The Strange Rock

Let me take you to Bugyals, the meadows of Uttrakhand in India. It is a story beyond imagination. The valley of Bugyal, Uttrakhand’s beautiful and distinctive landscape is an astonishing meadow that certainly adds to the charm of this surreal state. Situated in high altitude destinations, Bugyals are best known for camping destinations. These are enclosed by the sky-kissing Himalayan mountains, the lush green patches look no less than an attraction created by God. Words fall short to describe its beauty.

In this beautiful place there lived a family of five members. Their main occupation was farming but as the piece of land was too small to feed the family, the little son Tul Bahadur was sent to work in New Delhi along with his uncle who was in the army and was staying in Delhi cantonment area. The uncle knew some of the civilians who could keep him as a domestic assistant. Tul got employed by a small family staying in South Delhi. Tul Bahadur was just nine years then and was excited to join the family. The reason was that he had come to a city for the first time and was quite impressed by the glamour of the city. He could hardly speak Hindi but could understand well. He soon adjusted himself with the family. He did all his work well as instructed and taught by the lady, the mother of two daughters aged 5 and 8 years. He played with them after his work was over. He treated both as his sisters and got permission from the mother to tie Rakhi, the sacred thread of Hindus.

Time passed and the family also treated him like a member of their family. The family was fond of travelling, hence he also travelled along with them and stayed in good hotels. He took great care of the house in the absence of the mother especially when a lot of people came to visit the father at home. He served the family for eight to nine years as after that he got married and settled down in his own village.

During summer vacations, every year he used to visit his parents, sisters, etc. As usual, he bought gifts and necessary things for his family. Every time he took one month’s leave. This time in 1990 he went there and was happy to meet his family and his friends. Every night after the dinner he used to chat with three of his friends sitting on the rock, a little far from their house but facing the dense forest ahead. As per him, one day they were chatting and it was a moonlit night. In the moonlight, they could see the dark patchy rocks amidst the trees which were stopping the light to reach there. The strong winds were whistling and falling of dry leaves was enough to make the place spooky. But they kept on chatting as they were used to such things and kept on chatting. It was around a quarter past twelve when they decided to get back home. As they got up the rock, they saw a shadow of a girl near the shady rocks. One of the friends called Vishnu asked everyone to stop and watched the girl. Slowly the shadow came out in the light and they saw that she was a young and beautiful girl of around seventeen or so in age. As they knew everyone in the small village of theirs, they could immediately think her to be of their neighboring village. Out of all only Vishnu went near that girl and asked about her. She smiled and said that she belonged to the village down the valley. She told him that she loved these rocks and only in moonlit nights she visited these. After telling that she vanished in the dark rocks. The next night all of them went and started chatting at the same rock as it was their favorite place. Nothing happened that night.

After some time, they returned back home as it was already very late. They thought it was their illusion. They kept on visiting that rocky place till the next two days but on the third night, they saw the same girl coming towards them. Everyone warned Vishnu not to go near her as they had heard about paranormal activities held there. But Vishnu did not pay any heed to their advice. All the boys left except Vishnu. The next morning, he told his friends that she belonged to another village and she liked him and would come every day to meet him. His friends could sense that there was danger for Vishnu as no girl would come up at such a height and that too late nights. They advised Vishnu but he was mad over her beauty and was not in a mood to listen to them. Then Tul Bahadur suggested carrying a reel of thread along with him. He told Vishnu to tie the thread at one corner of her saree and to leave the reel loose to check as to where she went after meeting. Vishnu agreed to this and at night while she was busy talking, he tied the thread. It was full moon night. The weather was cool. Peace and calmness spread everywhere. They chatted, laughed for long hours and before dawn, she left and he also came back. The next morning, all the four went near the place where they sat and started following the thread. They walked down the rocks and were shocked to see the reel under a strange patchy rock. There was no sign of any living thing. As expected, they found this to be supernatural. Just to make Vishnu understand this fact, all of them went down the valley to enquire about the existence of the girl. On enquiring, they came to know that the girl had committed suicide after being cheated by a boy whom she loved from the core of her heart. Since then she was seen on the rocks in search of boys to take revenge by binding them in her love and later throwing them down the valley. Already three cases were reported. On hearing this Vishnu thanked his friends for saving his life and promise of not going ever towards that strange rock.