What happened on that day at this house?

The name of the village is Bhulabeda. When I mentioned this story, this village was in West Midnapore, although it is currently part of Jhargram. Most of the residents of this village, surrounded by forests, are tribal people, that is, people of the Mahato, Santal, and Munda communities. Most of the village people's lives revolve around this forest. Most of the trees in the forest are sal trees. They collect the leaves of this tree and make food for the ceremony house, while some collect wood or chalk from the forest and sell them in the market to run their family. A special type of livelihood here is ant eggs collected from the forest.

I will talk about that later. However, some people among them do not belong to the tribal community. However, when there are people, there will be a market, a market, and a doctor. However, the interesting thing is that no matter what you call that market or market, if you go there, your day is over; that is, if you go there, you will have to do all the other work of the day, pour water at once, and then go. Because that market is not far from here, but ten to twelve miles away. And the doctor is the village's quack doctor. The Mandal family is an elite family in that village. Their house is quite big, by big it is a house with a lot of space, two-story mud. Yes, almost all the houses you will see in this area are mud. Among them, there are various designs. And the outside of each house is very beautifully cleaned and cleaned with water, which, if you look at it quickly, you will mistake it for a pucca house. The house has vines and leaves painted in different colors. The village has not yet become a city. The people are quite simple, maybe they are still so simple because they have not become urban. The nearest village to the village is at least four miles away, and the previous village is also the same. A river flows just north of the village. The locals call it the Kasai River. But most of the year, there is no water, so if you go there at that time, the old man's feet will somehow sink into the river. But if you go to cross that river, you will have to go through a lot of trouble because of the stones under the water. And they are so slippery that if you are a little careless, you will break one of your hands or feet, or if you are unlucky, you can break both at once. In such a village, every evening, some old people from the village would come to the house of those mandals and sit and tell stories. They would tell different stories every day. Sometimes they would tell stories about their youth, and sometimes they would tell stories about the current state of the country and society. However, when the old man of that mandal's house would start telling some stories, everyone would listen silently. Because most of the stories he told were about some miraculous events that happened in his childhood village home. Many people had a lot of doubts about how true they were. Still, they would listen, because the old man had a special quality. Whenever he told a story or an incident, it would create such an illusion among everyone that no one could speak without listening. Another reason for this was that this old man was an educated man, due to which he had an influence or prestige in this area, so no one dared to say anything. However, there was one among them who sometimes opposed these stories. He was Bankubabu. The fact that he opposed these stories was not because of his disbelief, he opposed them because he thought that after listening to these stories, he would be quite afraid to return home alone at night.

It was on such a Paush evening that I was fortunate enough to be present at this evening chat. A friend of mine from my office and I decided that this time, during the Christmas vacation, we would not go anywhere outside, but this time we would go to some part of West Bengal. After a lot of research, I came to know about the Bhulabeda village. There is a very beautiful village fair held there on this Paush Sankranti. And besides, the natural beauty of the month of Paush here suddenly becomes as beautiful as a picture painted by an artist. After hearing so much, we could not hold back our greed any longer and decided to spend our vacation there.

So, we took a train from Howrah and got off at Jhargram station, then from there we took a bus to Shilda, and from there we took a trekker to Bhulabeda. My office colleague had already told us to go to the house of one of his acquaintances, and as soon as we went to that house and introduced ourselves, the people of that house got busy with us. We enjoyed the whole thing. If something like this is done with someone, then we feel like celebrities, and we start thinking of ourselves as such.

We went out to explore the village, and some young men from that village came with us. They started showing us around the whole village. We started capturing everything on our cameras, whatever we remembered. Then we all went for a walk towards the forest. Once there, we reached an empty place while walking. This place is quite clean. When we wanted to sit here for a while, the boys with us said, "No, Babu, you can't sit here." I said, "Why?" They said, "Babu, a sadhu Baba lived here a long time ago. That sadhu Baba died here. A man from the village saw his dead body here; there was a look of fear on his face, and his head was turned back. When he got very scared and reported the news to the village, many people from the village came here. But they did not see any more dead bodies. Since then, although the people of the village used to come here during the day, no one comes here after dusk." We both laughed a little. I thought that people still believed in these strange stories in this era. Seeing my smile, I still remember the words that a boy there told me, and when I remember, I still can't find an answer to his words. He said, "Son, you are a city person, you may not believe this, but it is true. Listen to what I have to say here, well, you tell me, if no such incident happened, then why has no one seen that saint since then? No one has ever come to where you are standing. But who keeps it so beautifully clean and tidy every day here? And this is not today's incident, you can see it whenever you come, be it winter, summer, or monsoon. You must have noticed that this Jaiga is located quite far from our village in the forest. If someone had come from our village or a neighboring village and done this work, we would have seen him by now, right?"

