The Hall Of Darkness

I was jolly that day. Going to my cousin's place to meet them. I sang songs while I was walking on the streets. I greeted people living nearby just because I hadn't been there since a while. I was busy with some stuff before. Now i went there just for a break from the daily schedule.

It was a small town. Mysuru. And the home where I was going was situated in the city centre. The streets were the same as they were before. They had the same broken streetlights. The same atmosphere that place bore. The breeze was gentle and cool. The kids lost in their games. The crowd walking around. Everything was the same as it was months ago when I lived there. I was going to that place after a couple of months. Once I had shifted, I had never visited here. I came here after a long time. To my place! 

I just opened the door of the house and found a flashing sparkle of fire. Just one light of fire in the whole house. There was complete darkness except for that one light as I entered the hall. I went in search of someone in the house. I called out names of my cousins hoping they would come out. But no one responded. Then suddenly, I saw a lady sitting nearby with her hair open. I couldn't recognise any other feature of her entire body except her long, thick and floor length black hair. I went numb for the next few minutes. I was totally bewildered. I had a phobia. Phasmophobia. The fear of ghosts.

Next, I searched for the lights. I kept on searching but never found a switch. The sparkling flame of light and the lady sitting nearby were still haunting me. I thought of asking the lady who she was. But I feared if she harmed me as I had the thought that she was a ghost. I turned back to the door to leave. But I don't know why, instead of returning back home, I again started searching for the switches of lights. Finally, I found one and switch it on.

I, then, turned to the lady and tried to enquire who she was. I touched her shoulder so that she would turn towards me. She turned. Slowly. I felt a fear run through my spines. I shivered. When I saw her face, I recognised that it was my aunt. Yes, she was my own aunt. I felt relieved. I felt really fine than before. I asked her what the matter was. I tried to enquire why she was sitting near the flame with hair open. 

And she told me, "I had been to Mansukh Baba last week. He asked me to switch all the lights off when no ones at home, light a flame of fire, sit in front of it and read a mantra 200 times. He told me that if I do this, all of my family will be happy and prosperous. But while I was doing this, you came in and interrupted me. And all my hard work went in vain." I gasped. 

I tried telling her that all these are just fake. But she never gave a heed to my talks. She found them senseless. She found that youngsters have forgotten the importance of God. I tried my best to make her understand but she wasn't ready. Finally, I decided to return to home without any further questions. 

As I was on my way back home, I thought about the incident. I thought about it the whole night. I realised that thought India is developing in many sectors, such blind beliefs and assumptions will always be a black spot for India. It not only wastes our money, but it's like a profit to the unfit.