were at the end of our wits, by now, and scared too. But we had to take a chance, and so, requested the tractor-owner to help us. He agreed reluctantly, and asked us to follow his tractor as he too was heading towards the 'sheher'. After 2 minutes of a painfully slow drive behind the tractor, we finally reached the highway linking us to Ghaziabad. We were thanking our stars and the tractor driver too. Finally, we were sure that we were safe.
It was a journey worth remembering and a journey full of unexpected events. However, at the end of it all, we came across a lot of unwanted 'adventure' which will be etched in our minds for as long as we live.
