Three women in the night

In late august, somewhere near the range road of Tughlakabad fort, Delhi. It has rained in the past few days,thus a cool summer night with a light breeze. Perfect weather for a night out with my boys, Shiven muses as he pushes back in his chair and rolls the windows down. Adi and Karan are busy opening bottles and fixing up the takeaway packets into makeshift trays for everyone’s respective food orders while Atish plays around with the music controls on the steering wheel. It has been ages since they last sat together for snacks and drinks. Parting ways for pursuing higher education it is only after five long years, they finally were in the same city at the same time to plan this rendevous away from office meets, client calls and the Hustle as they liked to call it.

“Budwesen for You, Atish gets non alcoholic, mine is Monkey and Karan….”

“Karan apna hisaab khud set karega, tu shawrma aur momo nikaal yaar. Pune mei studies ka to sahi tha, par dilli wale khane ko taras gya yaar main”. Karan cuts in between Adi and pours himself a concoction mixed with liquor from his flask.
“C’mon man, you could at least drive around or visit home and find street food. Think of me, I am back in the city after ages it feels”

“Bhai pakk gya man office meetings mein english bol bol k, yahaan office wali feel na de. Main dosto k sath break pe hu” Atish chuckled and took a sip as he passed on the snack tray towards Shiven.

A cool breeze passed through the windows, almost chilling them. Not unusual with the nearby lake and rain in the previous days had helped drag down the summer heat in the city and dew drops were still shining in the distance on tall grass blades that stood close to the lake. A mild chirp of bugs was all that was for noise in this night, no horns no loud music just chilling with the boys.

“Man I am loving this weather, how about we drive around with windows rolled down?” Adi took a vibe check and everyone nodded in agreement.

“Gaadi to tera bhai chalayega aaj.” Karan smiled with cheese smeared lips as he went in for another bite into his loaded nachos.

“No way, Atish drives. Safe and sound. He is the only one not taking alcohol”
“B$%$#D Tu kabse rules follow karne laga? Sabse zyaada kaandi to tu hi tha”

“Bro, ab mai badal gya..” Shiven replied.

“Bhai halaat badal gye jazbaat badal gye, aur to aur mera yaar badal gya” Adi Chuckled imitating a comedian and everyone laughed. 

The boys finished up their snacks and drinks. Packed up all their trash in a polybag to dump later. It was close to midnight and the night was pitch dark. Street lights from the distant roads were only specks like the light bugs hovering the lake in this area as the road flanked a green terrain and was not in use very often.
The four friends went ahead with their plan for a long drive on this lonely road lit by the faint moonlight in the sky and sparsely placed street lamps on the way. It was a beautiful night, chilly breeze touching their faces, light clouds of dust floating around the car and silence all around. No bright lights, just the stars lighting up the sky, speeding car and a seemingly endless, empty road till the very horizon. Suddenly Atish halts the car to a stop with forceful braking.

“F@#$ Man!!” Shiven shouted as the car stopped with a jolt and everyone felt a hard jerk.
Shiven looked at Atish in the driving seat, who was staring ahead at the empty road with eyes wide open.
“Atish, WTF MAN!, What happened.” Adi asked.

“Atish!, Bro! Kya hua? Kya dekh raha hai tu?” Shiven asked while trying to shake him by the shoulder to shake off his trance.
“Wo, Wo saamne….” Atish stuttered as he feably pointed towards the middle of the road 

“Wo aurat, usko lagg jati” Atish had horror in his eyes.
Shiven could not see anything, and sensed that something was not sitting right. There was no one in the front.
“B@##$D ab kya bhasoodi ho gyi,” Karan looked around in an agitated manner.
“Atish gaadi bhaga! Wo akeli nahi hai” Karan shouted from the back seat as he tried to look around.

“Haan” Atish stumbled around with the gear controls but gained traction fast. In a hurry he put his foot hard on the accelerator and with a screech the car sped on the road leaving dust clouds in the trail. 

