October 24, 2013

Ghosts that hunt

Posted by maithili at 6:54 PM 9 comments
               "Please please please, let us try na! I want that teddy" I pleaded like a toddler. G raised his eyebrow at me but I persisted and he relented. I always had my way with him, specially when I gave that puppy look and he would melt away.
                We went to the counter having balloons which we had to be burst with dart. Whatever was written below the balloons, we could win! I wanted that cute looking teddy. I could have bought it from the gift shop nearby, but I wanted to win it. The two guys at the counter were funny looking. The taller one had a long nose and pointed ears. The second one looked like a rat. Long nose told us that we had to pay 50 bucks for the darts and we had 5 chances. I asked him if anyone ever won anything and he told the kid before us had burst 4 balloons.
               "Abhi dekho, he will burst more" I boasted. I saw G giving me a look. :P
             
              His first shot was so forceful that the dart burst 2 balloons. The trajectory of the second, burst 3. I was sure we would win something, the rate at which he was bursting the balloons! At the end of it, he had burst 9 balloons with 5 chances. The chits below 8 were blank :O The last one had "key chain".
              It was a brown, heart shaped key chain with something engraved on it. He handed me the keychain. I shouted at long ears, "Bhaiyya cheating karte ho! Itne balloon me sab blank rakha tha". G pulled me aside and told, " I will get you  a teddy. Let's go home now!" I  had to give in.

             We had forgotten about the keychain which I had hurriedly tucked in my handbag. Next morning I found it on the carpet. I almost tripped over it. My first reaction was to shout at G for messing with my handbag. He came out of the bathroom with a confused look. He had not touched my bag. I picked it up and placed it in one of the drawers.

            That night, we had gone to bed early. I, being a light sleeper, had woken up on hearing some noise in the hall.G was sleeping and he became furious if I woke him up from deep sleep. The sound was increasing and I could not put myself to sleep. I woke him up and reluctantly he went into the hall. The TV was on. We both denied switching it on!
            The next few days became creepier with weird incidences. Sometimes our fridge would beep and we would rush to see it wide open. Our neighborhood dog, Jinji, would refuse to enter our house and would bark at us as if we were some strangers. The lemons that we stored in the fridge would turn red within a day. We tried to find our reasons but none seemed to satisfy any logic! I spent less time at home and sometimes we would drop in at our friends' or relatives' house for weekends to avoid being at home till we found some solution.

           A few of our friends suggested us to meet some Pandit or tantrik to solve our problems. One of our friends had a relative who was in vaastu shaastra and occult science. We got his email-id and contact number. I  tried his number but it was not reachable. I reached for my laptop to send him an email. Out of habit, I opened the Google page. I typed a message and sent the email. I came back to the google page and searched some random pictures. Out of nowhere, a brown screen with an inscription came on the screen. I let out a scream. This was exactly the same inscription on key chain! I clicked on the link that took me to the page.

         The page was written by a popular blogger Ashreya. She had written about a tree on which the inscriptions were written. She had done extensive study in Dravidian languages and had studied Dravidian cultures. Her topic of current research was on spiritual worships and the maternal line of worship that the Dravidians followed. She had posted a picture from one of the houses she had visited as a part of her study. She claimed that the house has an ancient history of worshiping the spirits of the Mountain. The article further spoke of how the spirits in that house were no longer worshiped by the continued female line but had instead passed on to some other family which had invoked the fury of the spirits. The inscriptions on the tree meant "Let the female line continue".

