It was raining heavily that day in Panchgani. This famous tourist spot on the deccan plateau receives very heavy rainfalls during the monsoon season. 18-year-old Salim lived here with his Uncle’s family. Panchgani has some of the best boarding schools in India and most of the rich and affluent families living in Mumbai and Pune get their children admitted to these posh boarding schools. It is really tough to get admission in these schools as the seats are limited and the demand for it sky-rockets. Getting to study in one of the schools here was a matter of great privilege. Salim was lucky to have got the opportunity to reside with his uncle’s family and complete his early schooling from this nature’s paradise with lush green trees, valleys and hills. This place is aptly known as the “Switzerland of Maharashtra”! After completing his schooling in this extremely picturesque and enthralling place, Salim was now pursuing his graduation from a college at Wai near Panchgani. The daily journey to college, passing the beautiful Krishna river and its valley was also a memorable experience for him.
Salim’s uncle, Nissar who had done his M.Sc. M.Ed. in Mathematics, was a school teacher in one of the reputed boarding schools of Panchgani and he was a much sought-after teacher as he taught one of the difficult subjects, mathematics. The family consisted of his Uncle, his aunt Sameera and their 3 sons. Salim who was Nissar Uncle’s elder brother’s son was also treated like family and his aunt and uncle never differentiated between the children. Salim always felt grateful to his uncle and aunt to have accommodated him in their family and to have provided him with the opportunity to get good education in this beautiful place which was closeted by 5 hills of the Western Ghats (Sahyadri mountain range) on all sides and thereby the place deriving its name, “Panch” means “five” and “gani” means “hills”. He liked the place so much that whenever he went back to his parents’ place in Uttar Pradesh during the long summer holidays, he longed to be back to this land of strawberries. Yes, Panchgani and Mahableshwar are the two hill stations of Maharashtra which are famous for its strawberry farming. He usually travelled back to Panchgani from Mumbai in a State Road Transport Bus. As the bus neared the hills, the cool, clean breeze with the mesmerizing aroma of fresh strawberries seemed to welcome him back. He was a strawberry fan and loved all the strawberry products, viz., jam, pulps, spreads, juices, et all.
Tonight, the downpour was too heavy. His aunt served an early dinner to all the children and asked them to go to bed early. As they silently lay in their bed waiting for sleep to engulf them, they could hear the rain water gushing down the hilly slopes. It was a bit terrifying. As if to compound their fears, they suddenly heard their Aunt shriek and call out to Salim and his cousin brothers. All of them went running to his aunt’s room to see why his aunt was shrieking. They saw that uncle Nissar who was lying on the bed in his pyjamas and vest, was breathless and was complaining of chest pain. His aunt had started weeping and told Salim to shift his uncle to a hospital immediately as she feared the worst. Salim tried to pacify her and told that it could merely be gastritis and not to get panicky. He was aware of his uncle’s gastritis problem. Anyways, nobody wanted to take a risk. What if the chest pain was not the regular gastric problem that his uncle suffers from? What if it was anything serious? To be on the safer side, they decided to shift Uncle Nissar to the nearby nursing home. But they didn’t know whether they could get a taxi in this heavy downpour. It was the 1980s. Technology and transport services were not advanced as it is today. Neither mobile phones were available with everyone, nor any Ola or Uber Taxi Services plied those days. Having been in Panchgani for almost 3 decades now, his uncle’s family did know some of the local taxi drivers. But someone had to go to the taxi stand to fetch a taxi. Salim being the eldest amongst the brothers, took the responsibility upon himself to fetch a taxi.
