Gulmohar Sadan

Facebook Notification popped up on my mobile screen.  Ah, a new friend request, not again this time..oh pls.. I sighed. But the name sounded familiar - Arav Dutta. I began racking my brain hard to recall where had I heard of him before. Clicking onto his name,  I landed on his profile. We have two mutual friends, it displayed. Upon further browsing, I found those mutual friends to be my schoolmates. I had lost contact with my schoolmates quite long back and some of them were mere friends on Facebook now. So, here and there a glimpse of their whereabouts always flashed in the news feed and I hardly gave it a damn.

What I loved about my childhood was the chaos in the city and yet the serene residential area that thrived within it’s boundaries, that still preserved the culture of the city intact. Every festivity was celebrated with great pomp and joy.  This was often perceived as an opportunity to socialise and mingle among the residents. Quite famous were the Gurba-dandiya during Navratri , Diwali and Christmas where people flocked at each others’ homes and also thronged the stalls late in the night. Quite a show of festive gesture!

Recently I had moved back to this sprawling city of Mumbai on account of my official transfer and I wholeheartedly looked forward to pursue my dream job here. The entire city seemed so lively in contrast to the other places I had stayed so far. It seemed to enliven the good old lively memories of my childhood. Soon I managed to book a nice residence in the heart of the city. It was much of as surprise when I happened to bump across an enthusiastic agent who proactively arranged for a meet with the sellers and helped me strike a decent deal for a flat in 'Gulmohar Sadan' . Felt so proud to own a home that too within such a short span of search, when I was hardly hoping to get even a rented place.

Everyday my work kept me busy from dawn to dusk until I managed to pull myself away from work by my 5 pm, each evening. On the way back I often shopped for fresh veggies and cooked myself a decent meal. Left overs were packed off as lunch for the next day. Always I had my dinner accompanied by the daily soaps and often dozed off on the cozy couch after a heavy dinner. It had become a routine that I loved my life after work enough to stop seeking any better career prospects floating in the market.

First few days went as usual, but after a few weeks, I started getting sudden buzzes on my phone or either doorbells rings, right in the middle of the night. These incidents drove away my sleep and I used remain very anxious for the rest of the night wondering who was the culprit. The calls or the doorbells used to buzz sharp at 12:00 am. The door binoculars did not reveal anybody’s presence though I pressed my eye for a good deal of 60 mins trying to capture any movements outside my door.

Firstly, I suspected my agent to be playing a prank on me to frighten me off, as it happens in metro cities. But slowly on enquiring from the neighbourhood, I realised he was one of the respected entities of the town and doubting on him was next to insanity. Even to me, he seemed to be a genuine sort of person and it would have been unbelievable to doubt on person of such caliber, who was rich and respected in the society. Next on the doubt list were the mischievous kids in the colony. But there were hardly any kids aged older than 7 in the whole block. So it was again impossible for any child to reach the height of the doorbell. Next, I suspected the vegetable vendors or any sales man who would have tress-passed the area at odd hours. Again, the community was gated and under surveillance.

“Yes, on surveillance!”

Upon realising this, I soon approached the security guard of the building. He was one of the fattest guy I had ever seen. It was usual for him to take hours to get off his seat, let alone go and play pranks around, that too in the middle of the night. So, it was utterly nonsense to even doubt on him. I asked him if I could get me a copy of recording of the entire night watch captured by the cam. He laughed off and asked, 
“Ma’am, do you think we really spend on cameras especially when you have a heavy security like me dispatched to guard the block for the entire night? And still you think someone charging you Rs 300  for maintenance per month would actually install camera in the first place?” 
He chuckled.

I was apprehensive by now and just left the spot hopelessly. The buzzing episode continued almost everyday and it almost took away my entire night’s sleep. Someone at work also suggested me to check if it was due to some paranormal activity. Now, I wasn’t a great believer of spirits or its entities. But there was no other reason I could think of. Next day, I tried contacting the owner of the home to check if there was any abnormal incident in the past of that home. They attended my call normally and spoke really sweet and calmed me down of my fears. They said there was nothing bad about that home or the neighbourhood and put all my fears to rest. But the recurring incident of the night had made me go crazy and sleep deprived. I tried staying at my friend’s (colleague who turned into my confidante soon) place for few nights, but i wasn’t really feeling good since I knew I had to return my usual home one fine day and stay in the night. 