As the car moved forward, Shiven saw two haze silhouettes of women getting closer and then disappearing into white smoke as the car went through them. Shiven and Atish could see three distinct white figurines running with a speed that did not seem human-like. The horror on Adi and Karan’s face suggested they saw it too. None of the friends spoke a word after this for what felt like ages trying to get away from this haunted spot. Hard to guess whatever little euphoria they had had from the t drinks, was all gone and the four of them were on hyper alert with adrenaline. Atish kept driving like a maniac until they were off the shooting range road, out of the Tughlakabad area and close to Mohan Estate that he finally decided to slow down. Stopping the car on the Kalkaji Underpass, close to the Kalkaji Temple a fairly busy area of crowd, they finally took a breathe of relief near the temple entrance. It was a fairly quite day and apart from two PCR vans and a few devotees and shopkeepers the night was dull for this otherwise crowded place.

Shiven took a sip of water and decided to break the silence, while passing on the bottle to Karan’s extended hand.
“Crazy night, I thought I actually saw a ghost. I swear I never believed in any of this but Man, aaj to meri b Phati yaar. Kya tha wo jo humne dekha”
“Tu kyu bola k wo akeli nahi hai?” Atish enquired Karan who sat in silence holding the water bottlem with the focus of a monk or a child. Not very clear which one it was.
“Mujhe laga jaise kisi ne gaadi pe haath mara. Jaise koi aur bhi tha wahaan. Aise roads pe aksar bhoot wagarah k kisse hote hain, main nahi keh ra k main manta hu but abhi bhai meri himmat nahi hai akele ghar jane” Karan’s voice seemed to be shallow, Shiven could sense they were all shook. He stepped out of the car, to get a grip of himself. Walked around the car while lighting a smoke. But as he turned, again a chill ran down his spine, he saw the mark of a hand as if dragging downward on the car. The Ciaz had been covered with dust with all the driving and the mark seemed fresh, of a very light almost feminine hand. The car had only been touched by these four all day and they were all heavy handed. Shiven took a picture of it in his phone and quickly rushed back in.
“Mera ghar sabse pas hai, abhi k liye chalte hain subha baat karengey ispe” Atish suggested. Adi, Karan and Shiven agreed to the plan and dropped a message to their families of the change in plans.
Suddenly Atish’s phone rings, he did not realise his phone had been ringing all this while as he drove in maniacal fear. It was his mom, he ended the call and drove home with his friends. 

At home

Atish entered his house and saw his mother’s room was open. The boys all greeted her with hugs, exchanged pleasantries and sat down around her on the bed and ground. Wherever they found place to perch.They had known her as "Atish ki mamma" for so long that the comfort matched to that of being around their own mother. Atish sat next to her and could see his mother was tensed and seemed worried.

“Maa, aap pareshan kyu ho? Maine kaha tha na so jana mai ajaunga subah tak. Raat k teen baje aap kyu jag re ho. Pehle to kabhi nahi kia aisa” Atish asked his mother, in a concerned voice.

“Beta pehle kabhi aise jee ghabraya bhi to nahi mera. Warna main phone bhi kahaan karti hun itna bar bar” His mother touched his forehead in a gentle caress and looked around smiling at the boys who are now grown men. She smiled an affectionate smile of love as she looked at each of their faces and took a huge sigh of relief.
Holding her son’s hand she looked at him and said,”Main jaag nahi rahi thi, meri neend khul gyi thi beta. Ajeeb sa ek sapna tha. Jaise ki tum charo kisi jungle k paas ho gaadi mei, aur teen safed kapdo mein lipti aurtein tumhara peechha kar rahi hain. Wo daraawni thi, tumhe nuksaan pahuchaane wali thi. Phir meri neend khul gayi. Tabhi tujhe bar bar phone kia, tune nahi uthaya to main aur ghabra gayi. Par koi baat nahi, tum sab thik ho, mere paas ho. Ab mujhe koi fikar nahi.” She wiped away a tear rolling down her face, and kissed her sons hand with affection. “Tu ja ab main so jaungi araam se. Tum log bhi jao araam karo”, She said and the boys took leave and went to Atish's room.

In Atish’s room, none of them can sleep and sit propped in a circle facing one another trying to figure out what just happened. They just can’t believe what they heard from his mother. The dream Atish’s mother had and the experience they just lived, the coincidence was way too uncanny. How could it possibly be. Shiven shows Karan the picture he took on his phone of the imprint on the car. They all freak out and decide to never go back on that road in the night, nor to tell his mother what she saw was actually happening to them probably at the same time. The boys drift off into an uneasy sleep.

Life can be weird, and dreams foretelling future or giving glimpse into someone’s present situation while they are away can spook out anybody. Meditation and positive thinking can help one to not get scared in such cases.