The Village Temple

THE VILLAGE TEMPLE

This time during my summer vacations, I planned to enjoy village life on a hill station with my family. We checked google and found a suitable village to be visited in Almora. We decided to go by road to enjoy green farms on the way. We started our journey at 0230 hours. We reached Kainchi Dham around 1230 hrs. We clicked some pictures and had tea on the way. Then we proceeded further to Khairna on the Ranikhet route. The road was rough and it was quite hot. We were feeling a bit tired. Our destination was a village on the Sitlakhet route which was still some distance away. We were hungry but we wanted to reach before it got dark. At last, we reached our destination around 1630 hrs.

We had booked our rooms in a nearby resort. We took some rest and came out to enjoy the cool breeze. It was pleasant at the top. Set amidst the beauty and tranquility of the hills and vegetation, Dhamas was a perfect getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life. It had an abundance of opportunities to make our holidays enjoyable and also have a calming effect on us. I clicked many pictures of my daughter and two grandchildren. The old style of homes and the traditional décor always attracted me. I started talking to some of the villagers regarding the interesting stories and myths of their village. I asked them about the village temple that I had come across. They told me that many unnatural deaths keep taking place due to accidents or otherwise and their spirits are not satisfied. They keep on roaming around to fulfill their wishes. That is why one can see small temples at every nook and corner on the hills. But according to them, this temple was special in a way as many stories were related to it. The village temple was under a huge tree that looked scary. I never look for spooky thrills. I also don’t believe in paranormal activities of spirits but take great interest in listening about these.

It was 1830 hrs. and was getting a bit darker. On hills, it gets dark early and the shadows of tall oak trees make it scary. There is not much light also. The Internet does not work at such a height. Phones are of no use. You can’t call anyone if you are caught in a dangerous situation. The houses are scattered on hills. Four of us started walking fast to reach our resort which was two kilometers far. The birds were returning to their nests and making a lot of chirping noise as if these were praying together before sleep. We caught sight of baboons screeching and eating wild fruits. We were feeling goosebumps in the dark after listening to these stories from the villagers. A marriage party was also going on in the neighboring village. The villagers told us that a special prayer and animal sacrifice is also done to keep paranormal activities at bay. It is a compulsory tradition of the people of hills. We kept on moving fast and reached the village temple near our resort.

It was a small but very old structure. Lots of crows were perched on the nearby tree and making strange noises by flapping their wings. The temple was made on a high mound surrounded by huge trees. We felt scared of climbing the mound. We bowed our heads to pay our respect and moved towards our resort. We took a deep sigh after reaching our resort. We discussed among ourselves about the stories told by the old villager. After some time we had our dinner and went to our rooms.

At around one thirty at night, the light went off suddenly. I tried to sleep but could not sleep as the echo of the pooja being performed in the neighboring village could be heard even at that time in the room. As I closed my eyes, I felt a loud flapping sound of wings and felt the sound of a strong storm knocking on my windowpane. It was dark so I didn’t get up. My grandson was sleeping by my side. He started crying as if he was dreaming. I tried hard to wake him up to come out of his dream. Though he didn’t get up he stopped crying. I could not sleep after that hence I started praying to make myself calm and waited for the morning. Around 5 am I prepared tea for myself and tried to look outside. I saw fingerprints on my windowpane.

On seeing this I recalled the whole incident and for the first time started believing in what the villager told me about the temple. At breakfast time, my daughter also narrated the same incident. The same happened to her in her room. Both of us planned not to go near the temple. To get away from the scary moments, we planned to visit nearby places and markets. We clicked pictures of natural beauty around. On the third day after breakfast, we left the resort for coming back home. This incident is still alive in my memory.