A Day In a Hidden Realm

A Day In a Hidden Realm

9 mins
185


It was a rainy evening and Shyam had been invited to a party in which he has to go unwillingly. I cannot disobey my boss if want my position in his company intact, he thought. 


While he was driving through the streets to reach there he saw people walking on the footpaths, carrying an umbrella or wearing a raincoat and enjoying the rain as they went. I wish I could do the same, he thought begrudgingly.


He saw the time in his gold polished watch. It is half-past six. I want to reach before eight. It will take at least an hour to reach there.


As he drove through the rain he observed that the rain was intensifying more and more until it became impossible to see through it.


The next he saw was trees ahead of him. But before he could think anything, his car crashed into something and he blacked out.


When he woke up he felt pain rushing through his body and it seems to have originated from the head. His ears were ringing and he felt a hot and sour taste on his tongue. 


As he tried to move an inch behind, he saw glass shards in front of him. He somehow pushed the door beside him and it fell off.


As he exited from the car, he saw trees all around him. He seemed confused. “Where am I? I was in the middle of the city, now where am I?!” he murmured to himself.


The sunlight was harsh and was all over his head. “It was evening and now the sun is upon me… Where the hell am I?”


He tried to see time on his wristwatch but it seemed frozen at quarter to seven. “What he-”, he tried to say when suddenly the pain rushed through his body and he could see blood dripping off his head.


He ignored it for a while and started walking.


He tried to walk through huge grass and vines along with gigantic trees. He considered himself walking in a forest which seemed untouched for several centuries.


But due to the pain in his head and weakness all over his body

he couldn’t think more of it.


After a while, as he was meandering through the grass, he saw something which could be seen from far away. It was something bigger than the huge grass around him. 


“I think it is a flag or something,” he said and shouted with all the strength left in him, “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”


But before he could say anything more he fainted and fell on the ground.

***




As he woke up, he felt dizzy and his head was hurting. When he touched his head he could feel a long leaf on it.

 

He tried to remove it but it seemed to be tightly glued. He tried to gaze through his surroundings and found himself seated on an ancient-looking bed in a rectangular room with a brown curtain in the entryway instead of a door. The roof and walls were made of mud.


When he turned his face toward his right, he saw an open square window.


 As he tried to gaze through the sunlight outside he saw similar houses and between them, he saw the narrow lanes which were empty at that point.


“This might be a village...,” he murmured.


Suddenly a strange man came through the curtain and stared at him. He looked at the stranger in return. 


He observed that the man has a rough-looking face with a weird grey mustache that he saw somewhere but cannot remember where. 


The man wore grey kurta and white dhoti and he had a white turban. Shyam could see long grey hair flowing from behind the turban.


Before Shyam could say anything, the man gently pushed the former to the bed and pressed on his forehead till he closed his eyes and lose his consciousness.


His weak eyes slowly opened again and he saw himself surrounded by villagers. When he tried to move, he felt a strong tug on his neck and hands. He found himself standing on a stone pedestal high enough to have a great view of the sunset near the flag which he could now properly see.


The flag was upon the temple and was triangular and red-colored.


Then he saw upwards. There was a noose hanging from a lone tree that he couldn’t identify on which he would hang if the stone pedestal was removed. He started to shiver.


A stranger came forward. He wore a hat, a coat, and pants. These were shabby as if it hadn’t been ironed for years. He looked like an Englishman from the olden days but his face looked total Indian.


“Who are you, young lad? Where have you come from?” the stranger asked him like a polite Englishman.


“My name is Shyam and I have been stuck here. I had an accident and I don’t know how I arrived here from city…,” said Shyam curiously looking at the stranger.


“May I beg your pardon. There is no city in this world,” said the stranger bluntly.


“What!! But I am from the city.”


“He is lying,” cried one villager standing in a front row among the crowd.


“He is a firangi spy!!” exclaimed the other.


“Kill him! Kill him!” chanted the whole crowd.


“Stop!” said the stranger and the whole crowd stopped chanting. “We are not like firangis. We will give him a fair trial.”


“Okay as you say Kumud Ji but he doesn’t look innocent,” said a villager from the crowd concerningly.


“That we will decide later,” said Kumud Ji. “Well sir, kindly look into my eyes and say why are you here?”


Shyam looked into his eyes and said, “I don’t know where I am and why I am here… Why have you brought me here on this stone pedestal and tied a noose around me?”


“Because we think that you are a spy and came from the cave at the north,” said Kumud Ji. “And you wear a shirt and pants which means you are either a clerk or a spy.”


“No, I am none of them. You also wear a suit and a hat, you might also be a spy.”


“It seems you are wrong sir. I wear my village clothes every day. This suit and the gentlemanly speech is just to stand equal with you.”


Strange guy. He and the others seem to be isolated from the real world for years. I feel pity for him and these villagers.


“Please explain to me how this village came to be in this isolated place.”


“To tell you the truth sir, we only know legends which might answer your question. According to those legends, the firangis started persecuting our ancestors after the latter rebelled against the former. To escape the guns and cannons of the firangis, they prayed to their village deity to show them the way. The deity, who was pleased enough of receiving the austere prayers, opened a gateway in a cave that connected to the cave in the north and our forefathers settled here after fleeing through the cave. They made the temple to thank their lord for saving them which is still here with the red flag on it,” Kumud Ji explained. “Did you get your answer or you knew it well before coming here and hit your head somewhere to feign injury?”


“Yes, I did-”


“Now answer my question,” Kumud Ji interrupted, “Do you serve the firangis or not?”


“To tell you the truth, I work for a European MNC which sells clothes globally,” Shyam said. “So technically I serve a firangi company-”


“We got our answer and we found you guilty for serving our enemy,” Kumud Ji said and faced towards villagers, “We give him the punishment of hanging till death. I order our strongmen to push the stone pedestal from his feet.”


“Listen bu-”


Before he could say anything more the muscled villagers came charging towards him and started pushing the stone pedestal with their strong hands.

***


Shyam finally reached outside the cave. He was relieved when he saw trees smaller from the ones that he left behind. The grass surrounding the entrance of the cave was thinner than the thick grass he left behind.


The sun was setting and the mood around him was pleasant.


He looked behind him. It reminded him how he escaped, how he twisted his neck to free himself from the noose, how he dodged the villagers like he dodged his opponents in his childhood during the football matches that he played in, how he somehow freed his hand from ropes and ran through the giant trees and away from the village, and how he reached inside the cave and crossed through the gateway and went to his realm.


He stood still, staring at the pitch-black cave. A strong breeze flew through his hair. The night was near.


He had mixed feelings for those villagers. He felt sad for them. For he could do nothing to bring them out from that realm and modernize them.


Yet he was happy. For he was safe from these madmen who, without knowing him properly, were baying for his blood.


I think they are afraid to enter the cave because they still believe the firangis might capture and kill them.


He turned behind to see apartments and towers on the horizon. And the only obstacle between him and the city was the vast jungle. He marched towards the jungle and never turned back again.


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