Nobody Returns From Badolgaon

[Disclaimer: This is work of fiction inspired by the strange dream described in Hindi blog. Resemblance to any person living or dead is unintended, inadvertent and coincidental]

The house was large possibly 15-16 rooms in three layers. At one edge was a small terrace garden at the high point of house and then perennial ‘kuul’ releasing a stream of chilled cascading water. The stream ejected to floor below along the width of house and then moved on to fields growing various vegetables. At the mid-level was a large terrace where men would sit, talk inanities. This was the place where legendary K D Saheb used to sleep under open sky impervious to menace of man eater ‘Baagh’ on the prawl. His faithful dog always slept under his cot noiselessly, just low frequency growl barely audible when any intruder seen in the vicinity.

The immediate room along the terrace had a window on the other side which opened to ‘Gardi ka Gadan’ the ‘marghat’ where often the dead were disposed off in fiery fire. Crackle of fire could be heard in the house in the dead of night making it eerie. A group of people were sitting in circle on the terrace. As usual talking inanities. It was around 4 o’clock in the evening already the tired sun had lost its bite, now pale, weak, fast descending to its death. At the head of the circle was Budhi Caulla, distinctly the patriarch evoking respect from the group. He was sitting comfortably on an easy chair the rest of the group in upright chairs, a pair of cots. Then they saw a grim looking young man ascending the path to the house from the village down below.  Soon he was with them, bowed to patriarch and generally glanced at the gathering.

‘Ku chai tu?’  barked Budhi Caulla ( Who are you?)

He mumbled something inaudible gesturing, towards ‘SouD Gaon’. Then abruptly brought out a pack of cards from his pocket, a wicked smile played on his face; shuffled the deck and began dealing a single card to each one of them.  To everyone’s surprise the cards were not regular playing cards but they had simple sketches for instance the card dealt to Budhi Caulla showed a simple a chair. Sir Prabhakar’s card had sketch of a 'Rose' and so on. The gathered men looked at the stranger curiously waiting for him to explain the meaning of this bizarre act. The man simply gestured at the deck, drew a card from it and looked at the sketch it had and pointed a finger at his head in gesture of thinking. Apparently he was conveying a message to the group to think about the symbolism in the sketch and make a meaning out of it. The man then made a departure, disappearing fast behind the growth of woods.    

To be contd...........