Sagor
This piece of writing is based on a true story, and it is my heartiest dedication to all those young and innocent women who were burned alive in the pyres of their deceased husbands in accordance to the inhuman hindu ritual "Shoti protha" which was mandatory up until the early nineteenth century.
It was the third night of qurbaani eid in 2012 and a night for me, my friend Raj and Shoaib to witness something utterly disturbing and uncanny. A night which if not all the three of us, at least two of us will always remember very clearly as long as we walk and breath.
I had plans to meet up my ex girlfriend in Chittagong at their bungalow and my friend Raj and Shoaib tagged along as they had planned to celebrate Eid's third day with Raj's family who were in a place called "Naapiterpool", somewhere in Noakhali. Thus we started for Noakhali from Chittagong as soon as I finished spending some quality time with my ex and her family.
We took a bus which directly dropped us at Raj's residence in Naapiterpool. A small village in the middle of eight conjoined cremation grounds...
At the first glimpse, all a person would see is a thick layer of woods with a steep and narrow road behind it, pretty much invisible in the dark. Raj started walking through the woods and we followed. As we walked through the road, we saw a single lamp post spreading a dim ray of light beside a 3-storied building with an extended boundary and a gate in the middle. As we kept chatting and walking towards the gate, we all felt a sudden chill as we looked upon the end of the road which was pitch dark. Then we felt a disturbingly omnipresent and depressing feeling of a crowd, of sick people breathing slowly the edge of our necks and hair and as weird as this may sound, we all felt being touched in the inappropriate places multiple times. None of us spoke a word about anything at all and kept walking. Then we got in through the gate attached to the boundary and suddenly the environment became clear and normal again. We were now inside Raj's residence which had a massive and old red brick house with a large open courtyard in front of it's doorway.
Raj's mom, as always greeted us with a heartwarming grin on her face as she stood on the front door as she yelled from afar- "Togo lai aijja asta khashi ranchi, taratari khabair lai boi zaa"- those of you who are Noakhaillas, you know what meant. Feast!
We all freshened up and took our seats in the dining table and dug deep into our plates as we ate, laughed and talked while auntie served the food. Everything was wonderful until we heard a violent shriek of something we have never heard before from outside in the courtyard. Raj, being the most overly enthusiastic and hyperactive one in our bunch, rushed to the door to see what it was. He knew I had personal encounters with certain things and had been a witness to a few supernatural experiences first hand in my house, that being said, he rushed back to me, pulled me out of the chair and said- "Lo mama, ajke ekta khela hoye jaak". I had no clue what he was talking about up until I saw what was waiting for me outside the door.
In the middle of the courtyard amidst a small crowd was a girl standing, emitting an aura which was very convincing that she had no life left in her anymore... She wore a red frock; had pitch black eyes, a sinister grin on her face as she kept on talking and swearing with moving her lips like a ventriloquist dummy, a small group of bystanders who were there to see her from a distance stood there absolutely awestruck and bamboozled. Everyone was in a disturbed state by the looks and the tone of this girl. There was this immensely strong presence of a force which virtually casted a tall, shadowy figure latched onto her, standing right behind her...
I don't know about others entirely, but I had never felt or witnessed something like this ever before.
My friend Raj on the other hand, was the only godforsaken idiot who was mindlessly fearless about the whole façade. He took my hands, dragged me right in front of this girl and asked me to exorcise her. Well let me clear this first and foremost; I am not an exorcist, I never was, and I'm not a demonologist of any sort either and I was almost literally letting a few drops of piss slide through my pants in fear and shock from what I have just witnessed.
The girl's head was moving in a motion similar to a crow, and all I looked into was two huge pupils with no visible white part in her eye and suddenly grabbed my hands and said in urdu- "Aaah, tera toh abhi bhi niche se baal bhi nahi aya, madarchod mujhe bata, tu kya cheez hain aur tu kaha se aya?"- A seven to eight year old girl was saying this without moving her lips but the voice was of something entirely unearthly and beyond terrifying. My left hand was instantly paralyzed, numb and cold. I tried my best to get her grasp off of me and the more I struggled, the stronger she became. As if the strength of a entire cavalry of men pulling me downward to her level. I had the legitimate fright of my life and at a point she just let go of my hand, laughing hysterically...
I ran as fast as I could inside the house and had a severe asthma attack. I was blue, in shock and had this inexplicable feeling of dread and a burning sensation throughout my body. It was getting worse as time passed.
Raj rushed into the house and said, the girl just vanished in thin air as soon as I left and by now, all of his might or let's say stupid courage shrank into oblivion. He was petrified and so was I. Shoaib on the other hand, was in the dining room eating and talking with Auntie about what was going on outside and now we get to hear the story of what exactly did we witness.
