The Illusion

There are benefits of living in peri-urban areas where people are modernized, progressive and at the same time they are strongly connected to roots & follow beliefs. People living in semi-urban & rural areas are more aware of spiritual faith & its importance. Small town folks are usually more religious and follow God in different forms as per their traditional beliefs. Even in 21st century, in small towns & villages we will find small temples in between of farms, small red colored flags on Peepal (peepul or Bodhi) trees, small unique shaped stone covered with “ROLI ( red color powder)”, “MAULI or KALAVA (threads)” and flowers. These are different ways of praying, following and observing the auspicious presence of God. Being a peri-urban kid, I have witnessed & even I follow, believe and respect these acquitted way of worship and beliefs.

In Northern part of India, in mentioned small places above, the concept of “Dargah” is prevalent all across. Dargah means tomb of PIR (or Peer, commonly known as Peer Babas) usually painted in white or sky-blue colors.

With my little knowledge & stories heard from old people of villages, these tombs were made in memory of Sufi souls or Fakeers who lived alone, spent their life in roaming around different places, preaching, doing noticeable work and spiritually helping others. After their departure from materialistic world, their disciples and followers build small tombs for them in between their farms, sometimes near Peepal tree or beside roads in empty lands.

Nowadays, we rarely see Fakeers or Saints, but a large number of people still follow the departed ones. In villages it is strongly believed that they are the messengers of God and after their death they stay close to God, so visiting their tombs, praying, offering them something as per capacity will help in sending prayers to God.

I was nurtured in a religious and spiritual environment and I have a strong belief in it. I was born and raised in Hindu Brahmin family but I was never stopped from following and visiting Tombs because of liberal thinking of my parents.

Story Begins here……….

Sharing a small experience from those days when there was no mobiles, internet and social media. During hot days of summer, we were forced by parents to take power naps in afternoon so as to avoid extensive heat outdoor, and with heavy heart we used to stay inside home. But, as soon as parent’s power nap turned into a relaxing sleep we kids would make a way out to escape towards play grounds.

One fine day me along with two of my friends escaped from this power nap and gathered outside a friends’ home. It was a hot day in June and there was nothing interesting to do in those harsh rays of Sun. But, as we had already escaped and had nothing to do, we decided to visit a Tomb nearby. Also it was Thursday which is considered as auspicious day to visit Peer Babas’ Dargah (Tomb).

We decided to collect Rs.2 per head to buy offerings & snacks. However, going back home to arrange Rs. 2 was again a critical task but our generation was raised in such environment that taking these interesting risks was a regular real life adventure unlike current days, sitting in front of PlayStation and killing monsters in virtual environment.

So, we went back home and in next few minutes we all were ready with our share of money. We had to buy water bottle and snacks as the visit had to be followed with a peaceful stay of 1 hour at irrigation canal near Tomb, where we could sit, relax and eat. We walked few minutes to reach the nearest shop which was unfortunately closed, so we were forced to walk another 10 minutes to reach another shop. Tired of walking in rubber slippers, humidity and the drenched clothes in sweat forced us to think, was it a good idea to take power nap during hot afternoon, though the body wanted to say yes but our heart was not convinced to waste those precious time with friends, in sleeping.

We finally reached the next shop where shopkeeper was happy to see unexpected customers at odd time of the day. We purchased our required items and left for Tomb. We collected as much flowers as we could from houses which were our way towards Tomb.

Gossiping and discussing important worldly affairs, we were moving ahead towards our destination. The day was quiet like in night, empty streets, no noise, no vehicles and no person on road. We three happy souls with no expectations in life were just enjoying the day.

We reached near Tomb, which was in middle of a large farm surrounded with plantation of wheat. To reach the tomb we had to cross a farm with small trail of mud which was around half feet wide. The trail was narrow and both side there was a wheat plantation. Carefully and slowly with our tiny footsteps we moved further. We crossed the trail in around 7 to 8 minutes and finally reached at the Tomb.

The beautiful Tomb was painted light blue in color and was located just below a Peepal tree, with around one feet of boundary wall. It was hot & odd time of the day & I don’t know why but we had a scary feeling, though we often visit that place. Once we entered inside the small gate, there was a sudden change in temperature probably because of the cool breeze of tree.

We noticed a small boy sitting at the corner of boundary wall of Tomb. He was silently staring at the Peepal tree. No reason but our conscious stopped us to encounter with the young boy and we couldn’t stand inside the gate and took few steps back.

He turned his face towards us and smiled. The smile was unfamiliar, it was a small locality and that face was different and did not resemble to our area. We were confused and had a strange feeling, my mind gave me few indications and I thought that he was too small to visit from any faraway place. He must be around 7-8 years of age which I could figure out from his appearance. The junior Sherlock homes inside me was not able to trace further about the suspicious boy. So, I gave up and looked at my friends, who were already out of the boundary wall, several steps away from me. I stared them in anger for leaving me alone at the gate in front of that little mystery.

“Didi, I finished praying, you can come and pray” the Boys voice hooked my attention.

I tried to remain cool and replied, yes sure and asked him to continue praying if he wants. He did not respond and approached towards me or probably towards gate which I was blocking on his way. I quickly gave him space, he stared at me and smiled again.

“Why you are alone here”, suddenly I asked. I also realized that I shouldn’t ask this question to any stranger, he gave a look with mixed emotions & slight anger & replied to me: “This is applicable for you three as well”.

Both of my friends wanted to kill me or remove me from their morning walk gang permanently for asking this question.

As soon as he stepped out of the gate, both of my friends came inside. They started scolding me in whispers while keeping the stuff in ground so as to start praying.

Out of curiosity, one of my friend stepped out at gate to check, in which direction the boy went. But her scream caught our attention and we rushed to her quickly.

To our surprise or shock, the boy was seen nowhere. We moved our head in all directions but there was no trace of the little boy. We were in middle of the farm and to reach to the main road from any direction, it would take 5 minutes minimum even in fast pace. It was less than a minute and the boy got disappeared.

We did not had any clue if these small wheat plant of few inches can hide a 2 feet tall boy.

After few moments of confusion and fear we were sure that he is not around physically. Our bodies were froze. We were stunned and stood at our positions without moving for few minutes. We looked at each other to figure out the situation and read each other’s eyes, and without speaking a single word, we started running back with the maximum strength.

After 10 minutes of fast running which probably we did after months of finishing annual sports day, we reached back below the stair case of friend’s house where we had met earlier and made the plan to visit Tomb.

We were still thinking if it was an illusion or day dreaming. After a long silence we all realized that we even forget to pray and left all things at Tomb. But the scary feeling took over all other thoughts and we just decided neither to tell the incident to anyone nor to discuss among ourselves. We silently left back to our respective homes for the power nap. Sleep was far away from eyes not only for that day, but for many days and nights. On a lighter note, for months we were willingly taking those power naps without even being asked by our parents.

We stopped visiting the Tomb alone without being accompanied by elders. But whenever we used to visit that place, our eyes used to search for the small boy, but he was never seen again.

Gradually that chapter got faded from eyes & mind but the mystery remained unsolved forever.

Life moved on a fast pace. I am grown up, well educated, working with high technologies, traveling to western countries but I still believe, Illusion happens….