Halderder Hana Bari (Ghost house of Halder)

There is a railway station at the far end of Murshidabad district in West Bengal called Dhulianganga. No express train to North Bengal stops here, but local trains to Sahebganj and Malda do. Dhulian has gained a special reputation in the biri (local cigarette) industry. The company that is the king of the biri industry, "Patakabiri" has many factories here. Moreover, there are many small and big biri company factories here.

The area is a predominantly Muslim village, with the Bhagirathi River flowing on one side and Bangladesh on the other. On the other hand, National Highway, NH 12. Dhulian bus stand is on this highway. All buses from Dharmatala (Kolkata) to North Bengal stop here. Besides, Auto, Toto and another vehicle that is very famous here is the horse carriage. Horse-drawn carriages are cheaper, but jerky. I will tell you about the experience of going here from Lalgola once.

As I said earlier, I was working as an internal auditor in a private company in Kolkata. The company had branch offices in many places outside Kolkata. At this branch office I had to go for physical stock verification from time to time. This is an important task. Failure to do so properly can result in significant losses to the company, especially to FMCG companies.

However, after the office on Tuesday, July 25, I took the Lalgola passenger train from Sealdah station to Lalgola. The car left at 3.45 pm at five o'clock. The distance from Sealdah to Lalgola is about 234 kilometers, taking 5 hours and 50 minutes. The train reached Lalgola in about eleven or twenty minutes. This is a border station then there is no railway. If you want to go to Dhulian from here, you have to go by road, there is no train line. The furniture in my red circle is because the house of the manager of Dhulian's office is in red circle, I can go with him on a motorcycle.

  However, after 5/6 hours of train journey, I was very tired. ‘Hotel Priyanka’ was already booked so I checked in and ordered food at once and went to my room. After a while I took a bath and saw that the room boy had gone with food. I ate and went to bed. The next day, Dhulian's branch manager Bishwanath Das arrived at the hotel in the morning, and I rode his motorbike to Dhulian. Dhulian is about 55 km road from Lalgola, which joins NH12 via Jangipur, Raghunathganj. But there is a shortcut road through the village which will go through Jangipur, Arangabad, Suti, Iron Bridge, then go to Malda for a while and then to Dhulian bus station It is basically a village road. We took the road to this village. At first the distance will be a little less and the traffic will be much less as the village road.

We left at 8 in the morning and reached Dhulian office at around 10:30.

After working in the office all day, I had lunch at a hotel in the afternoon and visited Gangardhar once. Huge big Ganges, its boundaries cannot be seen. Then I got on Bishwanath's motorbike again and left Dhulian for Lalgola around 5 pm. The month of July, the day is big, so no problem. After crossing Dhulian to Arangabad, Nimtita and entering Sajinapara, heavy rain started. Although we took the village road, the population in this area is very low. Because too much opium is cultivated here. Although it is illegal to cultivate opium, it is still cultivated in many places in secret. The top cover of the fruit of this opium tree is opium or locally deri (Opium) fruit and poppy is made from its seeds.

However, there was no place to stand next to the rural road we were walking on, so we got on the motorbike and got wet. My glasses got blurred in the rain so I opened them and put them in my pocket.

 After a while, Bishwanath said, "I can see a house in the distance. I will go there and stand for a while. I can't ride a motorcycle in the rain."

I said, "Okay, let's just stand there and then we can go again."

Bishwanath slowly brought the motorcycle to the house and stopped it. We took a motorcycle and came near the house and saw that it was actually a broken house. There is a door in front of the house. It opened with a little pressure. We slowly got inside. Two-storey house, a little garden after the gate, there are various trees, but it is full of weeds, lack of care. The sidewalk is also full of grass. There are probably two rooms downstairs. There is a big building in front, there are two rooms upstairs, there is a verandah on the outside. We slowly climbed the stairs to the building. I took the glasses out of my pocket and put them on again. Bishwanath took out a handkerchief and started wiping his head and face.

At that moment an old man's voice came from inside, "Who is there?"

I said, “We are coming from Dhulian and will go to Lalgola. It rained on the road so we came here. We'll leave when it rains a little. "

A voice came again from inside, "Okay, come into the house, no problem."

I said, "No, okay, stand here."

The voice came again, "Let's sit here for a while, you will get wet by splashing outside"

I said to Bishwanath, "That's right, I become half wet, if I stand here I will get completely wet." Let's go inside and sit down. " Bishwanath followed me without seeing any other way. I went inside and saw that the room was almost dark, there was no light. There is a window open at the back through which a little light is coming in. It shows a man lying on a bed in the corner of the room, he seems to be ill. His head is covered with a black blanket. Another gentleman is sitting in a chair. A broken table in front of him with some plate glass in it. On one side is a photo frame with a picture of a lady, most probably a wedding photo, filled with dim dust and an old-fashioned pendulum clock. There is some furniture inside the house. The gentleman asked us to sit with two bamboo chair . We sat there.

I asked, "You live here alone, I don't see any houses around."

The gentleman took a deep breath and said in a slightly regretful tone that his name was Soumen Haldar. They had their home in East Bengal (Presently Bangladesh). They moved here after partition. The one who is lying on the stool is his wife. He has two sons who live in Bahrampur.

I said, "Then it is better for you to stay in Bahrampur because you have to do all the work yourself." It's good to have boys. "

 The gentleman said, “Some of the land here is cultivated in one portion, and the income from it goes to us. I can't leave my own house. The boys tried to take us to them at Bharampur many times but we didn't go. "

 In addition, he began to say something more about himself. We listened intently but our minds were on the rain outside. When the rain stops then we can get out. Because the weather in the house was so sultry that I wondered how two living creatures could live here.

