The Last Incarnation (Kalki Chronicles)

The Last Thought

“The moment one begins to dream is the moment one begins to live…”

"And I have reached my city of dreams. Here, it is. Delhi. Let me take a cab to Sir's place", she thought

It was noon and she had to reach the institute as soon as possible.

"Everything is the same. Oh, there is a new restaurant. It must have opened recently". She pondered as she passed through GTB Nagar towards Mukherjee Nagar in a share cab. Mukherjee Nagar housed everyone equally. The same old student crowd crying different relationships, particularly that of student-teacher relationship

It was past noon when she reached the Mukherjee Nagar lane where a new banner of Aim Law Institute could be seen atop the building of the front office on the main road. It was lunch time and the student crowd could be seen moving hither tither for food and drinks.

"Congratulations, Mam," greeted one of the students on her way upstairs to the office room. As she entered the office, she saw her poster with a photo on it saying - Congratulations Samaira for clearing West Bengal Interview. We are proud of you. It was pasted to the left side of the entrance door and was visible easily to anyone entering the office.

"Hey, Samaira," greeted Akash Sir and Mahadev ji. Congratulations. How are you doing?"

"Sir. I am fine. Thank You. And how are you Mahadev Ji. How is everyone at office?" she bulleted various questions at them.

"Oh. I forgot to ask - How is Sebastian Sir doing?"

"Everyone is fine, Samaira. So are you ready to take classes?"

"Yes Sir. When should I begin with my classes?"

"From tomorrow".

"Thank you Sir. Am relieved. May I come back to the office after sometime. I need to go to Sir's house in the next lane. I will be staying there with Sir and his family. Hence, I need to keep my luggage and freshen up".

"Okay, but don't be late. Some notes and question papers need to be rechecked before they are distributed among students".

Sebastian Sir was taking class in the other office where Samaira paid a visit before leaving for his home.

He was teaching Transfer of Property Act and was busy with the students. The class was dispersed after an hour. Immediately thereafter, Sir looked at Samaira and called her to the cabin -

"Congratulations, Samaira. So at last you cleared a judicial services exam and became a judge."

"Now what are your plans?"

"Sir, I will wait for the call letter. I wanted to ask you something?"

"Yes. Go ahead."

"Sir, is there any news on pending litigation of Delhi Mains. They were about to revaluate the papers of all the students who appeared for Delhi mains."

"Samaira, now forget about that. Concentrate on your home state and open a branch office of our Institute in your home state Kolkata.

"Are you taking some classes from tomorrow?"

"Yes Sir."

"Okay. Go ahead. Mahadev ji will take you to my place."

"Thank You Sir".

"Mahadev Ji. Please take Samaira to my home and bring my food".

"Let us go, Madam," said Mahadev Ji.

They both take leave and Samaira happily receives heartiest congratulations from all those who know her on her way to Sir's home in the next lane.

The lane across Aim Law Institute's first office houses a society of flats belonging to a cooperative housing society. One of such flats belonged to Sebastian Sir. It was on a building near a small garden. I am one of those privileged to have visited his house, thought Samaira. And even stay with him. He was one of the most revered Guru (teacher). Everyone in her family had a deep reverence for Sir.

"Madamji, this is Samaira Madam. She is Sir's student". Mahadev Ji introduced Samaira to Sir's wife, Neela.

"Yes. Sir told me about her. Come inside."

"Mahadevji, please take this tiffin for Sir and make sure he eats his food and takes medicines before taking another class in another branch office", commanded Neela.

Samaira freshens up and goes back to office.

At office, she again hears the same old voices saying "You are a piece of s**t. You will never become a mother. You will never get married etc." She couldn't ignore the voices completely, for they were recurrent. She tried concentrating and prepared for her lecture somehow.

The night was equally tormenting. She slept after having a glass of warm milk. Nothing much to do with work pressure but her sleep was disturbed by the different voices coming from around the walls. The neighborhood in the society was quiet except a lot of murmurings coming from at a distance that could be heard. Some frequent chantings of some mantras could be heard throughout the night till 4 am in the morning. After which all voices disappeared for sometime.

Her lectures were well prepared and delivered properly to the students. It was a three day schedule arranged for her. She again sensed some problem with her hearing. Again the same voices frequented into louder ones while she was addressing the queries of the students. Everything was very disturbing for her.

Many students wanted to know as to how did she manage to clear the West Bengal Interview. She shared her experiences with them and left for Sir's home.

