Alcoholic Melancholy ?

                                                                                                                                                                             

To scare me out, my childhood friend Syed Yusuf told me the below story in the year 2005.

After almost a decade I have altered, reshaped and presented this in written format.

                            In the summer of 1994, on one sultry night at around 10:30 P.M, Lokanatham walked out of his house. His four friends Raghunath, Subramaniam, Shafiqullah and Manikyam were waiting behind the banyan tree outside Lokanatham’s  house  for him to come out.  Lokanatham silently opened the main gate that guarded his house and signaled for his friends behind the tree. Later the five of them strolled in the East direction towards the end of their village. The whole village seemed to be sleeping while these five  set afoot from their shelters. 
With his lungi uplifted, Lokanatham who ought to be the cynosure of the 5-member gang led his friends to “Sri Rambha Wines” which was far but reachable from the village. Lokanatham, the former sarpanch (head of the village) of his village, bought his friends the liquor they wanted. They packed all their drinks and stuff in a cover and sauntered down the road till they reached Lokanatham’s farm. They all helped themselves to sit under a coconut tree which stood tall in one corner of the farm. The night was no more young and it got darker even before the boozers commenced the consumption.

                 Though the village did not have a medical shop that could provide medicines 24 * 7 , it had a liquor shop that operates around the clock. They all felt pretty happy for this reason. They merrily consumed their drinks and babbled on about things happening in and around their village. Suddenly one of them brought up the topic that someone had witnessed a ghost in Ghori Thota ( kind of graveyard that had bad spell on it ). Ghori Thota was on the other side of Lokanatham’s farm and several villagers feared going that way. Lokanatham wrangled that there weren’t any such ghosts and he could prove that fact right away. This turned into a heated conversation and Lokanatham agreed to hit a nail (using hammer)  into any one grave inside Ghori Thota and come back unscathed. Manikyam disposed the empty bottles while others waited outside the small store room present in the center of the farm. Lokanatham came out from the room with a hammer and few nails.  The five of them perambulated up the farm and reached the road that leads into the Ghori Thota.

                       

                                The night was in its darkest avatar as Lokanatham had gotten very high with the booze. Moon seemed to be the only spectator of the incident that was going down.  Without any second thought Lokanatham asked his friends to point them the grave that was to be nailed. They all pointed their fingers towards the one which was raised 0.5 meters above the ground and gleamed with ghastly look. This grave was for sure the farthest of all the graves from the road. Lokanatham seemed to be game for the challenge and asked his friends to wait for him right here. He lowered his lungi and carried the hammer and nails into the Ghori Thota. He cleared the bushes which were blocking the entrance and forayed into the graveyard. His heart started pounding heavier and faster than usual and for a moment he thought of running back. But the booze in his stomach put him in the race and made him to face the challenge.

                           Lokanatham reached the grave and turned back to look for his friends who were halted on the road. From very far the four of them beckoned him. He climbed on to the grave and pushed away the dry leaves and flower-petals. Sharp and high toned chirpings coming from the tall and bushy trees nearby made the ambience more appalling. With a heart that was heavily pounding and speedily racing, he started hitting a nail with the hammer he brought. Lokanatham felt his sweat flowing down with every punch he put on the nail. After punching in the nail he hastily turned back and moved, but unfortunately he couldn’t. He experienced a warm breeze up his neck and felt that someone was pulling his lungi very tightly from behind. He started shouting out loudly. Watching his torment, his friends ran away from the place where they were halted. Lokanatham noticed his friends running away and in order to save himself, he undesirably  removed his lungi and jumped off the grave. As a result he shattered his sandals and threw away his hammer and left-over nails around the grave. Lokanatham scrambled with bare feet across the graveyard without even caring for the thorns those were pricking his feet. He was horrified when he reached the road. From there Lokanatham ran with full pace towards his home sweating and shaking like a maniac.

                                   Next day, early in the morning Raghunath, Subramaniam, Shafiqullah and Manikyam who were also horrified at last night’s incident  gathered near their usual meeting spot - the village pump set that supplies water . With wanting to know the plight that had come up on Lokanatham last night, they went to his house and were surprised to see few neighbors seated at the porch. They went inside and were shocked to see Lokanatham on the bed down and out with fever . His feet were injured with thorns and spines. The four of them told  the neighbors with a fearful tone on what had happened. Everyone around there were terribly shocked and decided to go to the graveyard with the current Sarpanch. They insisted the Sarpanch to set a fencing up around Ghori Thota and abolish it from entering.

When the Sarpanch, relatives and neighbors of Lokanatham entered the Ghori Thota, they all could see the bushes scattered. Lokanatham’s sandals which were lying distantly could be seen as they all approached the grave.

                                        As the crowd came closer the anxiety of every person pumped up very high. All the visitors were awestruck and spellbound while watching what had happened.

Lokanatham had actually " hit the nail through his lungi into the grave ". People burst into laughter and so did the four friends.

Listened, Amended and Written By,

Jayanth