My feet were dirty with all the sloshy mud in the backyard of the cemetary. The Bata slippers were of very little consolation and provided very little confidence too. Atleast my Van Heusen trousers were alright. Comfort and style where ever you go.
"Cannot find him. Must head back home", Jahar told me. Broken english with a bengali accent is just fabulous. One can really listen to the rolling english for a lifetime and yet be amused by it every time. The him in question was the third of us, Babai.
Taking a deep kash of a hand rolled, little wet bidi, I nodded in his direction and started moving. Damn it was difficult. My stomach was hurting me and from what we could gauge I had some time before I would be totally useless and would need a burial. The smoke made me feel good. Soothing. Or was it numbing. Perhaps the pain was numbing my mind.
No. No. I must shake this feeling off. We will find Babai and I must find a doctor before its too late. "Easy, bhai. We should just pass the night in this place. 2 more to go", shaking his head Jahar liked to be in command. If I was not at such a disadvantage. Heh. But then losing blood kinda makes you a dependent.
"Light me one more. Damn thing keeps on going out". Jahar was a expert in rolling bidis and once lit one in a perfect gale. Now this was something near to a perfect art. Well, actually I wanted to see if he could do it with his remaining good hand. The other was useless now. The same numbing had set in for him as it had for me.
Dawn was approaching. At any rate in 2 hours it should come and then an effort to find Babai can be made. I did not want to think further. Bad thoughts made me wince and made my gash bleed some more. Dhut..!! Nice pickle we are in. Trudging down inch by a long little inch we had managed to skirt around the cliff head above us in hopes of searching for our lost mate. Shit..!! This cemetery is full of human bloodsucking monster mosquitoes. Damn.. what do they have when they cant get Man?
No. I dont think I can sleep now. Jahar was trying to make himself a splint with the broken twigs he could find. Ugh .. that wood is supposed to be used to burn the dead. He had no qualms about anything. Implicit trust is a bad thing. Look at what I led him into. "You think he would have survived after that?" Jahar nodded. Simple souls. Simple answers.
No. Must make an effort. "Come on.. lets go on. Lets find someone and get out of this mess." Fine mess I was in. I tottered to my feet somehow. Shit..the pain was unbelievable.
"You want one more? I can do it with one hand too. See??" Heh... the damn bastard made me laugh and bend down with pain again. I think I will die of bidi poisoning if I keep this on. What the hell..in my condition I doubt ..lots of doubts. I think too much. There are nights I cant sleep becoz my head bursts with a million thoughts at the same time accompanied with severe head ache.
huh? is that babai..? shit..there is blood on his face? Watch out.. there is a bloody old monster behind you. Why cant he hear me? Babai.. Jahar shout to him..he is going to be killed. Fuck..what have I done? I shouldnt have talked them into exploring this famed haunted cliff. It is getting darker somehow. Are we already witnessing it now? The haunting. Their deaths shall be on me.
"Rajib da...Rajib da..are u alright..". Heh .. sounds were hollow too..
***
My ultra curiosity almost bled me to death that night. Although there wasnt a haunting, we kinda fell during the stupid rock climbing we had to do in the night. I and Jahar stopped on the very edge while Babai had tumbled off. He was in better shape than me. My emergency knife somehow found its way into my stomach. Another few hours without attention and I wouldnt be writing this story.
***