Salim tried to kick-start his motorbike which was having a starting trouble in that cold and rainy weather. After several attempts, the motorcycle finally came alive with a revving sound. With a sigh of relief, Salim, left for the taxi stand in the heavy rain on his motor cycle. The rain was so heavy that it fell like a sheet. It was difficult to see through the rains. As he started his bike and left the house, Salim felt someone following him. He turned back and saw, but could not see anybody standing or coming behind him. But throughout the journey, from the house to the Taxi stand, he had the eerie feeling of being followed…… Ignoring the fear Salim went to the taxi stand and found a familiar taxi driver. He asked him to come home immediately as they had to shift his uncle to the hospital. Ordinarily the taxi driver wouldn’t have agreed to drive in this heavy down pour in the hilly region with many risky curves and bends. But it was a medical emergency. So, the taxi driver agreed to take the risk. He knew Salim’s uncle’s house very well. Many students went to their house for maths tuitions. So, driving carefully in the rain he started towards their house. Salim too started his bike to follow the taxi driver. Before starting, he looked around to allay his fears of someone following him that he had while coming to the taxi stand. He looked around. There was not a single soul around. Anyways, who would come out in this heavy rain? Maybe it was his imagination which was playing truant with him. Thus, comforting himself, he again followed the taxi on his motor cycle. The rainfall hadn’t relented one bit. As Salim struggled to ride his motor cycle in the rain, he once again felt that someone was following him. Whenever he stopped his bike, he felt the figure also stopped. As soon as he picked up acceleration, he felt that the figure behind him was also speeding up and catching up with him. His aunt had told him and his brothers, many stories of ghosts when they wouldn’t sleep at night. There were many houses in Panchgani which belonged to rich people who lived outside Panchgani. They rarely visited their house in this hilly station as their life style has now changed. Their children are now settled in some foreign country. As such, there were many such abandoned bungalows around the place, which had a haunted look about them. Some of these bungalows were from the time of the British as it was during the British regime in India that this beautiful place was discovered and developed as a summer resort by Lord Chesson in the 1860s. Since then, this place has further developed into a tourist spot, an educational and recreational hub etc. Many stories of ghosts being spotted in some of these abandoned bungalows also made the circles. He didn’t know whether they were true or just made up by someone to terrify intruders from entering these abandoned houses. But today, as he was riding his motor cycle in this heavy rain, with that “something” constantly following him, he seemed to remember all the ghost stories. A shiver ran down his spine and his teeth chattered. It was partially fear which caused it, in addition to his physical condition of being fully drenched in the rain. As the taxi moved from the taxi stand towards his uncle’s house, he crossed one famous boarding school after another; the Billimoria High School (of the Parsi community), Anjum-i-Islam School (of the muslims), the St. Joseph’s Convent School (run by the Roman Catholic order of nuns known as “Daughters of The Cross”) and now they were approaching the famous Kimmins School for girls. Even in the bad situation that he was, the thought of the hi-fi, modern and smart girls clad in short skirts, who studied in this school made his heart skip a beat. It was a popular hang-out spot for the boys of his age. It was the last school on the way to his Uncle’s house. Soon he would be home. Being an adventurous boy, he always liked to roam around in the hills. The tourists only knew the famous points in Panchgani like Sydney Point or Parsi Point. But Salim seemed to know every nook and corner of this hill station. He loved to be amidst the nature, play football with the local team in the vast football ground on the Table Land. Thus, he would usually be late going home and would be reprimanded by his aunt often on this count. But today, he was in a hurry to be safely back in the four walls of his uncle’s house. Whatever was following him was still behind him. He didn’t dare turn around to look at it. But he could feel its presence behind him.
Soon, the taxi halted in front of his uncle’s house. He too disembarked from his motorbike and rushed inside to tell his aunt that the taxi had arrived. His uncle was still in pain and no amount of home remedies tried by his aunt was giving him any relief. Salim helped his uncle wear a shirt atop his pyjama and helped him walk upto the taxi. He was made to lie down in the back seat of the taxi and his aunt too adjusted herself in the back seat placing her husband’s head in her lap. Her elder son Munna sat in the front seat near the driver. The two younger boys were asked to remain safely inside the house and Salim followed the taxi on its way to the nearby nursing home on his motorcycle once again in the rain which was ceaseless that night. As Salim was following the taxi, this time again he could feel that ‘someone’ or ‘something’ was following him. This time he was damn sure of that “thing’s” presence. His heart beat very fast. He tried to recollect the verses of “aayatul kursi” as it is said to ward off all evil spirits. In this stressful state he could remember only the first two lines. He repeated these two lines continuously and prayed to the Almighty in his heart as he followed the taxi to the nursing home. Soon they reached the nursing home. He parked his motorcycle. He looked around to see whether there was someone to be seen. But except the watchman of the nursing home, no one else was to be seen outside in this pouring rain. He helped his uncle get down from the taxi and took him inside the hospital.
