The Dak Bungalow

The boys were excited to be spending a week of their summer break in a forest lodge, surrounded by tall deodar trees, at a quaint hill station nestled amongst the imposing mountain range. The hill station was built mostly around one main street known as the Mall Road with shops lined on either sides, and most shop owners living in the apartments built on top of the shops. Perched on a ridge overlooking the Mall Road was a hundred year old church, the chimes of its brass bell tolled every hour ringing through the Mall.

The lodge had plenty of dirt paths going past it, so for two curious boys there was much to be explored. Every morning after eating a hearty breakfast cooked by the lodge keeper, Ganga Ram, the boys would take off for their adventures into the mysterious wilderness where the whispering trees beckoned them. 

Their parents had nothing to fear for the hill station had a small population, where everyone knew each other, and the crime rate was non-existent. Somedays the two walked to the Mall, which was a mere mile’s walk and browsed through the shops, particularly the old bookshop which had books old and new, or the ice-cream parlor which served the best Hot Fudge Sundaes.

“Do you think tigers live in these hills?” asked twelve -year old Shaan excitedly. He was the older of the two brothers and more daring. “Wouldn’t it be so cool if we came across one.”

Nikhil, mostly called Niku, nodded in agreement, but he got goosebumps thinking of coming across a tiger, he hoped fervently none would come their way. But he would never let his older brother know that he was scared. 

One bright morning, the boys left the lodge armed with a lunch sack of sandwiches, crispy apples and a flask of lemonade, they were going to find the waterfall that Ganga Ram had said was not too far away. He told them to follow the gurgling stream till the point it turned into a waterfall. It was the perfect day for exploration, the woods smelt of pinecones and the trees whispered secrets to the woodpeckers who were hard at work. 

Shaan gingerly touched the crystal clear water of the stream with his bare toes. Brrr…it was freezing cold! But then with a mischievous grin, he bent down and cupped a handful of the ice cold water and splashed it on his brother. Niku shrieked as the cold water ran down his back. Amongst shrieks of laughter it turned into a splashing game and soon both the boys were soaking wet. 

All the splashing had made them cold and hungry. They found the perfect spot in a clearing which was carpeted by soft grass and decided to stop for lunch. The sky was blue and cloudless, the sun felt warm on their wet cold bodies. They could see the hills and valleys for miles around. What was that they saw hidden amongst the trees? Was it a house? 

After lunch they decided to find out. Following the path, they came across a bungalow which looked desolate with its chimney crumbling and cracked window panes. The white wrought iron gate stood slightly ajar, A rusted sign reading, ‘The Dak Bungalow, 1818. No Trespassing’, was hanging precociously from a nail. The overgrown garden had gone to the weeds, the roses, lavender, camellias had intertwined into a big thorny shrub. 

“A hundred- year old house, let’s check it out,” whispered Shan, grabbing his younger brother’s hand excitedly, leading him down the overgrown path. Niku struggled to free his hand. The house did not give him a good feeling. He did not want to go inside, but his brother pulled him along. 

Shaan pushed the front door made of sturdy teak wood. It opened with a groan of protest. The stale smell of dust and invaded their senses. Tentatively they peered inside, hoping no one was around. In the dark of the room, they could make out a cabinet stood at the corner of the room along with an armchair by the fireplace.  Shaan felt the wall for a light switch, till he found one. He switched it up and down but there was no power. Suddenly they heard a door bang. Both jumped in fright. 

“Run Niku, run,” said Shaan as they both ran out of the house and onto the path. They felt footsteps following them so they did not stop running till the lodge was almost in sight.

“Why are you running like the chudel herself is chasing you?” asked Ganga Ram, busy putting the daily washing on the clothes line.

“I think someone was chasing us,” replied Niku, holding his stomach to catch a breath.

“Why would anyone chase you?” laughed Ganga Ram.

“Ganga Ram we were in an abandoned bungalow, the one that is on the other side of the hill, when suddenly….” 

“You went inside the Dak Bungalow?” asked Ganga Ram incredulously a look of fear crept into his eyes. “Promise me you will never go there again, do not go even close to that place.” 

“But why?” asked the two boys in unison intrigued.

Ganga Ram looked around cautiously, and then whispered “Many moons ago a sahib lived there happily with his memsahib.  He was a young and dashing Army officer and she was beautiful and kind. However, sadness befell that bungalow when the memsahib died at childbirth. The young sahib was heartbroken, for he loved his wife a lot, and now she was gone and had left him with a little boy, their son. He couldn’t bear to live in the Dak Bungalow where the memories of his wife haunted him, so he took his young infant and went back to the big city. The bungalow was left ignored and abandoned, but all the village people swear that they can hear cries of the memsahib coming from the house. They say her spirit yearns for her son. No one from hereabouts has gone inside that house in seventy years.”

Shaan and Nikhil gaped at him with their mouths hanging wide open. They had actually gone inside a haunted house! 

“We went inside a haunted house today,” said Niku to his parents that evening over a game of scrabble. “Ganga Ram told us the memsahib’sghost haunts it.”

“There are no ghosts or haunted houses,” replied Dad, dismissively. “It’s all idle village chitter chatter.”