      The systems and the lines sounded strangely similar to me. I went home in a state of confusion. I was thinking hard about the information when Mom called.
      "Are you okay?"
      I had always said that Mom had some crazy instincts when it was about me!
      "I m. Why do you ask?"
      "I saw you in a dream."
       Mom and me, both of us had weird dreams from time to time. Dreams that only we could understand. I would confide in her my most meaningless dreams and she would find some meaning in it.
     "You remember you once saw a woman with a huge red circle on her forehead, with long hair and in a red sari?" Mom asked me.
      "Yes, the one who was calling me to her, who had lots of garlands."
      "She is the Goddess of Truth. The spirit of our house."
      "What? What spirit of the house?" I asked her stunned.
      "She is the guardian spirit of our house. You will continue the line through me. Years back the land was taken from your grandfather by deceit. The spirits haven't been offered prayers for years."
      "Why are you telling this now?"
      "Because the patriarch of the family who had stolen our land has died mysteriously. They say the spirits are seeking revenge. You have to go and offer your prayers. Promise to continue the line."
      "Who told you this?" I asked, still incredulous.
       " The villagers have been telling it for years, but now the spirits are showing their powers.  You have to promise to continue the line."

       When G came  home, I recounted all that Mom told. Being grown up in the village, he understood these things more easily. He agreed to take me there.

      Meanwhile, the happenings in our house were still disturbing. The occult scientist we had contacted put us in contact with a man who was specialized as a medium to talk to such spirits. G was undecided about going ahead with the plan. He wanted to shift our house, rented as it was! On my insistence the man came to our house.
       "Your house has a spirit" he said at once.
       We both exchanged looks.
       "I will need to talk to this spirit."

       He chanted a few mantras and we could smell a slight fragrance in the room. It was of sandalwood. Soon the man started to shake and talked in a voice that was not his. We both were petrified at the sudden change.
       "Go, go to that land. Calm the spirits or they will kill my family." He cried.
       "Who are you?" I asked.
       "Chinappa.. The man who stole your lands. The spirits have been making my life hell but now they are after the life of my family members."
       "Why did  you come to me?"
       " The spirits want their true worshipers. You are the last in the line. You are also the most sensitive to spirits. They will heed to  you."
        " I will continue the line. Now go away. Go away from my house and my family." I screamed.

         The man gave another shudder and composed himself. For a long time there was silence in the house. He asked for the keychain. I handed it to him. I had kept it in the drawer of our small temple. The man had built a small fire and burnt the key chain. It smelt of sandalwood.

        The spirits were calmed and finally we were free of the troubles of Chinappa.

P.S: The topic was too interesting to restrain :P This won't be a contest entry though! 

October 19, 2013

Mistress of Magic!

Posted by Wings of Harmony at 12:13 AM 7 comments
"Sooo, you are a Mediator?" Riddhima asked her, the middle aged woman, who looked 20 and was wearing grey yoga pants and a long purple jacket.
She gave me a sidelong look and said to her in a non-indulgent tone, "Depends on what you understand by that word. For terms and purposes, I am a Healer, Yog guru or Spiritual Guru to you."
"Okay, but I thought your profile said you were a Wiccan?" Riddhima said, as I felt the annoyance creep on to Tara, the Guru's face, but she kept her calm. I thought I should tell Riddhima about Tara and also may be something about Wicca, which is a benign religion that concerns worshiping of Mother Nature and her elements.

"Yes. You must read up on it. Now concentrate  on your limb movements or you might get a pull". She chided Riddhima slightly and looked at me again. I felt uncomfortable. Riddhima kept quiet after that and muttered, "Yogic Spiritual Guru bullshit. With a temper like that, she should be going to Anger Management Classes!"
I sniggered but noticed Tara's stern gaze on me once again. I had a feeling she would snap at me too! I "shushed" Riddhima and resumed my meditation. The session was over in another thirty minutes and while we were gathering things, Riddhima made a motion to leave. I realized that Tara was looking at me and had asked me to wait. I nodded and looked at Riddhima for help but she had already ran off on her toes.

"You wanted to speak to me, Tara?" I speak, without trying to amplify the shiver in my voice. This woman gave me goosebumps and not in a nice way. "Is it about Riddhima? I am sorry about her. She is really nice, I mean, not that intrusive!" I try defending my friend while Tara motioned me to sit across her on a high chair, the wide white table spangled with Crystals, a flower vase with white lilies and a simple pen and a diary. Nothing else. I liked the cleanliness. I waited for her to answer as she poured two glasses of water and offered one to me.

