Aatma

Burnt House Part 1

Burnt House 

Vinita and Meena were colleagues and close friends  sharing a flat.They worked in a Bank in Kolkata in Bengal in India .They belonged to different states but became friends in the office when both came to Kolkata for the job..They were fun loving adventures and loved to watch movies . In  a few years of knowing each other they had become inseparable in office they were nicknamed Twins .They even took up fight to protect each other. In a year only for few days they used to stay apart  when they used to visit their family .Even their family knew it and where assured in a different city their daughters are together for company.Both were hard working girls .Their seniors never complained about them even the customers  of their bank new them as jovial and good natured girls.On weekends they would cleanup their flat and take care of washing ironing and cooking food for the whole week and keeping in the fridge , they used to divide the work at home .And in the evening they would take the two wheeler which both had paid and taken in instalments , and go for shopping and see movie or just have dinner out. On one such outing they were on their two wheeler and had stopped at a signal.A small boy with many books in his hand came towards them and was asking them o buy he said each is for 100 bucks the girls were not fond of reading , but the boy begged them to buy as he had not made any sale on that day, and so he will not be paid any money by the owner of the bookstore,feeling pity for him they just pulled  a  book  from his hand and paid him the money ,as the vehicles had started moving and honking at them to move . They dumped the book in their baag and zoomed off, they reached  their favourite place and ordered  chicken kathi roll ( a flat bread with egg omelet and grilled chicken pieces and spices garnished with tangy onions and rolled ) they used to eat it with  a lot of interest . and they would drink fresh lime juice , and roam around ,or sit in a park and just stare at the families coming there to enjoy or the couples in love roaming with hand in hand n children running around playing ,all this activity made them relaxed and happy .But today after they had their usual chicken roll, they went to the park and sat on a bench and decided to read the book which they had bought from the boy as both knew once they go home and the week starts they will forget about the book . So the book is fished out of their shopping bag and both fold their legs and take the book to read it the title was My Diary My Life .they try to turn the page but can not they inspect the book carefully and realises it is not a book written by any author it was actually a personal diary of someone and they in hurry ended up picking it from the boy , they blame each other for wasting 100 bucks on some diary and daily notings.They still try to open it but can not be opened as it is  locked ,now they are more annoyed . They dump it back in the bag and think about their money getting wasted, then they are satisfied they did a good deed by helping that boy get money , and feel good about it . They sit for some more time in the park enjoying the cool breeze and also eating .,The vendors sell in the park. It becomes dark and cold so they lift their bag and go towards their scooter and tie scarfs around their head  to protect from the cold breeze and then zoom off to the destination.They reach their flt switch on the lights and   and keep  the bags on the table go in and change  and climb on their bed and gossip , they planned not to have anything in the night.And if at all they feel hungry they would drink milk and sleep . After gossiping about the office they still cannot fall asleep .Meena gets up to warm the milk and bring for both of them .She goes to the kitchen watches on the lights and takes out the bottle of milk pours it in a vessel and heats it and then pours it in two mugs keeps it in a tray and takes a packet of cookies and switches off the lights. And while going towards the bedroom ,she sees the bags which were kept on the table in the hall have  fallen down she goes to the bedroom hands the tray to Vnita and tells her she will be back and goes to the hall picks up the bags and sees the diary has come out of the bag she keeps the bags properly and lifts the diary and takes it along with her in the room .then climbs on the bed and keeps the diary on the bed and both start to drink the hot milk and eat the cookies all the while discussing hoe to open the diary , after finish  the milk, they keep the tray aside and start to open the diary with a screwdriver the diary opens and they start reading the it .It is written by a lady it was a every day writing about how her day started and ends . While reading it they understood the girl belonged to a rich Industrialist . and she had married her tution teacher who lived in a very lower middle class area he stayed in a tin roof house with his parents and one sister, She belonged to a rich family they had a popular brand of soap .She had eloped and got married to her teacher, so her parents had broken all ties with her , she missed them especially her father. She mentions how she had fallen for her teacher though he never encouraged it , as he knew she belonged to a rich family and will not be able to live a life of a commoner without luxury .But she was head over heels in love with him and forced him to marry her . For many years she tried contacting her siblings but they never got back to her , she tried to meet them in their workplace but they instructed the guards to not allow her entry, Though she had adjusted to her life with her husband she was missing her family also. Her husband had got a good job as a teacher in a private school and so he could afford  a few things for her.By this time both the girls feel sleepy and close the diary saying they will continue the net day after returning from the office and now they should go to sleep.they keep the book aside and switch off the light and go to sleep. Suddenly Vinita can smell something burning in their room , she ignores and continues to sleep now Meena can also smell she gets up and rubs her eyes and wakes up Vinita , and both feel nauteatick  as the smell was of burning flesh , they switch their mobile torch and search the whole room ,they can not find any thing now they have lost their sleep completely so switch on the light of the whole house , but can not find the source . they open their bedroom windows , and pick up the tray and the diary from the side table and keep the tray in the kitchen and keep the diary in a shelf in the hall and again search in all corners of the house and switch off the lights and go back to sleep..Morning they are late to get up and rush to get ready for office ,they finish their routine work at home and pick up their bags and he scooter key ,and closes the flat door and start  the scooter and zoom off to the office. In the evening they come to their flat and freshen up keep the food from the fridge out ,  make some hot tea and again sit with the diary they read the pages ahead and sip on their tea .The lady has written that one day when she was in a mall with her husband she saw her elder brother with his friend ,she ran and hugged him and cried ,she had met him after 7 years her brother was shocked to see her an though he reciprocated her love he did not speak to her ,she held on to her and told him to tell her parents she wants to see them ,he just nods his head and removes her hands from his waist and looks around her ,she calls her husband who is standing far away and introduced him to her brother , they exchange awkward handshake and while taking leave