It was quite sometime now I was planning to have an outing. Both me and my wife Sujanya were hard pressed with work and needed a break. But coinciding our holidays was the toughest challenge. But one thing both of us were sure : the destination should be something exotic and less known, where there would be just two of us and nature, nothing else. Finally there was a 3 day weekend in November and both of us understood we could manage one more day off from our bosses! Great, I started the planning.
Browsing the sites I found the name Karwar, a less known beauty just South of Goa, ideal for the kind of place we were looking for. Digging further I chanced upon a resort in Karwar which had only one review which is grand and the resort looking picturesque from the photos. The adventurous self raised its head inside me and decided to go for the less tried one. Before finalizing just thought will call Sujanya once.
"Hey, I have found a nice location and a nicer resort."
"Where"
"Karwar.. the resort name is Near-yet-Far"
"What? Are you sure it will be nice?"
"Karwar I am very much sure. You know,Rabindranath Tagore had written his first play in Karwar"
"What about the resort?" - well, she knew me. She was the one who suffered most because of my adventures!
"See baby, I am taking a chance. I have selected the most picturesque but least reviewed one."
"Can't we go to a more trusted one?"
"Please, please. I promise there will be nothing this time."
"It is impossible to change you. Go ahead what you want to do. I have some urgent work to finish today, if I want my holiday" - she banged back the phone!
Now the booking. No online link, just a phone number. Called the number half expecting to listen from a trained voice in English. Instead there came a 'hello' , loaded with local accent. Anyway, told the voice about our plan in a single breath. Answer was surprising - "Are you sure?" . Yes sir, you don't know Amit. Once you said that I was even more determined. Replied "Yes, please go ahead. How to do the payment?". I understood from the voice that I could settle my bill once I reached there or even while leaving from there!
The day for our Karwar trip had come. We reached Karwar and in the auto stand seemed none of the autowallah had heard about the 'Near-yet-Far' resort! Well, this experience was not new for us, in fact very common since I choose the craziest places. Always! I was having chat with autowallahs in all the languages I knew, unfortunately they understood none of them except my sign language. Sujanaya was calmly enjoying her cold drink, she was quite used to such situation now. Suddenly she shrieked! A very old and horrible looking man was standing in front her, staring unblinkingly at her face. She was pretty by any standard and quite used to ogling but the situation there was really unnerving. I tapped the man at his shoulder and he said, like a man in his dream "Finally the time has come". I recognized instantly the voice I talked over phone. I said "What?†He said "Never mind, I will take you to the forgotten resort, come with me."
And so we were traveling in the rickety auto on a bumpy road driven by the mysterious driver. But man, what a road! The idyllic beaches between the road and the bluest of ocean I had ever seen can make anybody forget all the things in the world. The sun is setting on Arabian Sea. The fishermen were coming back from sea from their daily routine. Sea gulls were returning to their nests at the small rock islands dotting the sea line. I glanced towards Sujanya. I was too familiar with her current mood.Appearing to be furious on surface for my craziness but pretty much enjoying within. She looked her loveliest in this mood. Isn't this the life worth living for? Traveling on a heavenly road with the person you love and beloved most. Nothing more I wanted than to kiss her at that moment. I am sure her thought were not much different.
All of a sudden my romanticism vanished by a combined attack on all my senses. I felt sudden cold, smelt the pungent smell of dried fish and seen a huge alsatian inside a gate which said "Near-yet-far Resort". Once I recovered from the triple attack on my senses I understood the auto had come to an halt and Sujanya holding my hand tightly; she also must had experienced the sudden changes as mine. The autowallah smartly gone inside the gate, petted the alsatian and gone inside the watchman's cottage. The sun has completely set by now. Suddenly the dried fish smell became much more prominent and Sujanya covered her nose with her hanky. Then I understood the reason. There is a man with the autowallah now and he is the source of the smell! Strangely enough he greeted me in chaste English. In next five minutes I understood he was the resort owner and manager, we were welcome to stay there; Day time he remained busy somewhere else but there would be no problem since all the arrangement would be there; We could call the autowallah any time we want; We might need to reheat our food in microwave oven; Rex the alsatian would guard the resort; He was a rabbit to resort inmate but a tiger to any intruder; Finally there were two tombs at the back side of the resort; We were not permitted to go there since it was dangerous; Anyway we could't go since Rex wouldn't allow!