"I usually don't do this Mudita, but I can make an exception for you, so you can stop pretending." Tara speaks in a hushed whisper.
"I don't understand what you are talking about." I stammer, because of the sudden chill that has settled in the room.
"Hahaha! Don't mess with me! Do you think I am a fool?! I mean, look at you! You are practically glowing Golden! Right? You are a witch yourself!" Tara mocked me, but I still could not understand the madness that had suddenly taken her over. But she was trying to court her fate and it is not a joke to assume you are all knowing and all powerful.

"Such things are not funny Tara and no human can read Auras. Especially not someone as closed minded as you are." I say. I was well read, even though I wouldn't venture into an unknown territory unprepared.

"Oh, so you are telling me that I can't read you? Well, let's see what your cards say!" She picks up a Celtic deck of 11 cards and shuffles them, looking at me and smiling slyly to herself. I breathe in and calm myself down. She was a wonderful psychic, but she was doing it all wrong. She had swelled in power and seemed to have forgotten the nobility of the powers that were bestowed upon her.  She stared at the cards and then looked up at me in horror.

"This is not possible! How can this be?!" She stammered as I looked into her eyes and smiled. Yes, the knowledge must be revealed. 
"You have left me with no choice, Tara." I get up from the chair and go across the table and put my hands on her shoulder. Her smugness disappears as I look into her eyes. I knew she would sense a shift in the air.

"You are a vessel for knowledge and you should tell them when they ask you, But I think it's too late now!" I bend my forehead to touch hers as tears spill from her eyes and she starts stammering, "You are a ghost! You are a spirit! You are not human! You are a demon! You are not human!" She tries to scream. I keep looking into her eyes till she leaves her shell and dissolves into me.

I stretch and turn to leave the room, chuckling. Tara had got something right! The four Death cards spread on the table, lying untouched.

                        ____________________________________________________

PS: Contrary, to popular belief, A death card does not literally represent death. It means the end of decaying and stagnant things - which in Tarot means a mark of beginning of a new life as well.

October 15, 2013

They are here, and they are watching - "Ghosts" contest

Posted by Deepa at 12:03 PM 12 comments
Chitra, her husband Ram and their two kids Neha and Nivesh came back to India after 5 long years and settled in the house that they had bought about 8 years back, but never had stayed there.
It was a nice cozy 1 BHK in the central suburbs of Mumbai, overlooking a beautiful garden and had nice friendly neighbors. It was a perfect cocoon for a happy family.
The few nights after the moved in, Ram started talking, screaming, slowly howling in his sleep, mumbling "leave my hand..leave my hand"  and would eventually go quiet.
Next morning, when Chitra asked him, he would say "A teenage boy wearing Khaki pants and check shirt was sitting by his bed and holding his hand".
Chitra and the kids just laughed it off saying it must be the impact of the spook series that Ram is so addicted to.

Their house had a king-size mirror on the passage connecting the living area and the kitchen.
One early morning, say around 5.30am, Neha, Ram's daughter was getting ready for college and was admiring her reflection on the mirror, when she saw a little girl walking past behind her. Neha turned her head to the left and saw a little girl wearing a pink frock with bow belt tied on the back walk into the living room. Neha, went to the living room and saw nothing. She felt, she must be hallucinating due to lack of sleep.
Ram, still every night complained about the teenage boy.


The house bedroom door had a one-way glass, meaning one can see from the inside but will have to peep through the glass to see inside, and the reflection of the door falls on the mirror of the cupboards in the bedroom
One night, Ram and Chitra had gone for a party, and Neha and Nivesh were in their bedroom watching a movie, when suddenly Nivesh said to Neha "Look, that girl is looking inside" Neha looks at the door but couldnt see anyone. Nivesh tells Neha to look in the mirror, and Neha sees someone pass by. Slowly, she opens the door and is shocked to see a silhouette of a woman floating around the kitchen. Before, Neha could say anything the silhouette had vanished and the house looked normal

When the kids narrated the whole incident to their parents, Chitra called up her mother who knew a thing or two about supernatural beings.
Chitra's mom suggested that the put rice mixed with kumkum in all corners of the house in the night and sleep.
Chitra did what her mom said, she put the kumkum rice all over the borders of the house.
Next morning, all the rice got accumulated in the center of the passage.
Shocked and scared, they explained this to Chitra's mother, who said the epicenter of ghost activtity was the passage and advised them to leave the house.

