Chapter 4: An Old Friend!

Shiva stood up immediately. He knew who it was. It was his childhood friend, Raghav.

Raghav had a tall height and wide chest along with his well built muscles and had a slightly darker complexion than the rest. He was the son of Mr. Ranjit Rao, the famous sweet maker of the village.

Raghav came in holding boxes of sweets.

" Clear the way!, clear the way! "

He kept the boxes of sweets and by now he had seen the guests. As he scanned the room, his eyes fell on Shiva, he found him a bit familiar as Shiva waited for him to recognize him.

" Meet him," said Ramkrushna," He's Raghav, such a hard working lad!,"

Raghav shifted his gaze from Shiva and smiled at the compliment while Shiva felt a little disheartened that his childhood friend didn't recognize him.

" Raghav, meet them, he's Girish uncle, that is Vandana aunty, she is Shruti, he is Mohan and he is—,"

Ramkrushna was shortly interrupted by Raghav.

" Let me guess, and he is....., Shiva,"

Shiva looked up.

" You know him?,"asked Girish.

" Yes Uncle, we were childhood friends,but I wonder if he remembers me,"

" Of course I do," Shiva spoke as he came forward and hugged him.

" Where were you all this time?,"

" Mumbai,"

" Living in big citiy huh,"

Just then Ramkrushna kept his hand on Raghav's shoulder.

" Raghav will tell you everything about the village, he knows the village more than us,"

" Yeah, surely I will !," said Raghav.

" I shall leave now, I have some other deliveries to do, meet me when you get free,"

" Yes, I will," said Shiva.

Raghav left and Shiva looked down trying to hide his grin, he was so happy that even after all these years his best friend has not forgotten him.

" All of you freshen up, the lunch is ready," said Anjali.

...

Everyone had their lunch and then Shiva sat chatting with his recently met brother, Varad.

" You took so long to come back,brother," Varad said.

" I know, I always avoided coming here because...,"

" Dad told me about that incident, sorry to hear that,"

Shiva was surprised by the fact that Varad knew about the incident.

" I've heard that the doors of the temple were opened at that time too and now...,"

" Yes, there is a legend about the spirit that protects the temple,"

" Legend?, tell me more about it,"

" Well...., I don't know much perhaps Raghav could tell you about it,"

" Yeah, I was planning to go at his place now,"

" I see,"

" Where's Mohan?,"

" He went to sleep,"

" Okay.., I'll go then,"

Shiva headed to Raghav's house. It took him a few minutes to reach his house as the house was located in the market area of the village not so far from Shiva's uncle's resident.

Shiva reached the house. The house had the sweet store joined with it. The store was closed as it would always be in the afternoon. It was the time when everybody would take a nap.

He knocked at the door.

The door was opened and it was Raghav standing in front of him.

" Hey!, come in," whispered Raghav.

Afternoon was the time when the villagers would take a nap and so did Raghav's parents.

He silently led Shiva to his room which was at the first floor. And he went to the kitchen as he was preparing tea.

" Yea!, have some tea,"

" Did I disturb you?," said Shiva as he took the cup.

" No, not at all, I don't sleep at afternoon," said Raghav as he sat holding the cup of tea carefully.

" No, I was talking about your studies,"

" Studies....," Raghav looked down.

" Why, what happened?," Shiva spoke after taking a sip.

" You know the people in the village, luckily your uncle is an exception,"

" What do you mean?,"

" My dad is happy with his business and wants me to take over it after him," Raghav placed the cup on the table.

" I see, that's the matter, tell me, what do you wish to do?,"

" I like wrestling, in fact, I'm the best wrestler in the village, everyone knows that,"

" Why don't you talk to you father about this,"

" He will say no, I know for sure,"

" Difficult situation huh,"

" I know, but I secretly participate in the wrestling competitions held in the nearby towns,"

" I see ", Shiva looked down then asked,

" there is something that I wanted to ask you,"

" What is it?,"

" Uncle told us what is happening in the village, but, what is this spirit?, and what does it have to do with the Vasusthala Temple?,"

Shiva placed the cup on the table and waited for the answers.

