The Village!!!

I am driving down the Mumbai (Bombay)-Pune highway. I feel thirsty and so I set out in search of water. There is this village which I enter near the banks of a quiet and serene river flowing steadily, its cool breeze hitting my face. But strangely so the village is very quiet and no person can be seen on the village roads. However, there are small little huts (typical to what you find in those parts of the country) scattered over the area that the village must be covering. At one moment the whole set-up upsets me a bit as it looks pretty deserted and a scary.

But then it strikes me that India plays against Pakistan today and in which part of India would you not find a similar situation. How stupid of me! I say to myself and start walking again. There's this typical stink in the air which draws your attention time and again. The breeze is cool and the soil is wet, the roads are not muddy though. I hear some people chatting and shouting at intervals from a nearby hut.

I can see the flickering light of the T.V from the slight gap at the bottom of the door which is partially ajar. Some light from a low powered bulb is also seen against the other light. Wondering why the bulb is lit at this time of the day, I walk towards the hut eager to check out the score (forgetting my thirst for a moment). I knock on the door and it opens up with my slightest knock. A whole bunch of villagers suddenly look back at me and gape. Slightly embarrassed with the stupid action of mine, I try to cover it up with an awkward smile.

A tall, well-built guy, in his mid seventies probably gets up and smiles at me as if he was expecting me all this while. He invites me in and calls for his wife. The wife, without me asking for water gets a jug full of nice, cold water. I quench my thirst fully and then have a look at the T.V. The set is an old one, the typical black and white "Bush" generation television. I find it a bit odd and laugh at the political party's slogan of "India shining". However, there are more odd things that I experience in the next few minutes!

It's India's batting and at the crease are Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth! I vaguely remember, that India is taking on Pakistan on this day after a gap of almost 6 years. But where are our players? I think that they are showing some old match between the two legendary rivals. The channel is tuned in to Doordarshan (not NEO Sports). I am further zapped when I see "Live" written below the famous DD logo. I can't hide my amazement any more and i jump up asking the elderly man about it.....Why are both these players at the crease? Why aren't Sehwag or Gambhir opening? I don't, however ask why are they watching DD (considering that if there's still a B&W T.V here where will the poor guys get a cable connection from).

At that question, the man smiles at me first and then there is a roar of laughter in the room. The laughter is somewhat demeaning and cruel. There is a pain in the laughter even though they are laughing to their hearts content. At that moment some of them turn towards me taking their attention away from the set. And I fall back, my head hitting the ground, everything turns black..and I pass out.

I get up to see some people standing next to me and the surroundings look like the same old hut I'd entered. I open my eyes to see the old man staring at me, his wife standing next to him. The faces, when they turned towards me were half eaten, half rotten, pale white and some even had blood all over their faces!!! The old man starts telling me the story...

The village was hit by a wrathful flood some 40 years back. Everything was annihilated and no one in the village survived. However, the love of their village brought back all the villagers after they were dead! All of them, whom you have seen today at my place are dead people. I almost pass out again at that statement, but gather the courage to ask, if even they were dead? The old man starts laughing hysterically, this time even his wife joins in. I am confused. I don't know whats happening.
He points out towards my clothes and my head. I bend down my neck to have a look at them. There is a biting pain in my neck and the left of my head. I see that my shirts torn and full of dry blood. I have a deep cut on my head and the blood around is still fresh! The man finally tells me...that I had an accident on the highway. I was declared dead after some 5 minutes of the accident and that I was continuously asking for water!!!

I fall unconscious again to wake up in my bed. I check my head first, no wound. No torn shirt as well.....:)