It was her last night in Delhi. She yearned to sleep peacefully as she was very tired. Luckily for her, she went into deep sleep within an hour. However, she woke up with a nightmare. She dreamt of extreme darkness with no light around and there was some murmurings going around in the background somewhere. She felt something heavy on her body. Something heavy was overpowering her and trying to touch all the parts of her body.

Everything was bewildering for her.

Next day, she woke up unhealthy and sped up to the office to collect her payment for the lectures. She had to leave for the Airport in few hours. This time she was received by her mother at the Airport. She was little uncomfortable with the surroundings and felt a sudden change in everything around.

It has been a month since she returned back to her home at Kolkata. Marriage with Dev was the thought that preoccupied her. Days passed and one day, she confided about her love to her mother. She missed him badly. She wanted to see him and more than that, know about his well being, but without much luck.

Her love was true enough to sustain his separation and was unconditional. They could not remain good friends. They had separated their ways after a brief meeting. However, they exchanged their photos through social media.

It was during this phase that Samaira's health deteriorated badly. She got regular fits of pain on the left side of the brain. It became unbearable. Her parents got worried and decided to take her to a doctor.

"Let us take her to our neurologist. She needs a check up," said Kishan to Rita.

Samaira overheard the conversation and interrupted -

"I don't like doctors. I don't want to go to a neurologist."

"Samaira, don't be stubborn. You are not a kid anymore."

Samaira along with her parents go to their family doctor, a known neurologist.

The doctor carefully examined her body parts, wherever required. The examination lasted for few minutes and was done before her parents. They were advised EEG of the brain and CT scan of the whole body.

Her EEG was done at the clinic of the neurologist. The results were to be picked up the next day. While the doctor advised immediate CT scan for further diagnosis.

"I don't want to go for CT scan of the whole body. I am alright, Mom," said Samaira

"It is necessary, Samaira. Now don't argue with me. Your dad won't like any further arguments on this. Come. Let's go to the hospital. It is urgent."

The hospital didn't give her a good feeling about everything that was happening. She changed her clothes and wore a hospital gown. She opened her earrings and gave it to her mother. The doctor asked Samaira if she had eaten anything few hours before the procedure. During the test, she lay on a table inside a large, doughnut-shaped CT machine. As the table slowly moved through the scanner, the X-rays rotated around her body. She was asked to stay very still. It lasted for half an hour.

Her whole body was scanned and results were awaited. Lots of medicines were prescribed. It is from this stage that Samaira was given all types of medicines.

On the other hand, different placements and arrangements were done in the house. The Temple place was shifted outside and placed in a corner of the the drawing room. Different food preparations were being made for Samaira. However, she could not eat anything substantial. The food was very heavy for her. She would often vomit the food she would eat.

Her condition deteriorated further.

Once Samaira was making a list of her wishes and writing it down on the laptop when she found herself more heavily drained than before. It seemed to her that something wrong was happening or about to happen. She sensed some forthcoming upheaval in her life. That her life would be upside down in no time.

To add more miseries to her life, a sudden visit was paid to her by her paternal side relatives who were trying to convince them on not moving forward with the police complaint. The guests were happily received by her mother.

"Dad, I am watching "Oh My God" Movie. I don't want to meet them. They will talk about the same old things. You go and meet them," angered Samaira.

Samaira watches her favorite movie in the new LED TV set, while Kishan goes out to the drawing room to meet the guests. One of the guests, Beena, comes inside the room to meet Samaira. She is her father's sister. Beena asks the same old questions to Samaira about her career and about what she is planning to do ahead. The guests leave the house in an hour's time.

This phase of her life is marked by frequent visits of relatives, bizarre experiences, unusual settings of the house, heaviness in the surroundings of the house, abstemious food habits and deteriorating health.

It was one of her days when she was working on the laptop and browsing some motivational videos on youtube. Samaira had come to know from various sources and friends that Dev was staying in Haryana and had opened his new office there. She wanted to fill up the form for Haryana Judicial Service Exam so that she could visit the state for the purpose of giving exam and meet Dev. She missed him badly. During an evening, she spoke to her mother –

“I want to go to Haryana, Mom. I am tired of taking care of financial needs. I need a break from all this.

To this, her mother responded negatively -

"I will not allow you to take any more exams. Just sit at home and work for our benefit. No need to go anywhere, " she shouted angrily.

A bitter argument ensued and Samaira was asked to maintain a decorum in the family.

She cried bitterly over her mother's demeanour. She couldn't understand why was all this happening to her.

Returning to Kolkata wasn’t a good idea, it seems, she thought.

