The Encounter

By: Randeep Wadehra

He looked to his right and then to the left.

Nothing.

He heard heavy breathing and the sound of someone climbing the stairs near the opposite wall.

Amar took out his revolver and removed the safety catch. He crouched and moved silently towards the direction from where the sound was coming.

"Who's there? Stop or I shoot."

"You had said the same thing last night, remember?" An amused female voice replied.

Amar fired. The report echoed in the empty hall accompanied by a soft, almost inaudible chuckle.

The room lit up in a bluish light. A woman appeared on the carpeted stairway as if by magic. She was glowing in the blue and white halo that enveloped her. She began to climb down the stairs. Her steps were measured, like she had been used to the place for ages.

She was exquisitely beautiful. Large eyes, chiselled facial features, full mouth, sparkling teeth and long, rich, flowing tresses. She was dressed in Rajasthani ghagra-choli - colourful, embroidered, glimmering with pearls-and-mirror work.

She was the same woman Amar had met the previous night. Yet somehow she was different. He was wonder-struck with her beauty.

"Who are you?" Amar asked, covering her with his revolver.

"Sandhya."

"Sandhya?"

"That was my name, when I had entered this palace as a twenty year old."

"Are you a princess?"

"Was. The queen of this place, when the British ruled India. But before that, as a teenager, I was a commoner. Daughter of a foot soldier."

Amar looked at her intently. Was she real?

"The king was childless" she continued, "He urgently needed an heir, who must be born to a Rajput mother. So I was chosen. My father said it was an honour to be the heir's mother. I was yet to fall in love with someone. But I had my dreams. The dreams of tender moments in cool full moon nights. Of being in the arms of a handsome mate..."

Despite himself, Amar couldn't help asking, "But the king was old, wasn't he?"

"Yes. Old, ugly and a boor. A sadist. Had no respect for my feelings. Took me every night as if only his lust was sacrosanct. His lust, and the heir's arrival. I burned with rage for being treated like a raand... a whore. But was helpless. When my mother came to meet me, I cried in her lap. She could only weep with me, for me. She too was a woman, equally at the mercy of the so called gallant men."

Sandhya moved towards Amar. He felt no fear. For the first time he became aware of the tinkling of her anklets and her body's subtle, enchanting fragrance.

She looked into his eyes and smiled, "Yesterday night you didn't allow me to see your wife. Today I saw her. Charming. And your child... that's how my son looked when he was born. Chubby, pink cheeks...tiny hands, angelic smile... But unlike your wife I wasn't allowed to feed my child. A wet nurse was employed. I seethed with fury. Why should my milk go waste? But that was the custom. I wanted to avenge the destruction of my dreams. I wanted to hurt the loutish king. Soon I got my chance..."

She placed her hands on Amar's shoulders and continued, "I poisoned my son when the wet nurse was away. And then I also took the poison. I wanted to inflict mortal pain on the king. I wanted him to weep for the rest of his life as I had... funny I could see our two bodies - turned blue, when they entered the heir's room. The king cried in impotent rage. I felt avenged."

Amar began to move back, avoiding the woman's hand. Was Sandhya alive or dead? Was Jaswant right about spooks? And all those ghost stories, more real than imagination?

He asked, "If you're dead, how come you are here? This fragrance, the tinkling anklets..."

She laughed, "All this is a mere make-believe, what the sages refer to as Maya. You live in a false world. Evil. Deceptive. Cruel. Come to my world where all passions are becalmed. There is no need for these weapons. They are worthless anyway as you just found out. We sing and dance and live as we please, free from all want. No power struggles, no ego problems, no deceit."

"If what you say is true, then why did you show your grotesque and evil aspect last night?"

"It was just a play. No harm done, or was it?"

"No. Not really. Tell me, are all in your world free of passions?"

"Yes. Indeed."

"How come?"

"Simple. We no longer have to perform any karma. Whatever we were destined to do was already performed when we lived on the earth as mortals. Now we await the result of our actions."

"So, you become free from all worldly obligations. And now you are in a sort of limbo. Momentarily free from the vagaries of destiny, and yet waiting for the next cycle of fate-bound existence. Then all is tranquil and worry-free in your world?"

"Oh yes."

"Have you met the Almighty?"

She laughed at his naivete, "No. He doesn't live with us. His is a higher world that only a chosen few enter. These fortunate ones become free from the life-and-death cycle, and live in perennially sublime contentment."

"And you. Aren't you worried of the consequences of your actions as a mother and a queen?"

"No. One must not regret one's actions. Only learn from their consequences. Whatever will be my next birth I hope to be a better being."

"Will you be able to recall this resolve in your next birth?"

"Maybe not. That's why our destiny is preplanned here itself, so that we get to choose our actions - good or bad. Accordingly our fate will be moulded on the earth as well as after death."

"There seems to be a lot going on in your world."

"Would you like to come with me?"

"No. I've my wife and son to think of."

"Your wife and son... hmmm!"

"Why do you say that?"

"I was thinking aloud. Yes. Love. Both of you love each other, don't you? I saw that this morning when I came to your place."

"So it was you..."

"Of course."

"And you were at the aerodrome too?"

"Yes."

"You say that your world is merely a transit camp. Then how come the spirits I saw dancing around the blue bonfire at the aerodrome are still in your world?"

"What do you mean?"

"People say that they are the ghosts of those who died in the world wars..."

"Rumours. Those who died in the world wars or even in the subsequent conflicts have long since moved on to their next destinations. What you saw was a new group from recent communal violence."

"They were dancing, and not mourning or howling with anger..."

"Don't judge us by your standards. Along with our bodies we shed our attributes too, barring one - mild curiosity."

"Curiosity?"

"Yes. We are always curious not only about our fate, but also about people's reactions when they face us."

"You love to scare people."

"No. In fact we don't like to scare them at all. We just observe their reactions. We keep changing forms, which confuses you..."

"But there are good and evil spirits."

"Not true. We cannot benefit or harm you, or anyone else in any manner. We have no control over anything - material or otherwise."

"Then all those ghost stories..."

"Imagination. If someone comes to harm, it is only because he loses control of his senses on seeing us. We are incapable of hurting anyone."

Amar Nath looked at the door. The storm had stopped.

"You're lucky. As is your wife." Sandhya interrupted his thoughts, "Tender and genuine love is the best gift one can have in your world. But it's so rare. I wish ..."

She fell into a brooding silence.

"I think I should go." Amar said looking at his watch.

"Yes. It's going to be dawn soon. I too must leave for my world. Remember, sooner or later all mortals must pass through my world. They stay here for a period, then leave for their respective destinations...final or transient. You'll have to do the same when your time comes."

She smiled at him and slowly melted away.

It was dark again.

Amar holstered his revolver and stumbled out of the room.

Jaswant lay on the cabin's sandy floor in deep slumber.

Amar woke him up gently.

"Wh... You are back?"

"Yes. Let's go."

"But didn't you see any ghost? And what took you all night?"

Amar laughed, "I was having a chat with a lovely ghost about her world and mine."

He looked back at the palace. The first rays of the dawn had just lit up one of its ramparts. The building looked like a forlorn dinosaur in the daylight. Was Sandhya's spirit a reality? Did he actually talk to her, or was it a hallucination resulting from the night's darkness? A mix of fear and imagination?

Or perhaps another world did exist between the heaven and the earth. Only after death would he learn the truth.

Amar shrugged his shoulders and gave his bike a wide throttle. The surprised Jaswant clung to Amar as the motorbike accelerated towards the pink-gold-silvery dawn.