" I see there are a lot of questions in your mind, and I can answer them but there is a person who can help you better than me, he'll answer all of your questions,"

" And who is that?," Shiva asks leaning a bit forward.

" The Librarian,"

" Librarian?,"

" Yup, he's the one who knows the history of this village better than anyone here," Raghav told.

" So let's go and meet him,"

" Surely we will but he's out of the village, he shall return overmorrow,"

" Okay then,"

" Yep, let's enjoy the tea for now,'

******

It was now evening, the bright blue sky had turned into yellowish orange as the sun came down going behind the tall mountains that stood at a far distance.

Shiva had a nice talk with Raghav. Shiva was coming back to the house and saw his Uncle, Ramkrushna and the Sarpanch having a talk. He could tell that they were having some really serious talk as the faces of both the men wore a concerned look.

" They must be talking about the Spirit," he thought.

As Shiva entered the gate the words fell on his ears as he was at an audible distance.

" Did you tell Girish's family about the circumstances?,"

" Yes," said Ramkrushna.

" The police investigation is going on, I hope they would find out who opened the doors,"

" They should as quickly as they can,"

" The sun is going to set, I shall leave now,"

" Take care,"

Both the men finished the discussion and Mr. Gokhale made his way out.

" Hey Shiva!, did you visited Raghav?," Ramkrushna asked.

Shiva wondered how the concerned face wore a smile again so quickly.

" Yes, we had a nice talk,"

" Good to hear that,"

******

It was 9 pm now and the family had their dinner and sitted watching television.

" Dinner was so delicious aunty, even better than the food at the restaurant," said Mohan.

" Yes, really it was," Vandana said.

" It wasn't me who cooked the dinner, it was Geeta," said Anjali.

" Really?, that was a surprise now," Mohan spoke.

" Don't try to butter me up Mohan," Geeta said.

" It is what it is!,"

" Time to sleep now, enough watching T.V, it's late already, and where is Girish?" Ramkrushna spoke.

" He went to sleep already," said Vandana.

" Okay, I hope everyone knows where there rooms are,"

Ramkrushna's house was quite a big one, it had many rooms that he brought into use. The house had a pretty big hall along with the kitchen which were at the front side of the house and two rooms which had a common wall between them and a passage leading to the other two rooms which were separate, one was at the right and the other at the left side of the passage, at the end of the passage was an exit door and at its left was the washroom.

Anjali and Geeta were given one of the two rooms that had a common wall at the other side were Girish and Vandana. Ramkrushna in the room at the right side of the passage and Shiva, Mohan and Varad in the room at the left side.

The lights were turned off and everybody went to sleep.

******

It was almost 2:30 in the night Anjali woke up and went to kitchen to get some water. The streetlamp at the front of their house used to flicker. As Anjali was drinking water, from the glassed window she saw someone standing in front of the window as the flickering light fell on the window.

She got scared and dropped the glass that she was holding. The light flickered again and the shadow had disappeared by now she picked up the glass and went to Ramkrushna's room.

Girish and Vandana woke up as they heard the sound of the glass and the footsteps.

She knocked at the door and after a few seconds the door was opened.

" What happened?," asked Ramkrushna.

" Someone was there, near the window of the kitchen," said Anjali.

Girish and Vandana arrived.

" What happened, why are you so scared?," Vandana asked.

And by the time the three boys came hearing the nuisance.

" I saw something, someone. I don't know who it was, but it seemed as if he tried to enter through the window,"

" What are saying, it must be your delusion," said Ramkrushna.

" No, someone was there I'm sure,"

Shiva looked around carefully as he would always do at such situations.

" Let's check then," said Ramkrushna.

"Yes," joined Girish.

They had done their search but found nothing.

" Perhaps it was a theif trying to make a robbery," Girish suggested.

" Could it be the spirit?," asked Shiva.

" No, the spirit only roams around the forest part near the temple," Ramkrushna explained.

Shiva looked down thinking something.

" It must be some theif and don't worry he'll not come again as he is now aware about the number of people in this house," said Ramkrushna.

" Yeah, he's right," said Girish.

" Don't worry, sleep now," said Vandana to Anjali.