PAVANPUR AND GHOST - Vaman Acharya (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud TXT) 📗

Have you seen a ghost?
Here is a place called Pavanpur town on the bank of river Pavani, where you find a ghost in the midnight in one of the houses located in the bank colony. It is reported that the things are suddenly moving around, noises are being heard. There is feeling someone nearby watching, touching and something is floating in the air. The presence of ghost in the bank colony has created a fear among the residents. The elders and children have become very much scared and are spending sleepless nights.
The captioned news was published in prominent news papers. A team of university research students went to Pavanpur which is a small town with a specific purpose to study on the existence of ghosts.
“Who said ghost do not exist?” asked team leader
“There is no evidence of having seen the ghost physically. “Replied a member
“Even after 5000 years since the creation of the world, still it is undecided whether the spirit of any person appears after death.” Another member replied
“It is really a challenging task.” Said the team leader
“Unless I see the ghost physically, I don’t accept the people’s view that there is a ghost.” Team member said
It was a great topic of discussion among the members of the team. All such argument was against it; but all beliefs were in favor of it. The team members were actively participating in the debate arranged in the community hall. Very few learned community from the town agreed to the team. Others just ignore it because of the lack of knowledge on the subject. On the final day, the team conducted a survey on the existence of ghost. It was revealed that about 95% of the population was in favor of existence of ghost.
Pavanpur has a population of about 35000. The town became famous on account of variety of reasons. There was a strong belief created in the minds of the public that the ghost was living in the corner house bearing number 2345 located in the Bank colony. The learned people of the town started a campaign to create awareness among public especially among the youth. But their efforts did not give fruitful results. The reason behind it was majority of the people had a strong belief on the existence of ghost. Ultimately with great disappointment, the so called few knowledgeable persons left the matter on the wisdom of the majority people and stopped further argument.
The construction of the house number 2345 was completed about ten years back. It belongs to a local businessman. He purchased it from a bank employee. Soon after purchase, he dismantled the house and constructed a new one. After the completion of the construction about nine years back, the owner had decided to let it out. People were afraid of staying in the newly built house. Nobody had guts to stay in that house. It was vacant for one year. The existence of ghost was first noticed by the watchman. Vastu expert had opined that the house was not constructed as per the vastu shastra. Another person said a ghost was residing in the house. The watchman reported his horrible experience to the owner of the house. Immediately, out of fear he had resigned the job. The story goes back to last nine years. An ex-service man of the army took a bold decision and lived on rent. Within six months, he lost his beloved wife due to the fear of ghost. Following year a young married girl died due to fear because of the presence of the ghost. The third tenant who was an old man died on hearing a sound presuming it a ghost’s voice. Another tenant coming from Kashmir met with the similar fate. The list of victims went on increasing without break. During the span of nine years number of people vacated the house and it was vacant for about a year. These tenants were occupied with a challenge to fight with the ghost. Who knows whether the presence of ghost was there or not? There was a gossip among the residents of the town that the occupants in the house would certainly face the dangerous situation. The house was vacant since then. One fine morning, the owner of the house put a board “House on Sale”.
One day there was surprising news in the local paper that the building was sold. On that day, there was a huge rush for purchase of the news paper. All the news papers copy was sold in the first hour of the morning. The residents of the town were really surprised to know the bravery of the purchaser. He was none other than a research student, who visited the town along with a team sometime back. He was pursuing higher studies on the existence of the ghost. He wanted to educate the public by taking up this onerous task and desired to proceed in a scientific manner. He selected the house with the sole intention of experiencing the reality and to get input to write a research paper. The University had given approval to take up the research work and provided a guide who was a renowned professor.
It was a talk of the town among the residents and most of them got some information about the purchaser of the house. He was described as a man of courage. Others praised him as a man who took the bold step to face the ghost. Even some people appreciated him as a bold young man. Some people were under the impression that his parents must be proud of their brave son. Yet another section of the people abused him for taking such unwise decision only to end up his life. Other section of the society blamed him for choosing the house and even decided to advise him to cancel the deal. There were some people, who preferred to be non committal and desired to watch the developments.
