After Feeling exhausted after waiting in traffic for over an hour, I needed to catch train, but with the pace of movement, I doubted I would make it. So I decided to take a diversion through the woods since I was on my motorcycle, hoping to reach a parallel highway.
As I made my way through the woods, I noticed that it was not just a woods but a jungle that contained cremation grounds. In India, we burn dead bodies on pyres in the woods or on lakeshores. So, I rode my bike, gazing at each pile of ashes.
After a short while, I heard weeping noises near me. I haven’t frightened, as I didn’t believe mysteries that would make me brave or frightened. But the weeping noises seemed to be coming from a particular direction, so I looked toward it.
A short distance away, I saw some people sitting near a burning pyre. The pyre was larger than usual, most likely set by a wealthy family. I approached them, got off my bike, and stood near them.
There was a middle-aged lady of around 50 and a young girl of 20, and behind them there were two guys were sitting on a wooden log. Both the lady and the girl were weeping heavily, making them look traumatic.
I called the lady ‘Amma,’ which means mother in Tamil language, which we use to call older women with respect. She turned and looked at me with grief.
“Why are you still here at this late hour?” I asked her.
“My son and her father deserted us,” she replied. “.
But you should not be here at this time,” I said. She didn’t seem to notice my words and continued weeping.
Meanwhile, I heard some noises behind me. I remember hearing something similar when I parked my bike, but I didn’t pay attention to it, thinking it was just rats or cats.
I looked at the two guys behind the lady and asked them what had happened. They said, “When we were traveling in a 9-seater SUV, we had an accident, and her son left us alone here!” “But you should not be here at this time,” I repeated. The girl replied, “How can I leave my father all alone here?”
Meanwhile, I heard the noises again. But I didn’t pay any attention to them. I lost my temper a bit and asked them in a firm tone, “Okay. When are you people going to leave? Tell me.”
The lady replied, “When my son returns from home to collect all of our ashes, after we get a final glance of him, then we will leave the world, leaving my son here, who deserted us from this world.”
I was breathless. An alive breathless human. Yeah. I just swapped the alive with the dead ones.
I heard the noises again. I turned my head and saw a big rat chasing a kitten. My guesses were correct. But does it make a difference? now?
I walked slower with great difficulty, feeling like blocks of stones were tied to my legs. I got on my bike and started it. I turned a bit to get a glance from the corner of my field of vision.
There was no one there now! So I turned my head and looked at the empty place. Only the pyre was burning. Then, a burning wooden log rolled down from the pyre, uncovering the dead girl’s head. I saw her red-hot skull, and the flames coming from the holes of the skull made it look like she was laughing at me!