The Doorway

It is said that there are portals and doorways that open to the other world, though it's not proven yet. There are underground caves, wells, and other such mysterious spots that have been known to be deep, dark, and ominous! Take for example the case of the burning fire pit in Turkmenistan, where a fire has been blazing on incessantly for the last forty years in a deep crater and it is rumored to be the doorway to Hell!

Similarly, there have been presumed to be such portals all over the world, for example, the Stone Henge of England, the Mysterious Gate of The Gods in Peru, mysterious caves in Africa, etc. India too has been said to have in possession of such a kind of portal in the form of ancient megalithic structures found mostly in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa.

This story takes place in the ancient megalithic site of Mallachandram in Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu, India. This huge site was under the overall authority of the Archaeological Survey of India, and Professor Kaustav Sen was the site in charge. Whereas, Prabhat, Dilip, and Suchitra were his assistants. Professor Kaustav was a giant of a man; he was 6 feet tall, all lean and athletic even at the age of 65. However, this could not be said of his assistants. This was a surprise to many people and fellow academics as all of them were former students of Prof. Sen.

Legend has it that this was a holy ground for and advanced civilizations millions of centuries before man had even learned the art of agriculture and discovered fire. It is also said that this civilization was one of the most advanced civilizations with regards to ancient knowledge, science, astronomy, etc. This particular stretch of land was said to be very sacred for these people and the high priests of the society used to worship the nature gods and other deities by offering them human and animal sacrifices. According to local elders, this civilization perished in the great global cataclysmic deluge. Since then, nobody has ever gone to this particular stretch of land as it is still believed that the ancient gods are resting below and it is better not to disturb them. In fact, also according to locals, often strange noises and bright halos of light have been observed to emanate from the ground.

One day one of the locals had mistakenly taken his herd up to this stretch of land. From the very beginning, it seemed something was wrong as all of a sudden the animals began behaving in a strange, fearful manner. It seemed that they had sensed some kind of danger as animals have an acute sense of perceiving things which we cannot. Even the villager Muthu, had felt something very strange in the environment. It was as if the whole surrounding had come to a standstill and not a single sound could be heard except the pitiful noises coming from his animals. He had also felt a heaviness descend upon his chest and it felt like it was literally choking him to death. He then decided that to stay on that ground would be risky and somehow gathered his herd and ran with full speed from the place. It was only when he reached his village did he breathe a sigh of relief. When the villagers who saw him asked him the reason for his panic and he then told them of his experience. The villagers upon hearing this also got worried and a bit apprehensive of the situation and they consulted the local priest. It was then that the priest told them about the legend.

Anyways, word gets out fast enough, despite the villagers’ attempt to keep it a secret, word soon spread to other villages and surrounding areas and people started keeping away from that place. Soon, the word spread like wildfire and it is from here that the ASI came to know about this place. So they contacted the professor who was on vacation. On immediately hearing upon this, the professor and his team started out for Tamil Nadu as it was assumed by them that this could be one of the most historically important sites in the world. At first, they contacted Muthu, who was a bit reluctant to discuss anything about his experience, but soon was overwhelmed with the amount of money he was being offered. He even offered to become their guide till a certain point. The Professor was a bit skeptical about hearing Muthu’s experience, but he chose not to open his mouth. The next day he went along with his team to the designated spot. This came to be absolutely true once they started digging on it. At first, they faced a lot of stiff resistance from the local villagers, and especially from one of the village strongmen, his name was Subbu Rao, and he was also a giant of a man and commanded respect from the villagers due to his strong arm and brutal tactics. Another person to object was the temple priest Krishna Reddy, who was a sycophant of Subbu. Both of them were powerful, headstrong, and overly greedy and ambitious. Both had their personal reasons for not letting the dig to go on as Subbu wanted more money for the laborers who were being employed from the village and Krishna Reddy had religious objections as he used to say that “this was a site of worship and prayers of their ancestors", and also “a place where gods of their ancestors used to make their presence felt in front of their devotees".

