I would have continued writing about the next day with the trek towards the next camp site but nope I just couldn’t do that after what we experienced that night. It was one of the most memorable ones!
So after sunset was dinner. We all sat down and kept chatting. In between we would call Tarang ‘Haldiram’ but he genuinely would advocate it saying, ‘But yaar, you must come to Nagpur and have their pizza’! Bhim, Navadeep and Showmik were in one tent and the tent cover zips were ripped off. So they got a tent a little above, right next to Tirth’s tent.
As we were eating came the stories from the team. And I am not at all joking about this. Himalayas has it’s share of wandering spirits and souls and there have been many encounters. We heard it in Rupin Pass, where the trek lead Himanshu spoke of a tea house we were supposed to stay at, but was completely abandoned by trekkers and stood desolate and alone. There was an eerie feeling as we crossed it and we didn’t know then but later that night, Himanshu sat us down and spoke about it. We were like, that Tea house is right next to us!!
Similar stories of Deorital also came out of our previous guide Manojji when I was in the kitchen tent with the staff. It was so scary that I remember I was shivering when I went to the woods past midnight, where the toilet tents were, literally shivering! I heard one of the Goechala camp site stories from a trek lead who experienced it first hand.
And now Pankajji told us, weird things happened in Syalmi campsite. He told us that except the kitchen team, none of the villagers would stay back at this place. By dusk all would go down. And I did notice that. At one point I saw the locals building a wooden house right below the campsite and by evening all of them left. Even the kitchen team, once our batch moved, they would pack up and move out. It was cursed.
Normally I would think it was superstition, but Tirth experienced it through his team, trekkers experienced it. He categorically told us, that if we were to go to the toilet at midnight, you must take someone with you. And check if it’s the same person! We were like what??! He also told us that if anyone taps the tent or calls out your name, don’t ever open it! Ever! None of us will disturb you guys at night or nor will we call out. There were migraines, headaches, completely lost in their thoughts when trekkers encountered these spirits. Riddhi and I looked at each other in dismay!
The story goes, there were nine or twelve women, all sisters who loved the same man. The villagers got together and burnt them alive! So these women were still wandering around. Pankajji experienced it himself. People would wander off, you wouldn’t know if the person sleeping next to you in the tent was a spirit! It went on and on. A child who was in the tent sleeping with her parents at night went missing and in the morning they searched and there they saw her way below nicely tucked in a sleeping bag as if somebody did that.
After that, each one had their own reaction. Anuj would be like Tarang, tu aa raha hai na?( you are coming right?) and Dharmik would be, chal saath mein chalte hai(let’s go together!) I asked Tarang, are you the protector or what?? He said he would sleep in the middle! 😁 I remember right after Anuj went out of the dining tent he would call out loudly, Arre yaar baahar aao!( Come out!) No one wanted to be left alone!
It truly unnerved us and Bhim said Navadeep could sleep in our tent, I nodded but I was not sure if that would help. Anyways after dinner, we completed our business and didn’t want to get inside the tent. Spirits or not, the open sky was too beautiful to be cooped inside a tent.
Almost everyone went inside while Bhim, Riddhi and I went a little away from the campsite to do some star gazing, Navadeep joined in. We were just looking up in awe. The sky was not fully clear yet it was so beautiful. Showmik the Bengali dada joined us. We asked him if he got scared hearing all these stories, he said Nahin Nahin, but truth to be told, we were a little rattled by it and it felt good to be together.
Then it started. Showmik out of the blue mentioned a video that went viral. He started asking if anyone saw the paragliding video. Except me, the rest saw it. What was it about I asked? Here is where everything went ballistic!
Our man not only narrated but also demonstrated it with moves! He went, So thees man na? He goes for this paragliding, and once he gets on tooo eeet he gets so scared, he says ‘ Arre bhai neeche utarna hai( I want to get down!) to the instructor, lekin kaise? Woh to upar hai na! Phir uske baad dekhna thees guy keeps on shouting ‘ bhai hazaar le ko, muje neeche utaar do! But thees instructor keeps on saying Bhai pair( legs) upar kar! Pair upar kar na! Lekin kaha sunega!!
Tho then he starts shouting, gusse se, abey madarchod pair upar kar! Pair upar kar! And Showmik says all this with action! Kicking his legs high! Woh bol raha tha Pair upar kar saale! And thees maaan doesn’t listen bas he goes on saying Nahin bhai muje neeche jaane do! Abbe pair upar kar saale!
I am so sorry but I can’t do an English translation on this, I tried but I can’t! OMG! I kept laughing and laughing trying hard to control myself but failing, Riddhi went bonkers, she crouched down and laughed loud, Bhim was swaying holding his stomach and laughing at our man’s narration! I don’t know about the video but our man Showmik’s narration would have gone viral! We laughed and laughed till our stomach and cheeks hurt. At one point I felt I am gonna rip my stomach with so much laughter!!
Then at that moment, Tirth walked in saying hey I heard laughter from the kitchen tent, what happened. Guess what? Showmik narrates the entire video AGAIN! Seriously we felt we would fall and roll all the way down! You think a second time narration wouldn’t be as funny, but it was! Our insides were churning with so much activity thanks to Showmik! That man was something else only!
With all that laughter, our fear just went away! Bhim was teasing Showmik, listen those wandering spirits ladies are going to come after you only with your chikna face, so cute you look!😂😂
Later when Navadeep came into our tent to sleep, we told him, it’s not required we are ok now. Navadeep instantly commented, Arre I came all the way down and now you tell me’ and he left. Riddhi and I looked at each other and laughed! Besides the fear going away, it was our luggage, nicely occupying different spaces in it’s own haphazard way and to get in another person meant tidying up and we were too lazy and comfortable to do that. 😊
Ghost stories followed by comedy, it was an evening and a night to remember! And yup I had to write about this as a separate blog because it deserves every bit of it. Until tomorrow 😊
Nyssa - The Beginning 