第10章 Astral Ankith

By Gotham Ganesh, Ashwand Srihanland

It had been a few minutes since he had died, if one could call it that. Ankith sat beside himself, looking at his stale motionless body, a feeling of numbness engulfing him. He felt like a million thoughts crossed his mind and no thoughts at all, at the same time.

He wondered if he could still call it his mind; he was after all, in layman's term, a ghost.

Ankith looked down upon himself. He wasn't even sure if he was a ghost. He had no form, not even an outline. He could not see himself. He was not even sure how he was able to see, for he had no eyes. All he felt was a sense of his own presence, the knowledge of his manifestation. But the man…that man beneath the cliff…Ankith had seen him, his translucent figure…Could he have been…Was it possible? Ankith wondered in bewilderment.

Ankith could remember pristinely how it had happened. He remembered playing cricket with his brother and his friends. It was the summer holidays and how better to entertain oneself than by frolicking around a barren ground with a bat and a ball on a hot sunny afternoon. They were playing cricket which according to them was the best game in the world.

His elder brother Chandru scored 6 points and the ball just flew to the other side of the thorn bushes. It had been agreed that the bowling team members would take turns in fetching the ball if it went off the ground and it was Ankith's turn to fetch the ball now.

But Ankith barely moved an inch, hesitating to go into the bushes. Ankith's Grandma had always warned him against going into the bushes and for good reason. The thorns were razor sharp and some of the plants that the patchy vegetation housed were poisonous and had caused severe rashes and other skin disorders to the villagers.

But Ankith was too young to understand all that.

"The bushes are home to the meanest ghosts and other darkcreatures," his Grandma would say. She had even spun several bedtime tales of the treacherous ghosts that haunted the bushes,most of which left Ankith sleepless on many occasions instead of lulling him to sleep. But ducking the bushes would not be possible this time, not with Chandru and his gang around. Chandru had always been mean to him, and Ankith knew he would gang up with his friends and tease him at the slightest chance he gets. After all, he was still being teased for the bed wetting incident that happened when he was seven, and that was six years ago. He had always been mocked for being so naive and gullible and believing everything that Grandma said. Ankith dreaded to think of all the taunts he would receive if he refused to go.

"Ankith! Are you going or what?!"Chandru shouted from the pitch, with an evil grin on his face. Ankith thought hard for a few jittery moments. It was better to face haunting ghosts than to be called a coward for the rest of his life, he decided.

The ghosts and monsters are the creatures of the dark, aren't they? They wouldn't come out by day, he said to himself and braved forward. Ankith walked into the bushes, past the shrubs which seemed to be thinning as he went further down. The ground was sloping and Ankith figured that the ball must have rolled down to the edge. The bushy terrain gave way to a cliff beneath which was a deep trough. Ankith trailed towards the edge of the cliff,warily inching forward, looking for the ball. He had always been scared of heights.

But then, what he was going to see beneath the cliff was about to scare the life out of him(literally) so much that his fear of heights seemed too silly a reason to be afraid.

When Ankith leaned over to see beyond the cliff, he couldn't believe his eyes. What he saw was the outline of a man, a translucent figure, fiddling with a stone he was unable to grope.

Ankith remembered screaming his head out, losing his balance and toppling down the cliff. But how he had become what he was,whatever he was, he had no recollection. Ankith rose up into the air, hovering slightly above his body. He did not know how he could do that, or what else he could do. But he had to find a way to fix it. This was not normal.

"I'm sorry for giving you a scare there, son,"he heard a voice behind him. Ankith shifted his view abruptly to look behind him.

It was the translucent man from before. He looked old, but Ankith could tell that only from the wrinkles on his translucent face, for the rest of his body was as white as his hair. He seemed to be dimly glowing. Ankith retracted a few steps hastily, gliding through a peach tree as he went.

"You have as little to fear me as you have to fear yourself, son.

Don't be afraid…" the old man's ghost said soothingly, trying to calm Ankith.

"And your ball is there, behind that tree…" he said pointing to an adjacent peach tree." Are you-Are you-Are you a-" Ankith stuttered.

The old man gave a chuckle and answered in an embarrassed tone, as he had never been asked that question before.