After a lot of negotiation, somehow Prof Kaustav had prevailed upon both Subbu and Krishna Reddy to go ahead with the excavation, as it would benefit both of them and the village also immensely. One of the first structures to come out of the dig were huge and tall arch-like structures and was made up of solid stone and had strange inscriptions also it had strange half-animal/half-human figures carved on each of its pillars. Upon setting his sight on these huge pillars the Prof was reminded that he had seen such kind of carvings and inscriptions on pillars in other historic excavations in other parts of the world. At first sight, this archway seemed to be both amazing and magnificent due to its architecture during those times, so many centuries ago, but it also held a certain kind of mystery that was alluring to both the archaeological team and the locals also. When the news of the discovery of the archway reached the village, the village priest Krishna Reddy along with his followers and Subbu went storming into the archaeological site and started protesting that no further excavations can be allowed to take place. On hearing the commotion, Professor Kaustav came out of his tent and saw that there was a large gathering and his team-mates were trying to calm Krishna Reddy and Subbu who were creating a lot of hue and cry right in the middle of the site.

Upon enquiring Krishna Reddy angrily storms up to the professor and starts protesting in a loud voice that this digging has to be stopped immediately. Despite this loud and rough demonstration by the priest, the professor does not lose his demeanor and asks again in a calm voice “What’s the matter? Why aren't you letting us work?” The priest then says" that this has been a sacred place for his ancestors, and they have been praying here for centuries and now all this digging and noise of machines has awakened the gods and they are angry". He also said that “now the gods are going to punish you by wrecking death and destruction upon you and also on the villagers who have helped you in committing this sacrilege". On hearing this villagers get terrified and fall down on their knees and ask for forgiveness from the gods. With a lot of difficulties, the Professor and his team are able to persuade and convince the priest, and the villagers that they will leave within the week as they cannot leave the work in the middle. So after a long arduous process of negotiation, Subbu and Krishna Reddy agreed to let the digging to proceed and this brought a sigh of relief from prof. Kaustav Sen & his team.

On the very same night, something strange happened which terrified the villagers and surprised the team. That night it was raining heavily though there was no weather forecast about it. When one of the laborers Shyam, went out on a natural break when he saw a very strange thing. He saw a bright light emanating from one of the pillars of the structure. As he went further to investigate, he could not believe his eyes as he saw something which was completely unbelievable. He saw strange creatures just like etched on the pillars coming to life. Shyam could not do anything; he just stood there transfixed with fear as if paralyzed. The next morning, Prof. Kaustav Sen was awakened by one of his associates, Prabhat, who was ashen-faced and urged the professor to come quickly as there was a commotion outside and the laborers were not ready to work any longer. They were murmuring amongst themselves that the warnings of the priest had come true and the gods were angry. When Prof. Sen went outside his tent, he saw people were really scared and some were praying for forgiveness.

At last, Prof Sen was able to go near the place where Shyam's body was lying. What he saw perplexed and shocked the professors also, as he saw that Shyam had died with his eyes open, with absolute terror in his eyes as if he had seen something really frightening. His clothes were also torn as if something had shredded them to pieces. Everyone was surprised and thinking that what could have been the cause of Shyam's terror and his sudden death.

As news filtered down to the village, there was commotion and curiosity as to the cause of Shyam's death and this also brought the police, the village priest, and the strongman to the digging site. The Priest Krishna Reddy and the strongman Subbu again started protesting and warned the workers that “If you continue working here, all of you will perish and the whole village will be punished for this transgression". This further terrified the workers. Anyways the police after conducting its preliminary investigation took the body away for an autopsy. Meanwhile, Suchitra, one of Professor's brightest assistants was trying to cope with strange

feelings arising in her due to the incidents of the preceding days. It was as if something very bad was about to happen. She in fact confided her apprehensions to Dilip, one of the other assistants. When they asked her to relay the same to the prof., at first she

was a bit hesitant but she ultimately told him of her apprehensions. When the professor heard her, at first he was a bit skeptic about her fears, but seeing the look in her eyes, he calmly assured her " It must have been some animal, and you are one of brightest minds and topper of our class", how come you have started believing in these things?” he further said, “Don’t worry, everything is alright, this is an unfortunate incident and we will ensure that these kinds of things don't take place in the future".

