The Ghost – Concluded

( This is the concluding part of the story that began here)

One night, as I sat there, at about midnight two men came along, From their dresses, they appeared to be Fakirs of some sort and, as they came near, I realized that I had seen the men before. These were Tantriks that lived somewhere in the area and, these ones, in particular, had claimed that they could rid the people of the Ghost, if the people let them perform certain rites at the haunted place.

“Let’s do it quickly Ramu,” the taller man said.

Ramu, the short, thick guy seemed in no hurry, “No one is going to come here at this time of the night… we have scared them enough.”

“We have, but who knows some one might get the urge to be brave, or some stranger passing by sees us and spills the beans.”

Ramu was not concerned in the least. “If someone comes by, we can always scare him. It will be better and we can get more out of people tomorrow.”

“This greed will cause your downfall. We get enough already… and these people have been nice to us always, why do we have to dupe them, we cannot use the money anyways, we have to live like fakirs and that’s our destiny.”

“You can live like this. I am going to make some money and live better off in some other town. These people are foolish and what if we make a little money of them. Not that we are hurting anyone, or robbing anyone, or killing anyone. Most of the people that will pay us tomorrow have earned their money through dubious means; it’s the same if we take it from them.”

The other had no answer Ramu’s statement. In fact, he agreed with Ramu on the point, it seemed. The two, then, set the bags, they had been carrying on their shoulders, down and began to make some elaborate preparations. It was Ramu who did most of the work. He went about the job with great energy. Rubbing something here, burying something there, painted something on a rock and hid the painted rock under some leaves. I was not sure what was going on, but I followed their activities closely.

“Now don’t forget where we have put every thing. There should be no room for doubt, if we do it well, maybe after tomorrow we would not have to do something like this ever again,” Ramu said with a smile, evidently very pleased with himself.

“I won’t”, said the other. He, too, seemed pleased with the way things had been done.

I couldn’t wait for next day. The two men had been contacted by the people of the area and asked to exorcise the ghost. They had willingly agreed, and tomorrow was the day when they were going to do it. Their preparations of tonight were towards that end.

The next day, the duo was careful enough not to be the first to arrive at the spot. When a few people had already gathered, the two appeared on the scene, looking menacing. Ramu had painted his face, and was bare-chested, with ash smeared all over his body. Some strange words, in some mystic looking language were written across his chest. His companion was similarly attired but looked a little less threatening..

Their appearance at the scene caused a brief ruckus in the crowd which soon died and there was a hush. The only sound that could be heard was that of a child crying.

“What are children doing here? You think this is some child play?” Ramu thundered.

Even I was surprised, having heard his voice last night; it was totally different now, and matched his appearance.

“If there are any weak of heart here, I say leave now… and get the children away.”

Then he signed to his partner, who began to assemble the crowd. It was very cleverly done. The crowd was pushed back and asked not to sit in some areas. It was a very harmless move and done, as he said, to keep them safe from the evil spirit, but, as I noticed, the purpose of the move was to keep people from realizing that they were being duped. In spite of their shrewdness, I felt that they would be caught. There were too many people and I thought it would be hard to trick such a large number of people without the aid of a screen, or a diversion of some kind. But, I was wrong.

Then the aide lighted some incense, laid a human skull, and some bones, on a sheet. From a bag, he brought out some other items that I will refrain form describing here. Suffice it to say that not a word was uttered by the crowd, and all eyes were closely following every move of Ramu, and his friend.

Then it started. Ramu, began calling out to the Ghost. Sometimes threatening, sometimes cajoling, but the Ghost was reluctant and would not come. I could not help smiling as I saw the look on people’s face. Ramu’s every move was being followed and yet no one could see through his tricks. Finally, the Ghost came and Ramu began to bargain with him. Till now, Ramu was using a language that was incomprehensible to the crowd but the terms of the treaty with the Ghost were being worked out in the language of the masses. He made it seem that the ghost was not ready to leave and would only leave if they gave her a certain amount of gold. Ramu, apparently on the people’s side, bargained with her. Sometimes he got angry, and pretended to beat her and sometimes the ghost got angry, and a stone would emerge from the earth with words on it, or writing would suddenly appear on a tree. Finally, a price was agreed upon, and the ghost agreed to leave everyone alone as soon as the price was paid.

How would she take it, Ramu had asked her and she had said that he had to bring it to her. Once he did that she would stop tormenting the people. She warned that she would wait for only one day, and if her price was not paid in that time she would torment the people just as they had tormented her by summoning her there. Then she was gone.

All of a sudden Ramu seemed less dangerous too. He would have made an excellent actor, I thought to myself. He seemed tired, and asked his assistant to go to the people and ask them if they were ready to pay the price. He seemed to have passed out.

The people began to go away, and only a few elders, who would decide if the price was to be paid, remained.

But it was evident that the decision was already made. The price would be paid.

Soon everyone left, and only Ramu and his friend remained. Ramu, who seemed very tired, was animated in no time. He quickly moved around to make sure that no proof of his trickery remained. He was a smart man. Maybe too smart for his own good.