“I’m also sure the house is not haunted but as it is an old house that has been left alone, so might be structurally unsafe,” advised Mom.

The days were going by fast, and in two days the vacation would be done and the boys would go back home. They wanted to make the most of the time and they explored far and wide. They did not get to see any tigers but they saw a Sambar deer with its set of magnificent antlers hiding in the tall grass. The boys and the deer stared at each other with curiosity. Shaan took out his phone to take a picture; he wanted to show it to his friends. The deer scared by the movement took off running.

 Darn… the picture was blurry. He ran behind the deer, with Niku following him. The deer led them all across the hillside and then it disappeared from sight. Evening had set in, tired from all the running, the boys decided to head back to the lodge. 

Trudging slowly down the path they found themselves yet once again passing the Dak Bungalow. It stood as quiet and dark as before. All of a sudden a light switched on in one of the upstairs room. Both the boys froze. Did somebody actually live there?  They saw a faint outline of a boy about their age through the fluttering lace curtains. 

“It’s not haunted,” exclaimed Shaan. “Let’s go inside and see who lives there.”

“Remember Ganga Ram told us to stay away,” Niku was not about to go in after what Ganga Ram had told them.

“Niku, Dad said there are no haunted houses, and I can see the boy standing at the window,” insisted Shaan. “He’s looking at us. Oh look he’s waving.”

Niku looked up at the window. It did seem like the boy was beckoning them to come inside. So they walked down the overgrown path and pushed the door open. This time it did not creak in protest, as if it was expecting them. Shaan looked for the switch and turned it on. The room flooded with light. The armchair upholstered in a deep burgundy velvet was covered in dust. Cobwebs hung from the unused brick fireplace, some bricks having fallen off the crumbling chimney. On the mantelpiece was a photograph in a blackened silver frame with a cracked glass of a dashing young man and a beautiful young woman. Both the boys felt a shiver go through them. Their instincts were telling them to leave the house. They both turned to leave but then the power went off.

“Hello anybody here!” called out Shaan trying not to panic holding on to Niku’s hand who was also trying hard not to cry. He turned the flashlight of his phone and looked for the door. There it was, they both hurried towards it and pushed. But the door would not budge. Shaan turned the rusted knob but it simply fell apart in his hand. 

How were they to leave the house?By now panic had set in. Niku was sobbing and Shaan was trying very hard not to. They walked around the length of the room, there had to be another way out. And then they heard a plea.

“Help oh please get me out of here,” It seemed to come from upstairs.

“It must be the boy we saw,” asked Shaan. “He must be in trouble, let’s find him.”

The brothers went up the landing and pushed open the first door. No one was there. The lace curtain was fluttering from the wind coming in from the cracked window, but the bed had not been slept in a long time, for it was covered in a sheet of dust. Shaan switched on the light but there was no power. 

Where was the boy they had seen standing at the window?

They heard a woman’s loud sobs coming from the landing. There seem to be other people in the house, but where were they? Why could they not see them? They went back out of the room, at the far end of the landing they saw a woman. She had long dark curly hair flowing down her back. Her back was towards them and she was walking holding the hand of a boy. It seemed like the boy from the window.

“Hey, wait up,” cried Shaan, flashing the flashlight towards them, but they did not seem to hear him. “Come on Niku let’s go talk to them and tell them to unlock the front door.” 

As they started closing up, the woman and the boy walked right into the wall. They were gone. The house was filled with loud pathetic wails, “Don’t leave me… oh please!!”

 The boys knew they simply had to get out of this house, they ran down the stairs to the front door. But the door still would not budge. 

“Shaan use your phone, call mom, tell her to get us out of here,” pleaded Niku tears running down his cheeks. 

The boys felt a surge of hope as Shaan dialed their mom’s number. “Hello Mom, yes we were coming back but now we are stuck in the Dak Bungalow, the door won’t open. Can you come get us out of here? Please come soon, we are very scared!” 

“Mom said she and Dad are coming with Ganga Ram right away,” Shan reassured Niku, as the brothers huddled together by the door and waited for what felt like eternity.

“Madamji here we are,” said Ganga Ram pointing to the abandoned bungalow encased in darkness.

Mom felt a shiver go down her spine, the place was giving her the jitters. She could not believe that her boys would go inside a house like that. Ganga Ram and the parents walked the overgrown path and found the front door ajar. Tentatively they stepped in, but the room was dark, they could make out the shape of an armchair by the fireplace and a cabinet in the corner. 

“Shaan, Nikhil where you guys?” called out Dad. “We’ve come to get you.” 

But they were greeted by a heavy silence. Mom went running up the stairs, opening every door. Every room was empty. Where could her boys be?

“Boys we are here, where are you?” she asked in a loud panicked voice. They ran up and down, checked every corner of the house but the house was empty like a shell. There was no sign of life. 

“Maybe they went back to the lodge, after all the door was ajar when we got here,” suggested Dad.

Huddled by the front door, Shaan thought he heard his mother call his name but it seemed to so faint come from so far away. Maybe it was his imagination that he heard his parents’ voices. 

 “I remember I was but a mere lad when a boy had gone missing, he too was last seen wandering by the Dak Bungalow,” an old man was overheard saying as the people of the hill station put up missing posters for Shaan and Niku the next day.