The Moving Shadows

The day was transitioning into evening and harsh sunlight was mellowing down with cool breeze. Sudha was working on her laptop, totally immersed in her work in spite of the darkness surrounding her. Her mother was calling her from the kitchen to switch on the lights. Suddenly Sudha sensed some movement from the table where she was sitting towards the door. She thought someone quickly but silently drifted across the room. When she intently looked into the space, she really did not find anybody. She had similar experience a couple of times earlier. Surprisingly this had not caused any fear perception in her. She was puzzled and was in deep thought, when her father Ramayya entered into the room. Seeing the puzzled look on his daughter’s face he asked what the matter was. She narrated the whole experience, still not sure whether it was real experience or a figment of imagination. A smile broke across father’s face.”I also had similar experience . It is only a feeling that someone was swiftly moving across but had never seen anyone. I thing the spirits of some of our ancestors’ are living and moving around our house. They don’t seem to intend to harm us. Just keep it to yourself and don’t share with anyone else.”

Ramayya lived along with his wife Parvathi and their six children in a decent locality in Shamirpet, located in the outskirts of Secunderabad, which is now well known for resorts which are favourite destination for holidays, small functions and marriages as well. As the popularity of the resorts grew overtime, the value of the land in the surrounding areas also appreciated way beyond any body’s expectation.

 Ramayya and Parvati, were in their late sixties. They had six children, three boys and four girls. They no longer can be called children but were adults. Rama and Uma the first and second born were married and had two children each. The third and fourth were boys, Harish and Shankar, close to completing their education. The fifth is 22 years old Sudha and sixth is 20 years old Mahesh, who is studying B.Com. All the children were well behaved, disciplined and obedient.

 Parvati’s only sister Sita and her husband Ramesh, lived in the same town. They had a Son Hari and a daughter Lavanya.

 Ramayya was a Superintendent in a Government department and had a descent salary. Inspite of that he struggled to make the ends meet due to his large family, but he never complained against it because it was his decision to have these children as he never believed in birth control. The family lived in an ancestral home on about half acre of land and it had not seen paint and colors for ages. But the family was very content . Soon his sons would be completing their education and would start earning and supporting Ramayya. It was such a reassuring thought.

 Though both Ramayya and Ramesh had similar jobs and earnings, Ramesh had systematic savings and over the time accumulated lot of wealth. Ramayya had been taking loans from Ramesh and it was always weighing heavily on his mind. Parvati and their children were aware of this, but nobody knew the details. 

One fateful day Ramayya died due to a massive heart attack leaving his family grief stricken. It was a big blow to the family and even before they could recover from the shock, Ramesh broke the news that Ramayya owed him huge amount of money, which he promised to return as soon as his sons started earning. Now that he himself was gone, the sustenance of the family itself was a question mark.So the question was,” how will the family repay the loan?” The two elder sons came forward to execute an undertaking that they would repay the loans within 2 years, as they were confident of getting jobs.

But Ramesh would not agree and wanted them to give away their house against the loan. The family was helpless.

Ramesh had been eyeing the property for a long time and could not broach this issue when Ramayya was alive but now was the golden opportunity which he was not willing to let it slip out of his hands. As everyone was sitting in the front yard lost in their own thoughts, unable to come up with a viable plan to save their house from the clutches of the greedy uncle, Ramesh and Sita quietly went into the house, gleefully looking at the inside as it was soon going to be theirs.

It was evening time and sun was going to set in the West and along with it took away its light. Parvati shouted at Sudha,” Do I have to tell every day to switch on lights before it gets totally dark?” Sudha went inside to switch on the lights and at the same time she heard Sita gasp loudly. Both Sita and her husband Ramesh quickly walked out of the house mumbling between themselves. A big grin broke on the face of Sudha as she heard them say “Seen Shadows”. She knew that the benevolent ancestors must have given them and appearance and now even her father was there to team up.

No body knew what the reason was, but Ramesh offered to wait till the son’s of Ramayya would repay their loan and at last his house was saved!