Chitra was a bit apprehensive of leaving this house, so she postponed it. Eventually, all such activity stopped.
The family forgot all about ghosts there...Until.........

One night, when the whole family was preparing to sleep, they all saw a 7 foot tall shadow, with red eyes and hair till the ankle walking towards them. The lights of the room started to flicker.It looked really angry.
The family huddled in one corner of the room, the shadow gave a nerve chilling scream and the floor was covered with blood.  Chitra almost fainted, Neha's voice couldnt find its way out, Ram was at loss of words, and Nivesh couldnt feel his own tears.
Within moments, the shadow moved towards the passage and the blood on the floor started to move on it own to the passage. The shadow gave one last menacing look and vanished.

The family left that house the same night with whatever they could gather, they never came to that house ever again.
The memories still haunt ever member of the family even today..

They are there and they are watching you

October 14, 2013

That Picnic - "Ghosts" contest entry

Posted by Deepa at 11:06 AM 12 comments
Believe it or not, This is not any fictional work. This is a true story

Six friends, Mallika, Neha, Abhishek, Rhea, Larrisa and her boyfriend Mukesh. Like any normal group set off for a picnic to Gorai beach in Mumbai.

I am Rhea, and narrating this expereince I had when I was in college. I have been made a laughing stock whenever I have said this story to anyone. But, I know how I felt that eve. Even after so many years this day seems very real even today.

After a fun-filled day,we started to head back home by 7pm from Gorai. It was already dark by then
We had to take a ferry from Gorai to reach Borivali and to reach the ferry station we took horse-carriage. The road we had to take had no street lights and had trees on both the sides.

Suddenly, Larissa went quiet and tears started flowing from her left eye. All of us were confused. Only, her boyfriend Mukesh could feel her body is feverish. Other, couldnt feel a thing.
As soon as they got off the ferry station, Larrisa started walking towards the waters saying
"I wanna jump in the water"  to which her Mukesh said ok I will come with you. Larrissa almost pushed him to the edge, Mukesh took it as just another prank until she started crying with tears flowing only from one eye.

We got the ferry and Larrisa is still crying without saying a word. We tried everything in our capablity to console her, and we had no idea why suddenly she started weeping silently. 
The moment we reached Borivali, there was a Jesus Cross made of tiles. Larrisaa wouldn't pass by it and started to scream creating a scene. She suddenly, ran back towards the ferry exit that ends just near the water and sat there in a fetal position and was still silently weeping.
The rickshawala's near by saw this, and told us to take her to a Dargah near by.

Larisaa was just another teenager, slim and weighed about 50 kgs. 6 heavy men including Abhishek and Mukesh, lifted her with a lot of difficulty. We girls were not allowed inside the Dargah. With super human effort, the men, made three rounds of the holy shrine kept inside the dargah. 
Even, inside the Dargah, when the priest tried to rub holy ash on Larissa's forehead, and to everyone's surprise maybe shock, the holy ash was not sticking on her forehead.
The preist, gave up and suggested us to take her to a baba, an exorcist in the nearby slums. We were so scared, that we just agreed and just said ok to it. The men there helped us, to take her to that baba. 
It was a very small house. Nothing spooky. The exorcist was nothing that we imagined of, he was looking just like any other man on the streets. But the moment he saw Larissa, his lazed eyes were alert, as if he knew something.

The baba made us sit, and Mukesh held Larissa who was screaming and violently pushing anyone in sight. 
The baba ordered her to sit quietly, and Larrissa's voice changed.

Yes, it really changed to a proper heavy male, with  baritone and a Marathi accent.
Our fear knew no bounds, S**t scared, is what i would describe it as.

