Second Lodge

“BEANZ” became a hangout place for many youngsters in the city. There are other cafes but Beanz could achieve a good reputation in a short time. The frequenters were mostly teenagers, young couples, college students and silent readers. The shelves in café got all sort of collections, Thrillers, romantic stories, erotic stories, sci-fi novels, horror in segmentation as vampire, zombie, and classic haunting, like that of Edgar Alan Poe and Henry James. Bundles of Tom Clancy, Agatha Christy, Arthur Clark, full volume of Sherlock Holmes, recent Dan Brown, Jeffry Archer, Dean Koontz, and rack full of Stephen King. Beanz makes some exotic coffee, the roasting smell would waft into the nostrils the moment you step inside the café. They also make some special pastries, sandwiches and all kind of western retreats. Beside that the traditional Indian tea time eateries were also supplied. They charge their customers’ quiet exorbitantly, still people rush there to enjoy the unique ambiance. On the western corner of the café there stood a booth, got a capacity to occupy 6 persons, it’s like an amputated square and three sides got beige upholstery with coffee brown pillow cushions, a bamboo pendant lamp hanging from the roof illuminates the booth with a dim radiance. On the wall hanged a replica of ‘Scream’, painted by the Norwegian painter Edward Munch, the original had fetched a sum of 120 million US dollars in the Sotheby"s auction. The wall displayed famous paintings like ‘Melancholy’ by the same painter. Van Gogh"s ‘Stary night’, ‘Potato eaters’, ‘The Red vineyard’, Salvador Dali"s ‘Persistence of memories’ were a few noted one. That day drizzles brought a moist weather, three men sat inside the booth. Which they preferred to call ‘the scream booth’ on behalf of the painting. The black granite table had 3 cups of normal Brue and a plate full of French fries. The men were doing different things, quite detached from their surroundings. Man, with curly hairs thick mustache and stubbles on face was Hemant Nair a graduate in economics from Delhi University, he was reading a new edition of readers digest. Sitting opposite to him a fair slim man with carbon framed spectacle, wearing a denim shirt and khaki corduroy trouser was Noah Yehudi a descendant from the early Jewish settlers in the coast of Arabian Sea. Noah a reluctant charted accountant was scribbling something in his black leather bounded organizer. Short statured robustly built young man was Rexin Alex who was a mechanical engineer, He was busy browsing his smart phone. All pursued different professions but now united for a common purpose. Quit their profitable careers to form an organization, an NGO not for social reform or charity but to hunt ghosts. A purple Nano car came to the parking yard and a lady got out from the wheels along with a man from other side. She was holding a plastic file in her hand with which she covered her face and head from the drizzles, the man came out wearing a brown shirt and grey trouser walked calmly without minding the drizzles. They entered the café and the lady divulged herself while wiping her face with a small towel and waved towards the western corner towards the ‘scream booth’, the excited men all waved back. Anamika, her friends call her Ana, a graduate in literature from University of Mysore and put her shoes in various arenas as a spoken English tutor, interior designer, radio jokey and even a program anchor. But she found her interest lies in something else and that"s why she lined up with these men. The day was so special for them and a much-awaited opportunity, a pivotal turn in their goose chase was expected to happen, the man who came along with Ana could help them achieve it. “Here comes the trophy” said Rexin. “Can’t say that yet” said Hemant. Men rearranged themselves to accommodate the new arrivals. The guest was given the side seat so other four could face him. Ana introduced him to her friends and she couldn’t hide the enthusiasm flourished on her face while introducing the man. Nobert Thomas was a real-estate broker, he was well acquainted with all bigshots in the city and this man got something really interesting for the group. Anamika and her friends quit jobs to start a paranormal research team, they call themselves professional ghost hunters, they created a website of their venture and named their organization “THE PARANORMAL RESEARCH SOCIETY OF KERALA” or in abbreviation “PARESK”. It became difficult to spot a real haunting location in the state! It was decided unanimously by the stakeholders to move out of state in search of haunting spots, a day before Anamika got a call, the speaker wanted to meet her in person, when she approached, he revealed himself as a real-estate broker and wanted her help. Anamika insisted that the details should be revealed to her team members as she cannot decide to sign up for any action herself. Nobert Thomas began to speak while all others sharpened their ears to absorb his voice. “Mist valley 300 acres of property surrounding reserve forest on all three sides, 30 kms away from Munnar near Yellapetty estate, the main attraction is the old colonial mansion of about 28,000square feet. The property was handed over to Idukki diocese by the Finley and company, a tea company established by Scottish Planters. Plantation in the property was abandoned years ago and whole 300 acres of land and the mansion had been sold by the diocese eight years ago, buyer was the Credence group under the chairman ship of Mr. Daniel Pothan, a very affluent NRI who got his major stakes of business in Nevada, the company bought property to renovate the mansion and modify it into a resort with modern paraphernalia. They also have a farm 10 km away from this property. But major investment was on colonial Mansion. Cost millions to purchase the property and project was company"s most anticipated one. Earlier people used to weave strange stories about the mansion, nobody really bothered to delve in to the truth. It was abandoned for years or almost half a century. When property acquired by the company and started renovation the canard became strong, after a while the company couldn’t get workers to continue the work. “The property is said to be haunted and Mr. Daniel Pothan wants us to investigate” Ana completed. “Mr. Pothan is my mentor, he asked me to see you and brief the situation, if you are willing to accept the offer, I can fix an appointment with him.” “What is the deal?” asked Noah Ana gave him an incredulous look “ I am just a middleman, but Mr. Pothan is known for his benevolence, he will not disappoint you”. “ Mr. Nobert this may be irrelevant now, but out of curiosity I am asking, how did he know about us?” asked Hemant “That"s obvious our website did the job” said Ana. “Any way what is your call?” asked Nobert. “Fix the appointment” said everyone unanimously. The man left the booth saying goodbye to all of them, lady and three gentlemen continued their discussion. “This is huge guys, what you say?” asked Ana. “300 acres of land and a huge mansion in hill station is a real fortune for any real estate company” said Noah. “That is true, but what we have to do here?” asked Rexin “The property got a haunting background as usual as any old colonial assets, that doesn’t drew any curiosity, All old mansions in the country had been linked to some spooky stories, here is an another one.” said Noah. “So, are you telling that this is another prank?” Asked Ana. “I am not sure; any way we got an affluent client and we have to make use of this opportunity at the maximum.” “Yes, the shylock is right” said Rexin with smile. Noah smiled rhetorically “We have to see Mr. Daniel Pothan and ask him about the problems faced by his people in that Mansion, then we can decide how to start the investigation, if it"s just a hoax then we got nothing special to add to our career, but if the haunting is real then we got some real dirty grave to dig.” “That is unavoidable” said Ana. “The problem has not been presented before us, we could decide our moves only after meeting Mr.Pothan.” said Hemant.