For a few days, everything was okay and the workers were finally getting over their fears. When one night again this time two laborers who were playing cards near the site, suddenly heard a strange & deep growling noise. At first, both of them were surprised and dismissed it as nothing; but when the noise became more loud and distinct, it is then that they began to be scared, as they thought it might be some wild animal that had attacked and killed one of their fellow workers. Somehow, one of them somehow gathered courage & went to investigate the source of the noise; he dragged his friend along with him who went reluctantly. Initially, they

could not pinpoint the source, but as they went a bit further up the site, they found that the huge structure was awash with bright lights and strange half-animal/half-human shaped creatures were moving around. Some of these creatures were half lion/half-man, half-bull/half-man, and had the upper body of a huge bird, etc. Seeing this both of the workers were absolutely terrified and decided to run

from the spot. But to their surprise, they found that they could not move a single inch of their body, and neither could they scream.

The next morning, the professor was again awakened and was being called out by all of his assistants and he went out and enquired that was the commotion all about? He found that they were all at a loss of words. As Prof Kaustav went outside, the workers went to him and started complaining that two of their fellow workers, Iyengar & Kumar were missing since last night. In the beginning, the professor thought that they must have been drinking and lying unconscious somewhere and he even said so and tried

to calm the nerves of all those around; but when the day changed into noon and there was still no sign of them, he grew worried and called the police. The police came and searched the entire area, but no sign of anyone of them was found, it was only when suddenly one of the workers gave an unnatural scream from the woods nearby. Hearing the scream, all of the people there nearly jumped with shock and alarm and rushed to the place from where the scream had originated. On reaching the place all of them were so terrified and paralyzed with fear and even this time professor Kaustav was unnerved on the sight of the graphic scene. There they saw that both Iyengar & Kumar were dead with their eyes open, and all of their limbs had been torn out of their bodies. This was not the end of the grisly sight, it looked as if some animal powerful enough had torn open their chests and drank blood from it. On seeing this Suchitra fell unconscious on the ground then and there. Again there was that terrible fear in their eyes as if they had seen something hideous!

The police then started their investigation more seriously and started questioning the archaeological team, the professor, and the workers about their movements last night. As they were of the opinion that it was a fight between the two or others and they were murdered. Even the village strongman Subbu, was called for questioning. Meanwhile the village priest Krishna Reddy was inciting the villagers to protest against the digging, and driving them all nearly hysteric with his ranting. Days pass by and all the workers and even the archaeological team are in fear as to who will be next. Even Prof. Sen is worried that the deadline will not be met. The police on the other hand are absolutely clueless as to the deaths of the three workers. Then one night, when it was again raining very heavily

and Suchitra while disturbed was trying to get some sleep. When suddenly she felt as if she could hear some very heavy footfalls near her tent. As it is her nerves were flayed for the last few days and as if someone was trying to communicate with her. Naturally, she grew tenser and was almost on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Still, she chose to ignore these feelings and tried to concentrate on sleeping. However, the more she tried to sleep; the more she got distracted to a strange and peculiar noise coming outside her tent. After a few minutes, the sounds of the footsteps fade away and Suchitra is finally able to sleep peacefully. This strange occurrence takes place for quite a few nights, and when she cannot take it anymore. She then decides to go to the professor and make him aware of this strange experience which she is having. The professor again tries to reassure her and gives her some sleeping pills to help her sleep better, but this time the professor is also convinced that something is not natural. So he contacts his superiors who in no certain terms tell him that he can stop the work and come back, that is he has to finish the assignment given to him. The next few days

