The Dead Man – II

As I had mentioned before, in the absence of telephones and many other modern conveniences, the traditional method of shouting from house to house was resorted to, for transferring the news of Rohit’s death to adjoining villages. Soon, a crowd was gathered and in due course news was sent to Rohit’s wife of his demise. She, as often happens in such cases, was the last to know.

She took the news stoically. He had ceased to be any good as a husband a long time ago. Yet, knowing that he would never come back was a shock to her, but it was something that she expected every day. She told the bearer of the news that she would get to the accident site as soon as possible.

As more people gathered, everyone assumed that the one before them had checked on the man and that he was dead for sure. So, a few brave people went down and tied a rope to Rohit’s body and dragged him up the side of the gorge. He was laid down on the side of the road, and since it was evening, no one knew what to do with the body. So they just decided to wait there till someone who could tell them what to do showed up. Usually they just took the body to the burning site, and performed the rites but today it was too late in the evening for a funeral .

All of the villagers gathered there decided to wait for the wife, who arrived in due time, and once there she dropped enough tears, and let out enough screams and sighs so that no one could later blame her for being heartless. She was not happy or relieved to see Rohit dead, although all his life he had been nothing but a pain in the neck for her. She wasn’t very sad either, yet she didn’t want that to show.

She was afraid that now people would get the body home and everyone would see the inside of her house. There was a time when they were well off and kept a nice house. Over a period of time things had got worse and she did not want everyone in her house and seeing the condition her house was in. So, she kept on crying and making a huge scene for a long time. As soon as her tears stopped and her cries reduced in frequency, someone would venture the question:

“Sister, what do we do with the body for tonight?”

Or another would say: “Let’s take him home, sister,” and at this the sob and the cries would start all over again.

Then someone suggested that the hospital in a nearby town had a mortuary and that they should take the body there, so that the next day even the police could confirm the death. Someone suggested that they would have to take the body there for an autopsy anyways. Now autopsy was a big word for the villagers and no one really knew what it meant. This was an idea that was suitable to the woman too and she apparently tried to resist and insist that body should be taken home but she was careful not to insist too much. She let the people convince her that what the man had suggested was the best course of action.

So, it came to pass that Rohit’s body was taken to the mortuary of the nearby hospital and kept there. Everyone returned home except Rohit’s wife who stayed back in the hospital, though not with the dead body. She was not able to sleep very well as she had recurring dreams of her husband coming back to life and treating her well. For a while in the loneliness of the night, she dropped some genuine tears remembering the man Rohit once was.

The next morning as people began to arrive to collect the body and take it to the cemetery, the door to the mortuary was opened, and there, to every one’s shock, sitting on the bed, was Rohit. It seemed he had just woken up, his sleep disturbed by the noise from the people. Everyone was at his wit’s end, and there was complete silence till someone screamed:

“Ghost!”

Cont… (If you have had the patience to read this post till here, take a few minutes to leave a comment and tell me what you think.)