His uncle was immediately hospitalized and several blood tests and other investigations like chest x-ray etc. were scheduled for him. He would have to stay in the hospital for a few more days at least until his condition improved. His aunt decided to stay back at the hospital along with Munna to help her out in case of any need. She asked Salim to go back to the two younger boys who were now alone at home. Salim didn’t want to go back in this rain once again. Besides, he was afraid of the “thing” following him. But the hospital authorities would not allow so many relatives to stay in the hospital with the patient. He also didn’t want to worry his already worried aunt by telling her about his eerie experience in the rain. So, he agreed to go back home.
Mustering all his courage, he started his motorcycle and left for his uncle’s house once again in the rain. The downpour had now waned and Salim could see through the rain easily this time as he went on his way towards his destination. He could drive fast now as the roads were clear past mid-night and the rainfall had almost ceased. He didn’t bother to check whether that ‘thing’ was following him or not. He just whizzed on his motorcycle and reached back home soon. He toweled himself dry and changed into fresh clothes and tried to get some much-needed sleep in the warmth of his bed. He set the alarm clock for 6am in the morning before going to sleep. But his mind kept thinking of the ‘thing’ that had followed him. Was it merely his imagination or was there something in reality? Lost in these thoughts, he never knew when his tired body gave way to sleep.
Salim woke to the shrill sound of the alarm. He shut the alarm and wanted to go back to sleep. But he remembered that his uncle was in hospital and there was so much to be done at home. So, he woke up and went about the morning chores in the kitchen of boiling milk, making tea and breakfast for himself and his two younger cousin brothers. He later had a bath, got ready and left for the hospital on his motorcycle. It was broad day light. The rains had stopped fully. The climate was very pleasant at 18 degree Celsius. Nobody or nothing was following him this time. He reached the hospital, met his uncle and aunt. His uncle was feeling much better now. He had no problem in his heart. It was gastritis only. He was advised to avoid all kinds of oily, greasy and spicy foods by the doctor. Salim and Munna looked at each other and exchanged a knowing smile on hearing this advice as they knew it was going to be very difficult to get this advice followed by Munna’s father, a.k.a., Salim’s uncle.
Salim’s uncle was discharged from the hospital and all four of them (Salim, his uncle, aunt and their elder son Munna) came out of the hospital to take a taxi back home. As they stood outside the hospital, a black dog ran towards them from the bushes and leapt up in joy, wagging its tail and barking and trying to lick his uncle’s face and hands. The hospital watchman tried to shoo the stray dog away with his stick, but the dog wouldn’t budge. The watchman asked us whether it was our dog? We didn’t know what to say, as it was not actually our dog. Rather we didn’t consider it as ours. For us it was merely a stray dog which lived near my uncle’s house. My youngest cousin brother named this dog Jimmy and all of us started calling him Jimmy. It was my uncle who hated wastage of food, who made it a point to feed Jimmy daily with the left-over food in the kitchen. Thus, Jimmy stayed in the vicinity of my uncle’s house.
The watchman told us that this dog had come from somewhere in the pouring rain last night. It has been creating so much trouble for him since last night, as it wanted to enter the hospital premises and he had to keep vigil and shoo it away with his stick, lest it entered the hospital and created any ruckus. Now everything about yesterday’s mysterious happenings seemed to fall in place for Salim. It was Jimmy who had followed him last night when he went to fetch a taxi in the rain. It was Jimmy who had followed them to the hospital last night and stayed back at the hospital as my uncle was hospitalized here. The dog was fully black with not a speck of any other colour upon his entire body. As such in the poor visibility conditions, Salim was not able to see the black-coloured dog.
Salim was touched by the dedication and display of gratitude and love of the dog for the family which fed him on left-overs. When the watchman at the hospital asked whether it was their dog, they had hesitated to accept it as theirs. But the animal had no hesitation or second thoughts in accepting the family as its own and display its allegiance. Maybe, that’s the difference between a complicated being like man and a simple animal like a dog!
The family had hesitated to claim Jimmy as theirs, but the dog had never hesitated to claim them as his own. They all returned back to their home hiring a taxi once again. This time Salim went ahead of the taxi on his motor cycle and leading the small caravan was Jimmy in the fore-front!! In a mercenary world, where loyalty is often transactional, Jimmy was a shining example of “gratitude personified”!