I could not answer this question because the words are not nonsense at all. And for a place where the livelihood of the people depends on this forest, if one side of this forest is closed to them like this, it is really a matter of concern. That day, we returned from there quite early. When we came home, we saw that there was a lot of commotion going on with our food. I will remember that feast for the rest of my life.

I had just finished eating and sat down to rest. At that time, an old man from the village came to meet us. I talked to him for a while. After talking, I came to know that the fair for which we had come here would start tomorrow at the 'Churi Dihir' ground. We would have to stay here tonight. Thinking that we would spend the night here, the people of that house were in great trouble. Because the house where we had stayed had only two rooms, one for living and one for cooking. Now, if we stayed in that house again for the night, we would need another room to sleep in, and the people of the house were worried about where to find it. And no matter what, a city person cannot be allowed to stay in such a house. The head of the house, after talking to some villagers, decided that we would spend the night at the Mandal house. For this reason, they also talked to the elder of the Mandal house. The evening of the month of Paush came down in a rush. Then, the forest area was a little cold, and the village did not yet have electric lighting, so we did not delay much and went to the Mandal house as soon as the day was over. The elder came out and welcomed us to his house. The old man was a little over sixty years old. He was quite tall; his complexion was neither fair nor very dark. The sparse hair on his head and the thick mustache on his face revealed his personality. He was wearing a dhoti and a Punjabi. A sweater and a chadar were neatly tied over the Punjabi. Three of his five fingers were wearing thick gold rings, and a thick silver chain around his neck. Looking at everything, it was clear that he was the elder of the most noble family in this village.

At first, we felt a little uncomfortable when we came to this house. It seems that Barababu understood this very well, so to ease our discomfort, he came to sit and talk with us. By then, evening had fallen, and since there was no electricity in the village, a lantern had been lit for a little lighter. This lantern was quite strange. And the white light of this lantern seemed to create a beautiful atmosphere throughout the house. Barababu came and introduced himself to us. Then he talked to us a lot. Where is our house? What is our name? What do we do? He asked about all these things. Then he talked to us about many things. However, as we talked, I realized that even from this village, he was quite knowledgeable about the outside world. After talking for a while, he said to us, "Let's go to our invitation to have a story." At first, we couldn't understand it and stared at him. Barababu explained the matter to us. Without any further delay, we quickly got ready and went to the invitation to have a story.

Although the surroundings were quite quiet, the insects kept calling loudly. Along with that, the chilly weather and the half-moon light falling on the trees in the distant forest created a strangely enchanting atmosphere. The fireflies in the trees in the distance increased their beauty several times. When we arrived at the meeting place, a few elderly gentlemen from the village were already there. After seeing us, everyone was very welcoming and seated us. But seeing everyone was elderly, my friend and I were initially quite unprepared. But then I thought, what else would I do when I went home? The mobile network was not working properly here either. We both sat here silently. In a while, a bowl of home-fried muri, two hot chops, and one raw chili each arrived for everyone. Now the story began.

First, the elder Babu introduced us to everyone. Then, in a few words, the story got quite interesting. At that time, someone sitting in a corner of the room said, "Barababu, don't you tell a story today!" Barababu asked, "Do you remember everything I have told you so far about your stories or Upen?" Upen said, and the man was about to say something in a daze, Barababu said again, "Everything I say is true, none of it is a story. I can prove it to you if you tell me." Another gentleman sitting next to him smiled a little and said, "I don't think Upen told you those things, thinking that. He wanted to tell a story about an incident."

I understood that Barababu was quite unhappy when I told him stories about the incidents. However, we intervened a little in the matter, and it was resolved there. Now another gentleman said, "Barababu, we have two new guests today. If you tell me an incident from your life, they would also like it very much." This time Barababu made a sad face and said, "They are city people, will they like this miracle of mine?" My friend immediately said, "Why wouldn't it be nice? Besides, we can be urbanites, we're not atheists." I also nodded in agreement with him. But this time Bankubabu got in the way, he suddenly said, "No, it wouldn't be good if we talked a little differently today." Everyone stopped him together. Borababu once again took a handful of muri and started chewing it. We also started chewing it and started enjoying Borababu's story. This time Borababu started telling an incident from his life.

