Darjeeling, a small town located in the lesser Himalaya, specially noted for its tea industry and spectacular view of Kanchenjunga. The hills are nestled within higher peaks and the snow - clad Himalayan ranges tower over the town in the distance. Dense evergreen forests of sal and oak lie aroun dthe town, where a wide variety of rare orchids are found. Mostly the Nepali Hindu people live here, and various Buddhist ethnic groups such as the Lepchas, Bhutias, and others - have their distinct language and culture, yet share a harmonious co-existence.
For the first few months we stayed in a government quarter unless we started realising we needed our own home. So on weekends when I was usually free from college work, we would meet brokers, most of them showed us flats. Meghna rejected the idea of living in a flat anymore, but searching for a home in an unknown city was not easy. Then we finally met this broker Kishan Lal, who promised to show us a house that had been sold to him few years back. The price was rather cheap. The only problem , it was a bit far from the main city and almost 40 kilometers away from my college.
The day we went to visit the spot, it rained heavily. But waiting for another week seemed impossible and if things turned out fine we would plan to move in by next week.
Kishan lal drove us to the spot on his jeep. While arriving we went past the toy train that whistled all way round giving Darjeeling its heartbeat. The scenic view of the tea gardens were ruined by the cloudy sky. As the jeep advanced we left the tea hills far behind and entered a sparsely populated area with the oak trees lined up on either side of the road. The place was a bit isolated from the usual Darjeeling that we had seen so far. When the jeep stopped at gate, I took a glance at the house and immediately could feel an unexpected goose bump.
Me: Meghna , are you sure we need this house?”
Kishan interrupted “Sir this is the only house I can show you. Otherwise you can rent the nice ones in the main city, or buy a flat but no other will come at a better price than this.”
“I wonder why you are selling it so cheap. What say Meghna?”
“Now that we had come so far, atleast get inside and see what it looks like, we can decide later.”
“Fine”
Pushing the heavy gates open, the touch of the iron bars, as cold as ice seized up my hand completely. Even though I could feel the unevenness of the cobbled path beneath me, they were smooth in contrast to the crunching of the odd dead leaf that I had stepped on. Even the grasses looked dull grey as if they had lost the will to live and stopped growing altogether.
One lonesome oak tree stood by the house swaying in the wind and as the wind swept by, the tree whispered to the air and its surroundings. A swing swayed in tune with the wind that was hung from one of the dead branches . From outside the house appeared tall and thin, made from large grey stones , sandwiched together by crumbling cement. Climber plants grew up the house winding around the drainpipes grabbing for the little sunlight that reached this desolate place. The windows rattled vigorously from the howling wind as though they were about to fall out of the frames. A few potted plants lay next door, once there for neat presentation, now wilted and brown almost certainly dead. The hallway was dull and smelt of dust and old books.
On the walls were hung paintings of what looked to be important rich people, their eyes following our every move. To the left was a old wooden stairway leading upwards to the second floor which had a bedroom and a bathroom. The ground floor remained occupied with kitchen on one side , adjacent to the dining room and to the right was the lounge area with empty book cases and a fireplace.The only thing we were to get free with this house was a sofa and two chairs made of black leather, once comfy, now thin and worn away from all the use. Under the chairs and in front of the fireplace lay a red dusty grey rug stained from the charcoal and shredded at the sides from mice living in the bottom of the sofa.
Indeed the house was too big for just two people to live. Moreover the silence of the house was speaking something, like the messenger of an unexpected storm.
Me:”Kishan, this house needs repair. No wonder you offered me that price, but I cant take this.”
Kishan:”Are you sure sir, Mam seems to have liked the house”
Me: “Wait, where is she?”
Kishan: ”I just saw her walking up the stairs.”
I did not wait rushed upstairs taking kishan by surprise, who felt rather awkward to see me like that. But something made me realise we should not waste one more minute in that place. The bedroom door was open and made a creaking sound because of the wind. She stood on one corner of the room watching the rains through the large window, the lightning occasionally reflecting on her face.
Me: “What are you doing here? Come on, we are gonna leave right now.”
Her:”Why, what happened?”
Me: I don’t like this house.We will find some other way.
Her: Dont I have a say in this?
It was hard to read her expression, and I was not in the mood of understanding anything.
Me: You like this house?
Her: I love it. I always wanted to live in a place like this, calm, and peaceful., a bit far from the city.
Me: But this house, looks like nobody had been here since years.
Her: How can that be an issue for not buying this , and look at the price he is offering. Only a dumb head would reject this offer.
Me: But........
I was at loss of words, and couldn’t figure out how to explain her.
Her: But what?
Me: This house appears a bit....
Her: Haunted right...
Thunder crackled somewhere near the untended garden and scared me to an extent that I screamed, immediately realising the extent of my foolishness when I saw her striving in peals of laughter.
Her: You are such a baby Neel. You freak out every time you watch those horror movies, and the more I tell you not to watch it, the more you do it to prove your manliness. And now those pictures are revolving in your mind. It just in your mind , forget it.
She was right. It was not the house but the strange pictures of horror movies etched in my mind that I could never watch alone.
Me: Allright, if you love this house so much, we are gonna buy it.
Her: Really?
She got too excited and hugged me like a child. That happiness on her face was all I wanted, so going against my will I decided to buy the house.
Her:”I am finally happy we are going to have our own house”
I couldn’t help but feel furious about the victory of Kishan that was evident from the way he smirked. We signed the documents and handed him the check while he handed us the keys.
As he left, he smiled at us “Its all yours now.”