Auntie explained- this girl is possessed by a spirit named Mashi. Her father used to work in the cremation grounds and she used to be his helping hand at his work. The child didn't have a mother from her birth and she was often seen talking, laughing and playing with this invisible person she addressed as Mashi. As these symptoms went off the grid over time, one day she jumped over a burning pyre and disappeared. Ever since, whenever she feels like she appears or more likely teleports from one spot to another within a matter of seconds, she was ever since a rogue member of the village who existed only when she wanted to make an appearance. Her father on the other hand, became insane by the shock and lives inside the cremation grounds as he wanders hopelessly to have a glimpse of his lost daughter.
We were all quite disturbed that night but as Shoaib didn't see what we saw, plus a hardcore skeptic always in denial, he was constantly making fun of us and at 2:45 am, dared us all to walk outside in the road and smoke pot. Yeah, no shame in saying that, we used to smoke a lot of weed back in the days. Nonetheless, I still do not remember what was exactly right or wrong with me that night but I actually agreed on doing so and eagerly hoped to see this girl again, fight my fear and rather understand, what exactly happened. That was my sole intention...
As soon as the clock hit 2:45 am, we all got hyped up after a few card games and marched out of the boundary, heading towards the lamp post as I was in the front, quite enthusiastic this time, to see her and ask her, what exactly happened. I was grinding pot in both of my hands and kept walking towards the lamp post beside the 3-storied building. As I walked, I was talking to Shoaib who was right behind me, and all of a sudden, he stopped talking, the air became dense and damp and a long, shiny, cold as ice almost a foot long silver nail just went through the sole of my sandals, touching precisely the tip of the ring toe of my right feet. This was pretty much impossible as I would have felt something this big get through my sandals and it would have went piercing through my feet, rather than fitting itself at the tip of that toe without me having the slightest clue...
I was afraid, again, and in a snap I realized neither Shoaib or Raj is walking behind me anymore, as I kept staring at the nail on my sandal. I could also sense someone sitting on the sun shade of the third floor of the building, giggling and growling.... I knew it was her...
I had to gather the courage this time and look up and there she was again- sitting up there on the sun shade, looking directly at me with the same unnerving grin on her face and I could smell a foul stench of burning flesh all around me, a captivating feeling of dread and fear clouded over me, trying to intimidate me at it's best. I kept looking at her this time, and made an instant telepathic bond, stating that I am here to understand who are you, and why have you taken this child. The moment I made my stance and position clear that I am running anywhere else this time without an answer, and in a split second she disappeared and reappeared behind me.
I still remember the words, loud and clear as I turned back to face her up front- "Aaj tu samjhega dard kya hota hain adaamjaat". Without uttering a word, this time, I grabbed her hand, looked her in the eye, and said it in my mind- "Diyei dekh, shojjho korar khomota thakle korbo".
I accepted her challenge by now, and this is where my life had changed for good.
I felt my entire body burn while I was paralyzed on spot as she screamed and swore violently and I had lost my will to make any noise at all. I had a chain of visions in my mind from a first person perspective, of a teenager in a red saree being forcibly put on a burning pyre, while four full grown men, one of those who she was calling Baba, yes, her own father as well; who were hitting her over the pyre with fat bamboo sticks as she screamed and the view of the villagers staring at her, as she and I were watching them behind the veil of the flames, through one vision, within one body yet two souls...
Absolutely helpless...
I felt a pain that was unbearable and beyond human imagination I suppose, both physically and emotionally. I still feel and believe with all of my heart and soul that I am blessed to have known and shared her pain that night. That burning sensation, the feeling of enduring each hit of the slit and fat bamboo sticks from those men and in absolute silence, I was crying a river like a new born infant, broken and shattered within my core. I cried helplessly; not for myself, but for this woman who had to go through this barbaric murder, through this unfathomable madness, a ritual that destroys the very meaning of being human at all...
She disappeared when I reached out to hug her through the invisible flames and I was left there, kneeled in pain under the misty and low ray of white light from the lamp post with no scars, no burn marks, no smokes, nothing. She left me unharmed, and till date, I am glad that I could offer her, my understanding, love and respect.
I slowly dragged myself inside the house as I saw both Raj and Shoaib were fast asleep and I gently passed out by the corner of the bed. No one ever went out with me that night. I was the only one under the trance and I was destined to feel what I felt and understood regardless of what people might believe or think about this.
I had the nail from my sandal and showed it to Auntie and Raj in the morning next day and told them not to bother her as she wouldn't either. I wish I could keep that beautiful souvenir to myself today, but unfortunately, I lost it somehow.
The next day, I returned home, a different man, a different soul and after 8 years of this incident, all I can say today is that I hope wherever she is, may her soul alongside all the other innocent girls who went through this living hell rest in a well deserved eternal peace... May the world be uplifted of such heinously cursed practices for the sake of religion...
- Risalat
Good post