At this moment Sujanya removed the hanky off her face to take a proper breath. I saw an impossible sight. The smelly but courteous and alert man became dreamy in front of my eyes in two seconds. Much like what you see in movie when a man was chloroformed. I could hear the voice of the autowallah from the darkness behind the smelly manager "The time has come". In a split second the manager disappeared into the watchman's cottage telling the autowallah "Please show them their room."
As soon as we entered the room Sujanya declared : "I don't like it".
I said "What?"
"The whole thing. I smell something fishy"
"I agree but only literally." continued with a smile "but we have stayed in much weird places earlier. Remember the night out at cave in Western Ghats"
"Stop it, don't irritate me with the old memories" - I am sure she regarded it as one of our happiest memories, but too much on her nerve now.
She continued "Why the man won't be there at day time?"
"Let him bother about his business. Actually I am liking it. Imagine, just you, me and the beach"
"What about Rex and the tombs?"
"There is a full graveyard near our house in Hyderabad. And you know I like dogs" - she understood it is useless to fight with me and went towards the bathroom to freshen up.
Shortly the smelly manager came and declared dinner is ready. It was too early but we were tired and hungry. The delicious dishes were impeccably arranged on a neat table but no one to wait at the table. Never mind, go on. Suddenly something told me someone's eye burning my back. I whirled around and saw the manager staring at Sujanya's face. The look is exactly same as the autowallah's when he was staring at Sujanya today afternoon. Sujanya also saw it now and grabbed my hand under the table. I reassured her as best as I could. She said "Let's get back to our room quickly".
We were dead tired and were just waiting to hit the bed to pass into deep slumber. Don't know after how long, I found Sujanya was shaking me and whispering into my ear "Hey, wake up!
"What happened?" - too sleepy to bother about anything.
"The fishy guy is outside our room."
"Yes, I can smell him" - gained consciousness to some extent.
I understood what my wife was telling. There is a silhouette of a guy just outside our glass window. He had tried his best to blend into shadow. But the guy's eyes were burning like pencil torch in low battery!! It was barely visible across the glass but it couldn't be my illusion. I didn't dare to speak it aloud. I might scare my wife out of her wit by doing that. Just hoping against hope she hadn't seen it. The last trace of sleep had left me by now. Suddenly I found the two pencil torches were being pressed against our window. The guy was peeping into our bedroom. At this point I lost my senses. That was too much. I told my wife: "Do not scream for my sake!"
And then in a single swift movement got up from the bed, crossed the gap between bed and door beside the window and opened the door in a flash. Here was the guy peeping into our bedroom. He heard the sound of opening the door, turned towards me and my heart skipped a beat. There is only a formless shadow hovering in darkness and two glowing eyes. I tried to be steady, to keep control over the situation and shouted:
"What the hell you think you are doing? Don't you know you are invading our privacy by peeping. What kind of crap you are who peeps into a couple's bedroom at midnight?"
"Extremely sorry Sir, believe me I don't have any bad intention. Your wife resembles somebody very dear to me" - the dried fish smell at its extreme.
"Just get lost from here and let us have a peaceful night. If I see you again near our window I shall make a FIR first thing tomorrow morning and ensure nobody ever comes to your resort"- just blabbered it out, not very much confident inside.
The formless shadow with two pencil torches near the top of it retracted and it might be my wild imagination of my sleepy brain but I heard it mumbling something like "won't let her go this time". A cold chill ran down my spine and just hoped Sujanya hasn't heard it or I heard it wrong. I came back to bed. Sujanya didn't say a word and lied down and closed her eyes. The she said:
"I didn't know you are so brave."
"Not bravery, I was out of my senses."
"Whatever ... I know you are tired. But can you please hold my hand till I sleep."
In no time she is sleeping soundly. But I couldn't sleep anymore. I couldn't let anything happen to my beautiful princess. The rest of the night passed without any event and at the first sight of sunlight I gone out with my camera. Early morning is always best for photography. Something inside told me at day time everything was safe.
When I came back I found my wife awake and sitting on the bed, visibly confident in daylight. She said something totally unexpected:
"Do you have your binocular?"
