The Shelter for the Night

Michael was a young boy of eighteen when he came to Calcutta to visit his sister at her hostel. Her sister, Mohini was then a girl of twenty one studying at the prestigious Calcutta University. The family members lived at a remote village called Simli at South 24 Parganas. When Mohini heard that Michael was coming to meet her, she decided for a complete Kolkata tour for her brother.

That day when Michael came her sister took him to Victoria Memorial showed him Kolkata Museum , then to the zoo and to the hall for a hit movie before having the evening snacks at Dey's Canteen. As a result it was quite
late in the evening. In those days (1980s) the only way to visit Michael's town was by ferry and last ferry was at eight thirty 
which would reach the town at twelve thirty from where Michael would board a rickshaw to his village . Michael, who had aimed to board the second last ferry of 6:30 pm , now was forced to board the last one .

The streamer was nearly empty and it went slowly, sailing on the Ganges. Michael calculated that it would take him nearly another two hours after the boat ride. His village was twelve miles away from the ferry stop (port). He would have taken a motor rickshaw if it was before evening, but it was nearly midnight and he had to walk the whole distance.

Soon it was twelve past thirty when the boat reached Kakdwip. After that Michael started walking. It would take him nearly two hours to reach his village. He walked through the silent and dark night . The moon was hidden behind the clouds appearing now and then lighting the dark and deserted path . He tried to him a music he had heard just that day when suddenly a man in a turban and in an odd dress rushed past him. Michael was shocked. No one in this region wears a turban and a punjabi outfit a midnight , who was he ?

Following the man in a turban, a cold chilly wind made Michael shiver. It was nearly one o’clock when he saw a bright moving light in an open field. He was too tired to walk. So he knocked on a hut between two ponds which was just before the field and asked for shelter for that night. A kind lady opened the door and introduced herself as Poornima Pal. Michael came to know that the light was of a bioscope (movie) happening in the field and also where her son was. Her husband, Sujay Pal, was sleeping on the verandah. Michael lay down on the mat and slept.

Next day Poornima awakened Michael at early and told him to start. At six o’clock Michael reached home quite safely and that’s where the second part of our story starts.

After reaching home Michael fell ill.
A high fever got on him without any reason . "There is no reason for this fever now at this time of the year ", the doctor commented . The temperatures were seldom coming down and the fever lasted for twenty long days. After he was well, his mother said one day "Michael , why don't you go with your friend and give that kind lady of that night a little gift maybe a packet of sweets ". To this he agreed and the next day he and his friend set off for the journey on cycles.

They reached Alampur , where the hut was ,  in half an hour and started searching for the house. It was a vain search. Neither there was any hut nor were there any persons named Sujay or Poornima Pal. The two ponds and the field was also gone .Everyone in the village agreed to the fact that there was not a single Pal in the village and never there were. Michael shivered and had goosebumps under the broad daylight. He could now hardly understand what was happening and what had happened that night.

As he turned to go after asking a lot of people an old man suddenly said,
“Ah! There was a woman named Poornima Pal long ago . Her husband and her son was murdered by a punjabi man because they could not pay back the loan they took . Their bodies were found in a field behind their hut and the wife two days later a committed suicide on a peepal tree which was between two ponds…"