Barababu began .......

First, Barababu looked at us and said, "A few years ago, I went to the city. There was no way to tell which women were married and which were single. In your city, married women forget to wear conch shells and vermilion. Sometimes, you can't tell if they are Hindus!" We both felt a little embarrassed. I said, "No, not all women, but some women don't wear conch shells and vermilion." Barababu didn't listen to us very well and started talking again, "But I once felt the power of conch shells and vermilion on women. I will tell you about that incident today."

We sat up a little straighter. Barababu began again, "I was twenty-eight years old at that time. I had just gotten married. Everyone at home told me to go out with my new wife to some place. This is what we call a honeymoon." Upen Babu exclaimed, "What is this honeymoon again?" "Going on a trip with a new wife for the first time after marriage is called a honeymoon in urban language and Madhu Chandrima in Bengali. Do you understand, Upen?" replied the old man, looking us in the eyes. Then he started again, "At first I didn't agree, then the elders of the house insisted a lot, and I agreed. But I couldn't understand where to go! Finally, after thinking about it, I decided to go to Puri. One of my friends, Pramod, was studying in the city again. When he heard that we were going to Puri, he laughed and said, "Why, when I heard that you are going to Puri, it seems that you have sinned by getting married again, and to wash away this sin, you are going on a pilgrimage." Hearing that, I also felt the same way, so I said to him, "Then tell me where to go." Pramod said to me in a mocking tone, "Listen, you are newly married, where are you going to go with your new wife, if not to the sea or the mountains, it is not going to Puri." Hearing that, I said, "Hey, Puri has both, there is the sea and there are mountains like Dhabalagiri." Pramod said, "Hey, why are you so stupid! Take your new wife to a place where you and your wife can spend some quiet time." I asked him, unable to find a way out, "Tell me where to go?" Pramod said, "Give me time today, I'll tell you tomorrow." The next day, in the early hours of the morning, Pramod told me about Gangtok. This was the first time I had heard of the place. He was a relative, he didn't go out much. On top of that, I was alone. Your aunt was nineteen or twenty at the time. If she were to stay, she would have to drag me around. Can I do it alone? I was thinking so much. At that time, Pramod said, "What are you thinking so much about?" I told him about my problem. Pramod said, "Don't worry, I will make all the arrangements." I said, if you can make all the arrangements, then I have no objection. You can see where the problem is?

Within a couple of days, Pramod made all the arrangements. Starting from the train ticket, where to go, how to go, everything. Even where to go, what hotel to stay in, everything was arranged by Pramod. The tickets were booked five days later. We started planning the trip. At first, your aunt was not willing. The reason was that she was allergic to the cold again. Later, she agreed when she heard that she would be able to see the snow. When she heard that we were going to a cold place, she took out so many clothes for us that they became two huge boxes. In those days, such wheeled bags were not available. There were only big iron tin boxes for traveling. I was worried. I was going alone. If I had to pull two such big boxes on top of it, would I travel or carry the boxes? Finally, after much thought, the elders of the house said to take our house help Hari with me. Hari is very reliable; he can pull our boxes and bellies on top of him. So, without thinking twice, I decided to take Hari with me.

There were two days left before we left home, and that night, an accident happened in our house. At that time, everyone was going to bed after eating, and Hari was about to go home after cleaning the kitchen, when a branch of the thick betel tree next to our door broke with a loud crash. Hari came running back into the house. We all ran to the door at the sudden sound. We saw a huge, thick branch of the tree breaking over the front door. Everyone was a little surprised because how could such a big, thick, healthy tree branch break without any storm or lightning? Everyone was looking at the branch, when suddenly my elder uncle discovered a very large footprint, which slowly moved towards our barn towards the back of the house. And the footprint was so big that even though it was human, it could not have been an ordinary human. We brought a light from the house and started looking at the footprint. Meanwhile, some neighbors around our house had also gathered there. Hari suddenly came from our house and told us how Ranjit was doing in the house. Ranjit was my second cousin's eldest son, meaning my first cousin. At that time, we were a close family. We all lived together. We all ran to the second cousin's house. I saw Ranjit sitting huddled next to the bed. It was clear that Ranjit had seen something and was very scared. But when I asked him anything, he didn't say anything, just pointed his fingers towards the broken branch of the bel tree and the back of the house with frightened eyes! Hearing all this, the elders of the house went and called a doctor. He gave Ranjit a sleeping pill like the one he had used that day and put him to sleep.

To be continued.