"Yes, why?
"Wanna see our backyard."
Still perplexed, handed her the binocs and she gone towards the window on the backside. In two minutes heard from her:
"Hey, come here."
"What?" - said after reaching where she was standing, binocs on the eye.
"See it" - handed me back the binocs.
Seeing through it, first I noticed only Rex. And then I understood her intention. Behind Rex there were two white things. I understood those were the tombs.
"Can you read anything?" - she understood I focused on her object of interest.
"Yes, on the bigger one M__ Abraham; can't read the other one".
"Exactly .... now let's go out for morning tea. Hope the manager will be nowhere to be seen now."
In the daytime it was impossible to imagine the horror of the night. The resort was indeed picturesque. However, clearly it was not maintained properly and the pictures were taken when the resort was new. We both were in dire need of a holiday and enjoyed the solitude of the resort beside the golden beach and the blue Arabian Sea. After breakfast had some fun and frolic in the beach and during the entire morning could not see a soul except us and Rex, if you discount the fishermen in the ocean whose boats were looking like specs. Had lots of photo session of us, nature, birds, crabs,abandoned boats, islands, resort etc etc and suddenly our growling stomach reminded us it was lunch time. Asked Sujanya carefully : "We still have time, do you want to shift or face another night of horror?"
"Nope, I am ready to face anything for this solitude. And I have a feeling I have some unfinished task here" - she replied dreamily and suddenly I felt my darling is drifting away from me. But I also wanted to see the end of this mystery and was happy inside for her decision.
We had shower and then in the dining hall we were reheating our lunch. Rex also was having his pre-arranged lunch in one corner. Suddenly, without warning, he bounded towards Sujanya. My father had a dog when I was young and I know basic dog characteristics. I understood his approach was very much friendly and he just wanted to play. But my wife didn't have that knowledge and next moment she was standing on the table screaming at the top of her voice. Rex was standing on his hind legs with his front paws on table, tongue sticking out. I laughed and said "Come on Sujanya, he just want to play" and extended my hand towards her. Quite unexpectedly Rex's eye became menacing and he started growling to me. I understood instantly. Dogs don't understand laugh. They take laughing as aggression since it shows teeth and here Rex thought I am trying to hurt Sujanya. And another chilled flow ran down my spine, since I understood Rex also thinking her as someone he knew for long time. Just like the autowallah and the manager!
I begged Sujanya "Please come down Darling, else this brute will tear me apart. Believe me nothing will happen". She came down nervously and immediately Rex put his mouth on her lap. I signaled Sujanya to cuddle him. From my knowledge I know an alsatian may be friendly towards strangers, but this gesture clearly indicated the dog knew the person long enough. I was in serious dilemma now, whether to leave this cursed place at once or wait for another night to let the mystery unfold. Finally, I decided to stay back, preparing mentally for another dreaded night.
Another round of photo session after lunch. Seen the fishermen coming back from sea. Quite strangely none of them landed close to our beach. As if they were avoiding this place. I checked through my binocs, few of them looking towards us from distant and the looks on their face clearly said : "What this man and the woman doing at the cursed place". I didn't tell my wife about that! While I was taking the last shots of sunset suddenly I got the fishy smell and seen the manager standing at the resort gate. Strangely enough I hadn't seen him coming from any direction!
Sujanya did an unbelievable thing now. Gone straight towards him and asked like a bullet : "What is your first name, Mr. Abraham?"
"John Abraham" - he said before recovering from the sudden attack. Sujanya could not suppress a giggle. Sure she was comparing this smelly man with her favorite hero. But then she asked steadily "Whose tombs are there in the backyard?" His eyes flashed to such an extent I was scared to hell. I could only congratulate Sujanya for her braveness.
"See Madam, you are invading into my privacy now. But since I myself crossed your privacy limit once yesterday, I shall answer your query. There lie two of my dearest persons. Please don't ask me anymore for your own good" - he retracted towards darkness without a single word more.
We spent the evening inside our room chatting. Long time we had not chatted to each other like this and quite enjoyed the evening. I brought the dinner to our room to avoid last night's experience. I found Rex is closely guarding our room as his most precious belonging. I understood he was guarding Sujanya as a lost and found treasure and fortunately did not consider me as a danger anymore. We were bracing for the night!