People in the town were very much eager to see him. One person was closely watching him in front of his house. One day the occupant of the house was coming out and getting in the car. The person who was observing keenly described him as a tall guy and by appearance having robust personality resembling like a spider man. He further even expressed as the man he never saw in his life. People were keenly watching his movements. His daily routine includes visit to Hanuman Temple and chanting Hanuman Chalisa.
After few days news was spread in the town that he had a wonderful dog of rare breed. On the very next day there was news that he had a hearing problem. Because he was using electronic equipment fitted to his ears. It was clarified immediately that he had no hearing problem. The instrument was an ear phone to hear music from the walkman. The rumours spread that some defect was with his servant. The news of this courageous man was not merely ordinary news to the residents of the town but an important event for them. Therefore this kind of news became a story as well as poem and an article worth to be published in the magazine. In fact the servant was sturdy like his master and did not have any defect. It was further told that he was not a servant. He was a childhood friend of the young man and staying with him only to help in cooking and give him company. He was an ex-service man and just retired from defence service. He cultivated his art of cooking since a long time. The residents in the locality were very much eager to see the wonderful young man, his servant and the ferocious dog.
Pavanpur was a peculiar place and having its own specialties. The residents were proud and they were under the impression that there was no place like this in the whole country. This kind of expression was not an exaggeration. The place was prominent because most of the residents were engaged in ancient as well as modern art, literature, music, dance and sculpture. All the ten thousand families with a population of about 35000 were busy in one or the other activities. Few persons in the town were also experts in spreading false news from one person to another. These persons were having mean nature to spread false news and derive enjoyment out of it. Even these persons interfere in the dispute of brothers and encourage both sides to continue the misunderstandings.
One more specialization of Pavanpur was out of the ten thousand families nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine families were not adopting same culture, custom and their standard of living was different mainly based on the income of the each family. These residents were neither belongings to affluent class nor lower class. But in practice, every family feels higher than others. There were very few rich families. One among them had employed 125 persons in various enterprises like agriculture, trading and small industry.
Pavanpur town had good number of stories to reveal due to the behavior and attitude of the residents. Because their social structure, political awareness, nature of living and attitude towards the external world was entirely different. The inhabitants exhibited a special status of their own. This place was best suited for those who think of innovative ideas and desire to implement it with true spirit. Pavanpur was even called as a model town in view of its special qualities.
It was not surprise news about the terror building, which was not sold for the last nine years due to series of murders one by one in mysterious circumstances. But now the building is sold and naturally it has become surprising news. Good number of boys and girls of the town went to USA and other western countries for pursuing higher studies in engineering, astronomy, space and computer science etc. One boy was doing doctorate on the people’s faith in the superstition from the University in USA. He too was surprised to know the information about the sale of terror house in his home town. He was further surprised to know how his father’s friend was successful in selling the building to a courageous man. He too had disbelief in the existence of ghost in the house. He even told the residents of the town to be bold and give up the impression of the ghost. He wanted to send good wishes for his courageous act to the young man.
Some of the residents of the same locality were under the impression that the new owner of the building may join with them after some time. One young man was keenly observing his daily movement’s right from morning to evening and waiting for the opportunity to meet him at the earliest. Ultimately, he was successful to some extent and found out the name and telephone with the help of name board displayed outside the building. He came to know his name is Narendra and decided to obtain other information by making a telephone call directly.
After six months from the date of occupation of Narendra in the terror building, suddenly news was spread in early morning that his associate had fired two rounds in the air with the help of his licensed gun. As a result of this, one passerby injured instantly and nobody reported the matter to police out of fear presuming the act of ghost. The family members of the injured person decided to seek opinion and relief from the local political leader of the town. It was somehow settled through the intervention of the leader. After a week, all of