Monsoon Ghost

Lavanya once again turned to see her house to gather the warmth so that she doesn’t miss it much. Her brother Atul who was watching her over-sensitive sister diverted her mind, “you can always see the house in the video chat; don’t be sentimental let's get into the car before you get late”.

Lavanya sighed, picked her backpack while her father arranged her luggage in the car and her mother shuffled keys to lock the multiple locks of the door while trying to control tears.

Lavanya was already missing every one even before stepping into the Land of Monsoons for her post-graduation, yes this is what she called Pune, which was best described to her by her cousins and seniors. 

Bidding adieu Lavanya took her flight with a heavy heart from Udaipur and reached Pune where Purnima, Lavanya’s senior from school, received her to take her to PG where her room was booked.

Lavanya was a girl with fewer words and more of expressions; being helpful in nature she had many friends who would go an extra mile for her to do things in return. 

"Thanks, Purnima, you have done everything here in Pune for a good start for my college", Lavanya thanked her senior.

“You are an angel for me dear, so no formalities plus we all here away from families so friends are extended families. You are welcome anytime for any sort of help my room is just one room adjacent to your right, room no. 567. “

“Okay, and who is left of me, I mean in room no. 565; Is she from our school or ….” Lavanya's questions were silenced by Purnima’s gesture.

“Room number 565 is shut from past 3 years, some spooky story attached to it, but I don’t believe in it so you also don’t worry about it, start unpacking your stuff as you have to report college by 10 in the morning. See you at dinner on the 2nd floor”, Purnima left Lavanya to settle her things.

Lavanya started arranging her desk, cupboard then left for quick dinner and was about to sleep after arranging all papers in a file for submission at the college she heard a knock at the door. 

Thinking Purnima might have dropped in, she opened the door but to her surprise, no one was there. "Maybe someone was in a hurry", she chuckled and came to rest to her bed and closed her eyes. A loud thunderstruck made her awake again and she rushed to the window to see the rain splashing all over and making the place look heavenly. She saw a girl standing in the rain for a moment and the next moment she wasn’t there. Taking a few deep breaths Lavanya retired to bed thinking it’s her imagination and posed a smile while raindrops making a unique song as a lullaby to her.

Next day, her first day at college went smooth as expected, but when she returned to her PG she saw a girl staring at her across the road. 

Lavanya frowned and turned back to have a clear look of the girl as the rain was making it difficult to see. She disappeared like last night. While Lavanya was walking on the pathway she heard a voice saying, “Help Me”.

Little scared, Lavanya gathered the courage to turn but no one was present but the moment she turned back, the same girl was standing right in front of her.

Shockingly Lavanya asked, “Who are you? what kind of help you want?”

The wet girl pointed towards the post boxes arranged on the wall in two rows each numbered in the order of room numbers of the PG particularly towards 565.

Lavanya walked towards the post boxes and opened box no. 565 where she found 10-12 letters dated a year back. 

The girl pointed her to read those letters. Lavanya sat on a stool next to her, started reading the letters and tears started rolling out continuously. She was so emotional reading them that she forgot about the ghost-like girl she was scared of. The letters were from a cancer patient who was a pen friend of that girl residing in 565. She always motivated her through her poetry and the pen friend looked forward to her letters. The latest letter told that the patient is not battling hard but has a strong will power to bounce back and was worried as she did not receive any letters from roomie 565.

Lavanya for a moment mused about the girl and decided to go on with her gut feeling. She went to her room and started writing poetry for a pen friend and posted it.

While she was returning from a post office in heavy rain she heard ‘Thank you’ in a hushed voice, this time she was not scared but smiled contently to help the Monsoon Ghost. This letter tradition continued throughout Lavanya’s studies and her pen friend once wrote that she has braved the fight and now going back to her hometown, a village where she determines to teach the true spirit of living in the will power. 

Lavanya's PG course was also complete and she was also placed with a reputed institution as a ‘Wellness Coach’ in her hometown. The two years of her PG life she had made a best friend and always remembered the 565 room number girl in Monsoons to whom she called Monsoon Ghost. Lavanya never shared this incident with anyone for she believed it could not be explained in words what she felt about human connections.