The baba, asked Larissa or say him a few questions,

Baba: Who are you
Him: Im Rajendra, plumber
Baba: Why did you catch this girl
Him: This idiot sprayed a heavy deodrant in the dark and has a very weak will power. Easy target and I wanted to come back
Baba: How did you die?
Him: *laughs loudly* I jumped in the water
Baba: Why?
Him: My girlfriend, Sayli left me, stays in Goregaon
*laughs even louder* I am not alone
There is a woman and her kid standing right behind you.

Hearing this the people standing behind promptly moved. We looked around but of course couldn't see any woman or any baby.

Baba: How did she come with you? Who is she
His voice changed to a high pitched woman voice
"That son of a bitch tortured me to death, I had to strangle my own baby, I will punish him"
Baba: Whom?
Her: Shailesh, I will get him
Baba was about to ask something when Larissa became Rajendra again.

The baba ordered it to "kill" the woman and baby. 
A lot of screaming and shouting happened.
After this, Larrisa suddenly turned normal and had no memory of anything that happened.
The baba then drew two squares on a paper and drew something in it. He asked Abhishek and Mukesh to burn it 12am that night at a crossing where four roads meet, and specifically had asked the girls not to go to the place where the boys burnt it.

It was already 11.30pm by then, we dropped Larissa at her place first then, Abhishek and Mukesh asked us to wait at a restaurant.
And when they came back, they told us, when they burnt the peice of paper it smelt like burning human flesh, and they heard a tiny scream that sounded like a mixed sound of the high pitched female and the male spirit of Rajendra and some strange heavy male voice.

Next day, Mukesh and Abhishek out of curiosity, called up the baba and told her about the smell and the voices.
To which the baba said, he had injured the three spirits but could not kill them, there was also a much stronger ghost lurking after us, that he could not hurt, so he had imprisoned them in those squares and if that paper wasnt burnt in time then the spirits would be free and angrier than ever. It might have even killed Larissa.

Many people do not believe in ghosts, But, they do exist.

If you believe that God exists and pray to God.
Then, trust me there is another world where ghosts do exists.
It is said, that people who have unfulfilled wishes become ghosts. 

I personally never believed in ghosts and super natural things. Until now...........

October 11, 2013

Spooky Contest

Posted by maithili at 5:22 PM 6 comments
       This october, get ready with your posts to win the first contest on Darlings of Venus. 

        What comes to your mind when you hear the word "Ghost"
        Yes, you thought it right. That is the topic for the month. 
        Only there is a prize to be won this time. 

       The winner of the contest gets a copy of "Frankly Spooking". If you haven't already heard of the book (seriously where have you been all this time?), here's the review
       What's more? The winner gets a tailor made story from the author himself! 

       The contest starts  today, 11th October and closes on 31st October
     
       The contest would be judged by the author of Frankly Spooking- Sriramana Muliya

        The contest is strictly story writing. No poetry allowed. 
        The word "Ghost" is open to interpretation. No hard and fast rules there. 
        The name of the topic could be anything but make sure "ghost" appears in labels while you post. 

        If you are not an author on DOV, submit the story on darlingsofvenus@gmail.com 
       
        What are you waiting for? Start writing already! 


     P.S:  Contest is limited to India. 
             I won't be competing :P 
        


October 9, 2013

Behind The Veil

Posted by CookieCrumbsInc. at 8:00 AM 6 comments
The mirror reflected her beautiful eyes, spilling over with equal parts of love and pain. And then, he came up behind her, laying a white dupatta gently over her head, both charming grin and messy hair in place. Realization dawned - he was gone and so was her ability to love so deep, so pure.






 P.S: Not my genre of writing, not by a far shot.

October 8, 2013

Orange

Posted by Soumya at 5:34 PM 7 comments

He said he'd come. I waited, sitting in our usual spot at the park watching the glistening sun. He probably lied to me, but I was willing to take the chance. I loved him. I wasn't sure if he did. I waited, as the sun slowly set, enveloping me in orange.

~ Soumya
 

Darlings Of Venus Copyright © 2011 Design by Ipietoon Blogger Template | Illustration by Enakei | Blogger Blog Templates