Continued from Mahua Memories..
Diri and Lakha couldn’t stop giggling like children as they
gathered the flowers. Both their gamchha
now weighed heavy, soaked in the fragrance of the flowers. Busy
inspecting if there were more that they could gather, they both were so lost
that they didn’t quite see the looming shadow that moved from one of the
branches of the tree to the trunk.
The shadow was descending from the tree along the trunk and
was almost about to reach the ground, when Diri sniffed a peculiar smell.
“Ewwhh, maybe there’s a dead animal somewhere nearby, there’s an odd smell in
the air. Maybe it has taken to rot”, she said covering her nose with her palms.
“Don’t move”, Lakha whispered in her ears, “and don’t
speak”. Slowly gathering themselves, when they found each other’s hands, he
silently moved her head to see to the right.
He had spotted the shadow that had made its way to the
ground and was now standing in its full stature, just beside the Mahua tree. And
by the silhouette, they could not understand what it was. To their horror, the
figure stooped down and what seemed in the fading light beneath the canopy,
started crawling towards them!
“Ayo go! Bonga yaa!
It’s a ghost!!” screamed Lakha when he couldn’t contain his fear any longer and
pulled Diri by the arms before he fled for life. Panting for life and steps
ahead, when he turned back a minute later, the monstrous shadow was following
them! His legs felt heavy.
Soon the shadow outpaced them and now was running along with
them and when escape seemed next to impossible, Diri stopped and pulled Lakha
back.
“What do you want? Just don’t take my husband or me”, her eldritch
screech dipped in fear demanded.
“Arrgghhhawhawwhhaaww”, sound of gurgled laughter came out
of the shadow. Then out came a hand pointing towards her gamchha. “Diri”, the voice said sweetly.
“Even though it’s a ghost, I swear I have heard that voice
somewhere else. Maybe in my own head when the spirit was rambling around our
house planting the idea of gathering Mahua on an ominous full moon night”, Diri
almost sobbed when she thought to herself. And out of sheer insanity of the
thoughts following, she suddenly caught hold of the hand of the shadow and
pulled it towards ground. Something had taken her over as she started throwing
her hands and legs on the shadow with all her might. Passing out but for a
moment, Lakha joined her almost immediately and after a few cries and gasps and
fists flying in the air, they found that it was a woman they were mashing and
not a shadow!
Lakha was so surprised when he heard the shadow crying, “oh
leave me, help, help, it’s just me Bini”, that even though he recognised the
voice as Bini’s voice, he couldn’t stop the rhythm of his hands and legs
beating the body up.
“Why! Bini, it’s you?”, raged Lakha.
“Why did you scare us? We were so close to death!!”,
exclaimed Diri.
“Hold on hold on! I scared you? It’s you who scared me”,
Bini’s tired and pained voice screamed. “I came to gather Mahua in the night,
was tired and hungry and don’t know when I dozed off. I wake up and what do I
see? Two shadows giggling and dancing under the tree!! Now who wouldn’t be
scared at that sight! Tell me!!”, she charged.
“Hey! Maybe we giggled but we never danced. Dundhi Bini, you are mad and foolish in
equal proportions”, shouted Lakha.
“And on top of that you ran after us, what explanation do
you have for that?”, questioned Diri.
“Well, when your husband shouted and you both ran off, I
recognised it’s you two and started running with you”, said Bini innocently.
“You had almost killed us Bini, we’ll settle the score in
the village but as of now, let’s leave from here”, Lakha said decidedly,
looking at the never-ending argument they were looped in.
“You go ahead, someone in the village might see me coming
and throw stones at me again”, Bini’s naturally soft voice now sounded firm.
“No one’s going to throw stones Bini, a bad allegation
doesn’t survive. You can’t stay in the forest forever, right?” reasoned Diri.
“Things have changed while you were away”, said Lakha.
“Let’s walk, I will tell you”.
“Bini, your husband’s allegations didn’t have enough to
prove anything against you, the manjhi
himself said it. Cooking up stories is not going to help. If you come back, at least
there will be a re-hearing,” Lakha tried to explain in the same words he
remembered from the panchayat sabha.
“It’s just that, I have a proof against her today”, said
Diri calmly.
“What proof!” Bini exclaimed.
“Aren’t you the spirit on the Mahua tree that leaves her
nectar in the flowers every night?” Diri laughed as she saw Bini caught by surprise.
The generous laughter of the man and the two women echoed in
the outskirts of the forest. They walked towards the village, their voices
gradually fading by the dust on the village road. A hint of red spread over
the hills, as if the colour had leaked at various spots from the distant hills.
With the birds chirping on the branches, the forest slowly woke up to life. The
fragrance of the flowers was still fresh and the shades of green and white
played hide and seek in the soft rays of the rising sun. A white crane on one
of the branches fluttered its wings and flew away and at once, a plump Mahua flower
dropped from the tree on the ground, “dwoop”.