But nothing happened in the night. I woke up in the morning feeling something hot on my face. And I got the biggest surprise of my life! I was lying on the sand outside the resort. Sujanya was lying beside me. The autowallah was sitting near us guarding us from the sun by his auto. The sun changed its angle and a ray of sun was falling on my face. I was worried about my wife immediately. The autowallah understood my concern: "Don't worry Sir, she is alive and unhurt. Let her sleep as long as she want. Here is your luggage and here is a letter from LATE Mr. John Abraham."
The immediate thought came to mind was breaking the skull of this autowallah with the stone lying nearby. The spoiling of our holiday, the horror of the night, the preparation for another night, then the anticlimax and finally landing on a beach under a open sky - somehow I held responsible this autowallah for everything. I understood that was not logical and decided to have a walk before opening the letter. I paced up and down for 5 minutes and applied all anger management techniques. Finally in a calmer mind I opened the letter. My wife was still sleeping peacefully.
The letter said : "Dear Mr. Amit, first of all I apologize for dumping you on the beach. Believe me I have done it for your own good. Else tomorrow Rex would not allow you to leave. Or I should say Rex would not allow your wife to leave and would tear you apart if you try take her away forcefully."
"I was a middle class man from Goa happily married and had a beautiful daughter and the ever faithful Rex. I always wanted to have a beautiful property by sea shore. That should not be big, something just enough to provide our daily expenses. My wife also wanted the same. We saved our income for life and built up this small resort in Karwar. The next day we moved from Goa to Karwar our happy and lively daughter committed suicide without giving a slightest hints to me or her mother. I still don't know what she left in Goa without which she decided to end her life. All sorts of investigation proved beyond doubt it was a suicide only. We decided to put her on rest on our resort itself. The day we put her into grave my wife could not bear the shock and committed suicide herself. I put her into rest beside her daughter. Those are the two tombs in the backyard. Your wife exactly resembles my daughter. Men can do mistake, but you have seen even Rex considered her as his lost sister. "
"I was a strong man and despite my twin tragedy I continued running the resort. The autowallah you know is Suketu. He is the son of my father's servant. He had grown up in our house and became more of my friend than servant. He also moved to Karwar with us and had started doing the work in the resort. Those are the time when the details were uploaded in the website which you had seen. Off-season, to forget my pains, I started going to sea with the local fishermen. After I learnt the tricks of boat I started going alone. But I was inexperienced and suddenly one day my boat capsized and I died instantly" - I was trembling uncontrollably in broad daylight after understanding I spent time and talked with a ghost. The ghost writer continued "My body rotted unnoticed by anyone clinging to one of the small rock islands along the seashore. That is the reason of the fishy smell of my body. Though I never felt any presence of my daughter and wife after their death I understood I became a ghost."
"Everybody including Suketu knew I was lost in sea and he was scared to his core when he saw me again in my ghost form. I explained him everything one night. His riendship and devotion towards me won over his fear. He agreed to up keep the resort and Rex. He started driving an auto also. This place was termed haunted and fishermen stared avoiding the beach. Locals forgot about the resort. Suketu talked with one priest about me and the priest told I am not able to leave this world because I could not forget and forgive the person I loved most, my daughter. I still have a grudge against her for committing suicide without letting me know anything about her sorrow. I can be rescued only if I can forget and forgive her."
"I consider your wife as my daughter. I know it can't be reincarnation because she was already born when my daughter died. But the resemblance is something incredible, which even perplexed Rex. I can see her happy with you. After seeing her, I know now my daughter must be happy somewhere. And finally I am able to forgive my own daughter."
"Please pay Suketu the expenses for my last rite. I understood my days in this world has ended. Amen - LATE Mr. John Abraham".
I was so dumbstruck I did not notice Sujanya got up and reading the letter over my shoulder. I came to senses hearing her heavy breathing. We along with Suketu went to the nearest church, completed the last rite of Mr Abraham and gone back to Hyderabad on that evening. We hardly talked on our way back. Next day I got a call from Suketu.He informed Rex also died the day we left from Karwar and Mr Abraham's ghost was not seen anymore. May all their souls rest in peace.