pass in a hurry as everyone is anxious to meet the deadline and get it over with. Even the villagers are a bit on the edge. Then one day, when after finishing her shift Suchitra is in her tent and after a long bath has started to relax a little by reading a book by the lamplight, when she suddenly feels a cold chill in the tent and also as if someone is standing behind her, breathing down her neck. At first, she doesn’t bother much and continues with her reading when suddenly she feels as if some shadow is moving around in her tent. She again chose to ignore this feeling and jerks herself straight upright and tries to engross herself in her reading. A few seconds later, as she turns her head up from the book, she sees a vile face leering at her. This scares and runs screaming from her tent. As she steps out of her tent, she sees something horrifying and gives a loud scream and falls unconscious to the ground. All the members of her team and Prof Sen and the villagers come out rushing from their respective tents upon hearing her scream and as they proceed to see whether Suchitra is alright or not but they cannot find her in her tent, nor has anybody seen her and not only this,

her cell phone was also lying on the ground outside her tent. This was surprising to Prof Kaustav as his team and the villagers also were surprised as everybody knew that she never left anywhere without her phone. So after a long search in the adjacent areas, the prof decides to send search teams comprising of himself, his team, and the villagers to look for her. Also, he

thinks that if they cannot find her, they will report to the police about her disappearance.

So he along with Prabhat and some villagers make one team, whereas Dilip takes another group of villagers and the local head of the workers Shivmani heads the last group, while the rest of the people stay in the encampment and these three groups go looking for Suchitra. After a long search, all the teams are exhausted and it’s raining very heavily and loud thunder strikes and heavy lightning are constant dangers and impediments to their efforts, they decide to halt the search and call the police. When suddenly Shivmani cries out and pointing his finger towards the place where the excavation is going on that " sahib, there is a strange light coming from that hill" all of the people turn their gaze towards the hill and indeed there are a strange blue and yellowish glow coming from the top of that hill. The whole group has only one thing in mind that Suchitra might be there and also that she might be in danger. The whole group rush towards that hill and upon reaching that hill they witness a bizarre and terrifying scene. Upon reaching the top of the hill, they see something which both terrifies all of them, and also it baffles the Prof and his rattles his sense of rationale. They see that the there is a blue and yellow light which is unusually bright and hot emanating from the pillars and not only this they also see that the carvings of half-animal/half-human figures have all of sudden sprung to life and are dancing to weird music being played somewhere in the background and in the midst of all this is Suchitra. They see Suchitra adorned with very shiny and bright glowing jewelry, and she is wearing some kind of gown which is very weird as it has glowing creatures hanging out from every inch of her dress. Witnessing this, all the members of the team and villagers are terrified and powerless to act. Suchitra meanwhile is in some kind of trance and she is walking towards a huge fire pit oblivious to everything. Prof Kaustav and the rest of the team shout to warn Suchitra, but she seems to be in a daze and cannot hear them. The Prof dashes forward to rescue her but is immediately prevented from doing so by his team and the villagers. But the professor is adamant to rescue Suchitra and shrugs off the people restraining him and rushes towards the center of the bizarre dance where Suchitra is about to sacrifice herself as a human sacrifice. Seeing the professor rushing towards imminent danger his team also rushes in and somehow barely saves Suchitra from that bizarre scene. While retreating from that place, they hear a loud voice which warns them “Never ever come back here and never disturb us ever again", saying this all the creatures and light disappear from their sight so quickly and there is very a strong tremor underground and right in front of all the people the two pillars vanish and are buried under the earth. The Prof, his team, and the villagers are too shaken by the incident and also wanted to save their lives, run from that hill vowing never to of the incident the next day when she wakes up. The professor and the rest of

his group comes back again to see how she is doing. Suchitra meanwhile is sleeping as if almost unconscious and when she wakes up, she says that she is okay except for a few burns, and has no recollection of the incident; so the professor's team and rest of the people recount to her of the terrifying encounter of the previous night and also tell her of the prophetic warning. Though Professor Kaustav had warned everybody not to tell Suchitra about her grueling and terrifying ordeal. Anyways, the professor decides not to go ahead with the excavation, as he is convinced now that some things are better left undisturbed and if you don't understand anything don't get involved. So the next day the professor after taking a lot of heat from his superiors over the phone and his career on the line decides to leave the place and also resign from his current job and decides to start writing about his experiences in the

form of a book. All the members are grieved and saddened by his departure, but he only says that " Life is one, do one thing that is akin to your heart, and always remember that I will always be there for each and every one of you", with that he left the group.