A Ghost At The Wedding

It was the summer of 1998. A wedding was taking place in a small village in Kutch (a district in Gujarat). 

A large open property was hired for the wedding in the village wherein all the wedding rituals were being performed at the hired venue. 

Approx 200 guests were invited for the wedding out of which 50 to 70 guests were accommodated for stay inside the venue. 

The venue was a ground terrace structure with basic construction (unpainted) with limited or no amenities.

The terrace was open with no boundary walls and the steps going towards the terrace were without any hand railing.

Luxury was not even a topic of discussion in those years.

The crowd attending the wedding was in the joy of the moment. Kids playing around, women applying mehendi on their hands, adults & senior citizens having a camaraderie of their own in one part of the venue discussing on the village things the cattle breeding, cost of living, some sharing the experiences of living in the city life who had travelled to the wedding from places like Ahmedabad and Mumbai. 

The story goes like this; the night before the wedding incident happened which shattered everyone. 

Evening on the day before the wedding it was Dandiya raas and Garba what in today's time we call as a Sangeet Sandhya. Dandiya raas went on till 23:00 in the night by then almost dinner was completed simultaneously. Guests who were from the town itself had left for their respective places and the remaining ones prepared their bed. There were hardly 2 or 3 rooms which were occupied predominantly by the family of Bride & Groom respectively. The rest of them slept inside the Hall just like the dormitory. Pillows and Mattress were available in bulk which was also taken on a rental basis. 

It was summer time so there was scorching heat where the temperature was making people feel like breathing in 40 degrees in the daytime, with little relief in the night. 

Around 23:45 four of them decided to sleep on the open terrace under the blanket of the dark sky and nature's wind to survive the heat. 

It was Bhavika (14), Golu (8), Rasik (32) and Paresh (30). All were relatives and Bhavika & Golu were paternal cousins. 

Few of them advised them to sleep down on the ground instead of going up. But the feeling of sleeping under an open sky in summer did not stop them from not sleeping on the terrace. 

Bhavika and Golu were super excited and were the first ones to take the pillow and mattress upstairs followed by Rasik and Paresh. 

It was past midnight Rasik & Paresh had fallen asleep while Golu & Bhavika were still awake doing the chit-chat. 

There was no clock to see the time but it would have been around 01:00 am, Bhavika went into a deep sleep and 8-year-old Golu was still awake watching the sky.

Soon Golu too fell asleep amidst the wind that was blowing in the open. 

It was between 1 am and 2 am Bhavika was in a dream where she saw herself running in the lanes which were familiar to her hometown from she lived.

In her dream she saw a lady in a white saree (usually worn by widows), black hair and a strange visual of dark red sindoor in her head with red bangles running towards her, chasing her with a loud noise. 

She was so petrified because of the dream that she started briskly walking while still being in the sleep state. 

The terrace was open with no boundary walls, and in the direction in which Bhavika was sleepwalking, there was construction going on for a home, with iron rods being fixed in the land adjacent to the terrace.

It was only a miracle that Paresh woke up from sleep and saw Bhavika walking towards the dangerous edge of the terrace. He immediately woke up Rasik, who then, in no time, caught hold of Bhavika and saved her from falling down the adjacent construction site.

Bhavika was in an unconscious state and was murmuring something that was not clear to understand.

They immediately took Bhavika downstairs to her mother. The incident was not silent, which led to other guests being awakened from their sleep one after another. Among them was a man in his late 50s or early 60s who had spiritual backing from the God he worshipped. He made Bhavika sit in front of the Pooja Place and sprinkled water on her head while chanting some mantra. After about 20 minutes, Bhavika regained her consciousness and narrated what she saw in her dream. She was completely unaware of her sleepwalking. The only thing she could remember was the lady in her dream and her being in a frightened state.

The man, with his spiritual sense, told them that there was some negative energy up there and advised everybody not to visit the terrace area, not even in the daytime, to be safe.

It was 2:45 a.m. in the night, and things returned to normal gradually. Suddenly, grandmother of Golu asked about him being missing. Paresh and Rasik had forgotten to bring Golu downstairs amidst the ruckus, and Golu was still sleeping on the terrace, unaware of what had happened in the last two hours.

Soon he was brought downstairs, and he woke up from his sleep, seeing his grandmother beside him. He noticed that most of them were awake, and Bhavika was sitting silently near the pooja place with her mother. All of this made Golu curious, and he started asking his grandmother about what had happened and how he ended up downstairs. The spiritual man came to Golu and asked him how he was feeling, and upon noticing that Golu was completely fine and nothing had happened to him, he just told Golu to sleep as it was the wedding day and an early wake-up call. Golu soon went to sleep beside his grandmother, now downstairs.

It was 9 a.m. the next morning, and everything was normal. The sunlight was very refreshing, and everyone was in the process of getting ready for the Baraat procession, without any reflection of the events of the previous night on their faces.

The incident was narrated to Golu by someone the next day, leaving Golu curious about...

- What would have happened if Paresh did not wake up at the right time?

- What would have happened if Bhavika had fallen from the terrace?

- What would have happened if nobody remembered to bring him downstairs?

- Would he have slept peacefully?

- Why did the negative energy or spirit not trouble anyone else sleeping there?

The wedding was completed successfully, and by evening, everyone left for their respective places, vacating the venue.