She had no alternative than to wait for the right time. Perhaps, a new turn of events was waiting for her. Was it the call letter and the new job or something else was in store?

It all began on an afternoon, when Samaira couldn't stop seeing certain visions of fire and some images of her and someone else standing completely naked.

"Mom, please come to me. I need you," she cried.

"Mom, I need you to take me to a temple. I am seeing all things in my visions. They are very frequent. I am surrounded by some bad omens, which is not comprehensible."

"Okay, I will take you a temple. But tell me what do you see?"

"Mom, I....I..."

"Yes. Beta. Everything will be fine. Just tell me what do you see in your visions."

"At times, I see fire, then I see myself standing naked. Wait, now I am seeing you standing naked before me."

"I cannot understand what is going on. First I hear weird murmurings around me and now I see weird things in my visions."

"Don't worry, Kid. We will first go to temple. Then we will spend sometime together."

"I don't feel like going to the temple. I think I need to sleep."

After sometime, Samaira wakes up. "Let us go to temple. I think some jhad-phuk is required in the circumstances. It might give you some peace", said Rita

"Exorcism," looked a surprised Samaira. "Why exorcism?"

"The symptoms that you are exhibiting are all related to some evil or black magic. It seems that there is some devilish presence in your life. I know of someone who might be of some help."

Samaira goes to the temple with her mother and gets some jhad phuk done. The problem persisted.

Her nights were replete with restlessness, no sleep and tiredness. The voices she heard were even more louder and highly disturbing.

Next day, a doctor was called for a check up who suggested heavy medication.

She is now under heavy medication.

Samaira started working on her laptop but not without much difficulty, when suddenly her mother came out running from the room and started pouring some special oil on her head.

"Ughhh...what smell?..What is this?"

She took some in her palm from the head and brought it close to her nose to smell. It had a mix of castor oil and mustard oil.

"What are you doing? Mom," cried Samaira

She didn't give any reply and started massaging the oil over her head.

The effect of oil on Samaira was that she became unconscious for some time and was made to sleep on her bed in the room.

Samaira went into deep slumber. When she regained some consciousness, she was made to drink some medicine. After taking some medicine, she was made to go into semi conscious state.

"Wake up, Samaira," said Harlyn.

"Where...Where am I? What time is it?"

"You are in your room. You were unconscious since last two days. Here, take this medicine. It will help you. Dad has got some new medicines for you which was prescribed by the doctor.

There is also some news for you. Sir will be coming to Kolkata to sign the contract."

"That's great," said Samaira. "I am feeling little pukish. Can I get some mint and some juice?"

"Dad, will get the food for you alongwith mint and juice. Here, have some fruit."

"Where is Mom?" asked Samaira

"She has gone out for some work. She will be back soon. Before everything, Dad and Mom will take you to a Dargah for another round of jhad phuk. It is necessary to ward off any evil."

Samaira was taken to the dirtiest and worst places of the city where nobody would go. Her parents took her to a dargah, which was apparently dirty and subject to foul smell of urination. Kishan went inside the dargah first before Rita. However, Samaira was forbidden entry into the dargah.

From the dargah, they got her some scented incense sticks, some eatable and a very eerie looking bottle comprising of scented rose water as they say. They made Samaira chew everything while she was in a semi conscious state and not able to understand what was going on. Everything was heavy on her - the food, the surroundings, the medicines and her life.

"Samaira, today I will take you to a very distant place. So get ready" said Rita

"But I am feeling very weak. Am unable to go."

"We will go in a cab. Don't worry. Both of us will come along with you," added Rita

"But Mom... I don't feel so nice about anything. I just want to take some rest and sleep."

"Okay. Take some rest. We will go after an hour."

After an hour, Samaira was taken through the narrow streets of an old Muslim area of the city which is not inhabited by many people. It was a small compartmental room where the Muslim heretics were waiting for Samaira. One of the two made some unusual prayers and chanted some mantras before touching her chest and area below her breasts. He put some watery substance on the area beneath her breasts covering her whole body. Samaira could do nothing but cry while Rita sought his blessings.

He seemed to be a Djinn. The Djinn can touch a person and cause them to relive their deepest dreams and desires. This puts the human in a coma-like state, which allows the Djinn to feed on them

Everything was very unusual.

She was taken to all those parts of the city where heaps of garbage lay with foul smell. The buses were heavy with people while she was made to see all those places by Rita. Passing through Alipore zoo, Samaira was taken to some inner quarters of brothels of Muslim ladies in a lane crossing the main road. She was not in a state to understand what was happening to her.

Bewildered and bereft, she was waiting for her next.