the jady gives her contact number to her brother and tells him to keep in touch .That day she mention was happiest in all the years ,she atlast saw her brother and a small hope that she would be forgiven by the family made her happy. That night she could not sleep she was just visualizing hwe brother and his hug .Every day she would run when her cell rang thinking it was her brother calling. But soon many months passed without him calling her up .Vinita feels sad and tells Meena to close the Diary for today and they should have their dinner and go to sleep otherwise they will be late to the office like today. Meena closes the book and keeps it on the shelf and they heat their dinner and finish it and go to bed..By the time they go to bed it is 12.30pm , they are about to switch off the lights when the doorbell rings , they are shocked who can come t this hour to their place they don’t have any relatives in Kolkata , and all the friends have their contact number they would not come without telling them at this hour of the night.Both are scared , they call the security from the intercom and ask him whether he allowed anybody to come to their flat now. He was woken up from his sleep; he tells them he has already closed the main gate and no one has entered the gate . They tell him the bell is still ringing , so the watch man says he will come up and see who is at the door and they should not open it. After some time both can hear the lift come up to their floor and the lift door open .Then they hear a scream , but can not find out whether it was the watch man or some robbers , they run to their room and close their bedroom door and sleep..Next day they slowly open the door and come out of the room and then they want to open the entrance door and see , they don’t see anything so they take the flat key and in their night dress both take the lift and go down to check on the watchman .They see the watchman drinking tea and feel relieved , he sees them coming towards him so he keeps his cup down and goes towards them and tells sorry he did not inform them what happened in the night outside their door.He tells them when he came on their floor he saw their flat doorbell was on as if someone was holding it pressed so as to ring continuously , so he went near the doorbell and tried pressing it back to normal while doing it he got a terrible electric shock and he was thrown down , and net thing he knew he was in his cabin crying in pain he tells them how he got up and came down the lift is all blank , so he could not tell them .They feel sorry for him and they go up to their flat get ready and take half day off and come back get a electrician and get the bell repaired or replaced .They go to the office and ask permission from their boss ,he tells them to get the switch repair they both don’t have to take half day off . Only One can take it  and they should decide who wants to go home .Meena being very smart , in getting the work done she agrees to take half day leave. She tells Vinita she will take an auto . Meena visits an  electrician’s shop and brings him along with her to the flat. He checks the doorbell , and after checking it properly he tells Meena nothing is wrong with the switch or the bell . There is no short circuit also everything is pepper and no need to change any wire or bell it’s working properly.When Meena tells him about last night the bell was ringing on its own and that too continuously .The electricians tells her it may be a ghost trying to play prank with them Meena laughs at his silly comment and reminds him that their watchman had got shock when he had tried to stop the switch from ringing , For that he tells her he does not see any problem and if still she wants to replace the switch and the bell it is her choice. His visiting charge is 250/ rupees and 500 will be the material charges total she will have to pay him 750/bucks .She calls up Vinita and tells her what the electrician told ,there is no need but if they still want it to be changed then they will shell out 750/ bucks .Vinita tells her they can afford the ghost who likes to ring the bell at midnight but not the electrician so she should just pay him his visiting charge and let him go. Meena pays him his visiting charges and he goes away. Meena then calls up on the intercom and speaks to the security head and instructs him not to allow anybody into their flat without calling them first on the intercom and taking their permission .Meena changes and watches television for sometime and falls asleep on the couch and wakes up directly when Vinita rings the bell.After they start talking they plan everyday after they reach home they will switch off the doorbell from inside and in this way no one can trouble them and as they have instructed the security to call on intercom they will know if any guest is really visiting them .They feel great about their idea .Meena heats the dinner and both have their dinner over their office gossip , then they wash the vessels clean the kitchen counter and go to their room and also tale the diary with them and also they switch off the bell connection from inside.. They start reading the book .One day she says she got a call from an unknown  number . She takes the call , its her brother he at last calls her up   and wants to visit her house and so wanted her to give her address .She is very happy to hear it she shares her address and tells him to bring along her parents too as she has not seen them .He agrees to bring them latter but for now he will come to visit her alone .She is overjoyed she tells her husband that he day has come now she will be able to see her family . He too is happy for her as he knows how much he has suffered without her family .The day arrives when her brother visits them on a festival , he brings lots of gifts for her and her husband and lots of sweets too. They all talk a lot .He asks her husband how  his teaching job is going , Now he starts visiting her often and also speaks to her on the phone.. But whenever she tells him to make her father talk to her he just tells her the right time will definitely come .Then one day she has written it’s the ultimate day in her life  , her  brother has told  her today he is bringing her father to visit them , she is very busy preparing all the delicious food which her father likes .So ,she will be very busy today preparing and cleaning the house., and even her husband will come home early to help her. She is very excited for the night . When Meena turns the page there is nothing written on the page it is blank they hurriedly turn all the pages it is left blank they are frustrated why she did not complete her diary all the pages are left blank there was no mention about her experience about her brother and father visiting her .They feel frustrated not knowing what might have happened to her .They go through the pages again and again and is shocked that they had missed one paragraph where she has mentioned her residential address .And they get goose bumps as it is very near to the place they go to have chicken roll .They look at each other and first nod their head in disagreement not to get involve and then after sometime they stuck their thumbs out in agreement to go and check out the address and find out from her what happened to her story and return the diary  to her. They now feel good that hope is still there for them to know the story.They keep the diary in its place and then they go to sleep ,aroung 3.30 am their intercom starts ringing both getup together and curse the watchman and they strongly feel it is the watchman , who under the influence of Alcohol is troubling them , tomorrow they will surely complain to the society .