At that time Bishwanath said, "Sir, it would be good to have some tea."

I said, "Shut up, where can you find tea here? We will have tea from the shop outside."

But the gentleman has heard us. He said, "I can't give tea, but if you want to eat lemon juice, I can give it." The lemon tree in our yard that I brought from Bangladesh is still bearing fruit. ”

I said, "No, he doesn't need to, you don't have to be busy."

 He said, "Okay, no problem, you sit down, I'll pick up the lemon."

I saw the gentleman slowly get up in front of us and go outside through the verandah to fetch lemons. One thing needs to be said here, our foot print shows in the dust inside the house. But the gentleman's footprints did not fall, but he walked in front of us. Although Bishwanath did not notice it, I had a little doubt about it, but I did not say anything to Bishwanath.

In less than a minute, the gentleman come with three or four lemons in his hand. Then he cuts the lemon with a knife and put it in a big bowl. Then he mixed it with salt and sugar and gave it to us in two glasses.

 When I lifted the glass to my mouth, I smelled a tremendous odor, as if there were rotten eggs inside the glass, or the glass was used to make egg omelettes and was not washed well, so the smell was gone. I could not eat at all. But Bishwanath put it in his mouth a little and then left the glass again. The gentleman handed us two lemons and told us to take them home and eat the syrup. There are many juices in our lemon tree. I put into my pocket.

So far the rain has slowly subsided and we still have a long way to go. So Bishwanath said, "Sir, let's go otherwise we shall be late at night to reach ."

 I thought so too, so thanking the gentleman, we start motorcycle and set off for Lalgola. When I reached Jangipur and saw a tea shop, I said to Bishwanath, "You were saying to have tea. Wait in front of the tea shop."

We entered the tea shop and sat on the bench and said to the shopkeeper, "Give me two cups of tea."

The shopkeeper washed the glass well in hot water and gave us tea in it. Even if the rain stops outside, there is a cold feeling. So the hot tea was quite satisfying. I told Bishwanath, "Keep the lemon that Haldarbabu gave you. I will stay in the hotel. I don't need it." Saying this, I put my hand in my pocket and saw that there was no lemon. In this pocket, in that pocket, I saw all the bags where I could not find a lemon. Bishwanath said, "May be went down the road ." I think so because the road was too jerking.

Suddenly the shopkeeper heard us and asked, "Which Haldar Babu are you talking about?"

I said, "There's a house in the middle of the field a little way off, that's where we went." It was raining so we stopped for a while. "

 The shopkeeper said, "Have you gone into the house?"

 I said, "Yes, I did." There is an old gentleman named Soumen Haldar and his wife. They let us eat lemonade. He also gave me two lemons to take home. May be went down on road later. "

 The gentleman said, "Have you drink lemonade?"

 I said a little hesitantly, "Yes, I didn't drink because the glass smelled very rotten odor , but my colleague Bishwanath drinks a little."

 Then the gentleman shook his head a little and said, "Sit down."

This time he took a little salt in two papers and recited a mantra in it. He told us to eat it first, and then drink water. After that have tea.

 I said, "Why what happened?"

He said, "You do it first, then I tell you the whole story."

If I had a bad stomach, my mother would occasionally feed me a mixture of ajawan and salt. This is a very good medicine for stomach upset, I know. So I didn't mind eating it, I ate it, so Bishwanath also ate it.

 After a while, the gentleman said to us in a low voice, "Where you have gone is the house of Haldar, but it is not a house but a hunted house."

No one lives there. It's been five years since Soumen Haldar, who gave you lemonade, died. He has two sons. They live in Bahrampur and do business. No one comes here. This house is known as Hanabari to the people of the area. No one goes here even during the day. Many people have seen the gentleman at night picking lemons from the lemon tree with a white cloth. Soumen Babu's wife died of an unknown fever. Then the boys tried many times to keep the father with themselves, but he did not go. He died within six months of losing his wife. The boys tried to rent the house, but no tenants stayed for a whole month. Everyone used to say that at night the whole house was buzzing. From time to time, household items move from side to side. “

With a sigh, the gentleman said again, "I can understand the presence of a ghost." Seeing you, I thought a black shadow was coming after you. So I put salt on it and it won't do any harm. "

       I supported the shopkeeper and said, "It could be because I had doubts about two things. First of all why there is no light in the house, how people live in so much darkness, and the house is very damp. This kind of house is not good for any patient.

 Secondly, when the gentleman went in front of us to pick lemons, his footprints were not on the ground. "But when we entered the house, our footprints were here and there."

"You saw it but didn't tell me," Bishwanath said.

 I said, " I am auditor, so nothing can be fooled." Besides, it should take about three minutes to get out of the house on the verandah and then pick up the lemon from the lemon tree in the yard. But when the gentleman came back in less than a minute, I had my doubts."

 The shopkeeper said, "Then you have the courage to say that you drink lemon juice from him knowingly everything." But don't be afraid, I have added salt and you will not be harmed. "

 After that we left the cup of tea and start the motorcycle again with paying the money. It was seven o'clock at night when I reached the hotel.

 I told Bishwanath, "You will call me once at ten or eleven o'clock at night and tell me how you are." It is better not to talk about it in your house. "

He called me at exactly half past ten. We're both fine, no problem. Then two days later I finished my work and came back to Calcutta. It's an event in my life that I never forgot.

The End