Then one fine night, there was a loud tapping on the main door and that scared the shit off me. I locked myself inside the remotest room in my home and tried calling up my team mates. But to my surprise the network turned so worse, there was no signal to reach out to anybody. I chanted every possible prayer till my energy drained me to sleep. Next morning, muttering up all courage I just opened up the main door and was shocked to find  blood stained palm prints right on my door. I was so nerve wrecked, my immediate reaction was to tap my neighbours door. But there was no response what-so-ever. And I ran all the way to the security guard. The dozing guard grunted back to me as if I had just seen a nightmare. Gritting my teeth, I just fled to my friend’s place as usual after packing my few essentials.

After a few days, I mustered enough courage to return back home along with this friend of mine. Both of us stayed throughout the day and retired to bed early that night. It was sharp 12 am and the clock pendulum struck the musical chord. My heart was pounding as usual and anticipated the tapping or buzzes to go on anytime soon. Sooner than expected, the tapping started with all might on the door. The sound woke up my friend who was terrified at what was happening. She was the gutsier kind and wanted to check on who was outside the door doing this menace at this unearthly hour. I was so shaken, that I almost pleaded her to let this phase pass and to capture any possible information by staying within the door limits just using the binoculars or either the key hole.

An adamant that she was, she just stepped out of the door after convincing me to keep calm and the door swung tight right behind as she stepped out. I almost led out a shriek and tried opening the door with all my might to pull her inside, but it seemed as though someone held it close with mightier force. I just let it go and collapsed on the floor awaiting some bloodier mess. But right at the next instant, the door creaked open and my friend just walked in, closing the door with the same sleepy look. I shouted at her as to why did she step out to face a disaster on her own and all she let out was a laugh. Upon grilling her further as to what she saw, who was it outside…., she just appeared irritated and went off to sleep ranting, 
“The worst has just passed. I am so sleepy..”

Seeing her behave so negligently, my fears disappeared for the moment wondering if the reason for occurrence was extremely silly. Throughout the night I analysed about different reasons that might have been an answer for the anonymous ring and door taps. Alas my mental anxiety just dazed me off to sleep. In the morning, I got up and prepared my usual breakfast of scrambled eggs. Tried to wake up my friend and she seemed to be in a deep slumber. I watched my favourite daily series till the morning changed to afternoon and soon it was four in the evening . I suddenly realised my friend was still sleeping. walking upto her bed, I just shook her up…

”Lazy bone… just wake up…. Now getting up for few minutes at midnight does not certify that you lost a lot of sleep .. hello wake up…. Just eat something at least…”.

Her body seemed cold. And countless shaking seemed to have no effect on her. I soon alerted my other team mates and also called the doctor. The doctor straightaway prounced her dead after checking her pulse and I jolted severely. The police team reached my home and took me to the station for further interrogation. Meanwhile the body was sent for post mortem. I just did not have any details for most of the questions. My entire team just stood by my side throughout. I almost broke down and was benumbed. I described every shuddering details to the police department including the door tapping, the blood stains found one morning, anonymous phone buzzes… and the investigation team seemed to find this case all more intriguing. I even told them my neighbours were unresponsive. 

Next moment, we all landed up at our neighbours door and police tried ringing the bell and tapping the door. Then they called for the security guard, who informed them that he had no idea about the owner’s whereabouts since the flat was lying vacant since the past 10 years. The police broke the door open and searched inside throughly. In the hall, there were dried stains of blood on the back of the door and on the adjacent walls. And a contact card lying in the open wardrobe. The contact card read – Arav Dutta.

The police contacted him and his narration sent a chill down my spine:

He used to stay in the home where I was staying presently and the owners from whom I had bought the home were none other than his parents. The reason behind the sale was purposely hidden as no families from the native Mumbai even came forward to buy that flat. Reason being, one of the brutal incident that happened in the next door.  There was a spinster who stayed alone who was slaughtered by the previous security guard on one midnight. The entire incident was hushed up by the housing society who were scared of the bad reputation that would attract this community. The offender just fled the city and has been on the run till date. Ever since that night, there used to be strange cries emanating from that home, so much that even the adjacent people vacated the home. The prospective owners put up this flat, where I stayed, for rent. So many families entered the flat only to vacate it unconditionally in the next few weeks.  Gross shrieks, thuds and taps on the door shuddered many a bachelors and families who tried living in this home. And the home where the girl was murdered remained closed for ages; for the owner had shuddered at the very mention of the incident and delayed to come down to check his flat . Eventually owing to his old age, he passed away and there were no takers for that home.

I shuddered at the mere thought of having ended up buying this home without proper enquiry. Just then the inspector received a call from the post mortem lab and appeared all more anxious. Turning towards me, he led out a sigh and said,

“Your friend died of choking and the lab results state that she passed away yesterday at midnight 12:00 am.” Hearing this I collapsed on my knees as I uncontrollably recalled the change in her behaviour the moment she had walked out of the door that midnight.