"Hmmm…In the simplest sense of it, yes I am,"he said.

Ankith's mind stirred. He had witnessed the most bizarre things in a few short moments. He couldn't believe he was standing there,making conversation with a ghost. His grandma had been right,well at least for most parts of it. The old man had a kind face and a gregarious demeanour. Nothing about him seemed mean or scary,except for the fact that he was, as he put it-"in the simplest of terms, a ghost".

"Are there more of you?"Ankith asked curiously.

"Sure, of course. They are back home, in the graveyard by the shrine. You see they don't take a shine to the sun. They say it dulls their gleam. I just happened to be here on a-umm-uhhh-" he said looking back at the cliff for a moment. He pulled himself back to face Ankith, only to finish his sentence curtly," on a personal chore."

"Am I dead too? Am I a ghost?"asked Ankith apprehensively.

"Well..."the old man's ghost said, contorting his face thoughtfully," I don't think so…"

"Then what am I ?"he questioned. The old man gave another one of his seemingly thoughtful looks.

"Well you see, son. Ghosts are just an impression of what was once real…Think of us to be a memory, or a photograph if you will, except that we can move and walk and talk," the old man explained to Ankith. Ankith listened raptly, for not many get a chance to be lectured by a ghost.

"We are a reflection of what was once real. So we have definite form…immaterial but definite. But you son, you are formless. If I'm right I think you have managed to astrally project yourself,accidentally of course, which I quite surely attribute to the shock from the fall. But still you have managed."

"So I can be alive?"Ankith asked excitedly. The prospect of getting to be alive again seemed to bring immense joy to him.

"You are, my dear boy. You are, as the doctors would put it-in a state of coma. You can just as easily choose to wake up from it," the old man's ghost said wisely.

"Astrally projected myself…hmmm,"Ankith repeated in his mind. He did not even know what it meant, but he was glad to hear that he could go back.

"So-so I just have to go back to my body…"Ankith said thinking hard. Just then, Ankith heard screams of Chandru and his friends shouting his name. It had been more than a few minutes since he had wandered into the bushes and they had come in search of him, or knowing his brother, maybe just in search of the ball.

Suddenly, an idea struck him.

"Could I ask you something?"Ankith said tenderly.

"Ask away, my son."

"Could you scare my brother and his friends for me? They are always mean to me," he asked. The old man laughed hard at the childish plea.

"You know, son,"he said still chuckling, unable to subside his laughter," As immoral as it sounds, I stand unable to say no to such a cute request. I am a ghost after all, I might as well behave like one," he said and swooped across Ankith in one fluid motion and glided over the cliff. Ankith rose above quickly as he did not want to miss the scene that he was going to cherish for the rest of his life.

He saw the old man chasing his brother and his friends,waggling his tongue and grunting. Chandru ran for his life,screaming at the frightening sight, trampling over his friends, some of who tripped and fell over the poisonous shrubs. It would be a long time before any of them would be able to play cricket, Ankith thought; that is if they ever dared to come back.

The old man came back, amused at his own performance and they both shared a rib cracking laugh, overlooking the fact that neither of them had any ribs in their present state.

"So…I think it is time to say goodbye then,"Ankith said heavily, the realization of having to depart befell him.

"You will visit me again won't you? I'll introduce you to my friends, good chaps they are. Dead of course…but good," he said.

"Of course!! I'm going to visit every day!" Ankith replied, elatedly.

"And I have a small favour to ask of you too, son."

"Ask away…"Ankith said imitating the old man, chortling kiddingly while doing so." Could you etch my name on that rock under the cliff…It would look good don't you think…

I have been trying for days, but you know, being a ghost has its disadvantages."he said, his voice dipping in tone. He moved down to grab a stone from the ground but his hand just went through the stone unable to disturb it and the stone just lay there unaffected.

Ankith was only too happy to agree and he bid his goodbye and returned to his body. He picked up a stone and got to work at once, carving out the old man's name in a fashion that pleased him.

He had had the experience of a lifetime (how ironic that sounds in retrospect) and it was just the beginning of what was going to be his best summer holiday for years to come.