Haunting Echoes in Eerie Mountains
(A fictional story inspired by real life incidents)
Author: Air Marshal VPS Rana PVSM,VSM(Retd)
Chapter 1: The Beautiful Village in the Grips of Horror
There are so many paranormal activities for which there is no specific explanation in science. It is therefore prudent that when it comes to traditions, culture and folklore, the scientific lens better be left out and lens of faith be zoomed in. The rituals have a very significant place in the village lives of remote regions all across the Himalayan belt. Many beliefs, faith and stories are passed on through the generations. This story is of one such scanty remote village of ‘Siloli’, nestled in the shadowy embrace of towering mountains of interior Uttarakhand.
An eerie silence reigned in this village. The village in the grip of horrific incidents, spoke in hushed tones, the voices of residents quivering as they recounted the tragic tale of young beautiful woman named ‘Phyonli’, whose spirit now haunted the village. No one dared to move after the sunset. It started with a strange encounter of a young girl ‘Binnu’ while returning to her house in the evening. Little fog had started setting in. In that misty chill evening, she perceived as if someone was following her and inquisitively turned back, but found no one. Once again, she stepped forward and heard the sound of footsteps following her again. She looked back, little scared now as it had started turning dark, but found no one. Then suddenly a gust of wind and small puff of cloud went past her pushing her sideways. She almost fell on the ground. She shrieked with fear and ran back to the nearest house and narrated the harrowing experience to the residents of the house. They came out huddled together but found no one. However, at a distance away in chilly winter mist, muzzled voice of someone sobbing could be heard. They all had chill running down their spine and they all rushed inside.
The untimely death of Phyonli had left an indelible scar on the village and her spirit started manifesting in many ways and refused to rest. It had now become difficult for the village women to remain in the forest particularly after evening hours. They would always stay huddled in the group in the forest area, fearing untoward incidents. Months passed and villagers began to experience strange occurrences. Unexplained noises, sudden cold drafts and whispers that seemed to come from the shadows became common place. Many of the villagers reported that stones were pelted on their houses in the middle of the night. Some of them reported seeing a woman in white clothes near their house sitting on the parapet and sobbing slowly. People were scared to come out of their houses after dark.
The village, otherwise was beautifully located with an oak forest adjacent to the village where the village women often visited to get the fire wood and fodder for their cattle. There was one natural spring known as ‘Dhara’ in local dialect, with very pure, sweet, tasty and refreshing water. The young women of the village often used to sit and chit chat there. It was their go-to point for any consultation or pure gossiping for heavenly pleasure in their otherwise tough and hard life. It was at this place that Phyonli’s mesmerizing voice and loud unrestricted laughter used to dominate the congregation of young women of the village. However, the spring now bears the deserted look ever since the talk of Phyonli’s spirit was doing round.
Now, in evening and early night hours an uncomfortable echo reverberates in nearby mountains as if someone was humming a song. The sound however, turns into melancholy and then scaringly loud whistling once you are inside the forest. After Binnu, many other young children reported that often they get similar feeling of someone following them but when they turn, a wisp of air goes past them. Out of fear, no children went out alone and they stopped playing in the evening. Their conversation also hovered around the spirit whenever they met.
‘Phyonli’ is actually the name of a wild, yellow flower, which blooms all over the mountainous areas of Uttarakhand, during spring months. Young children pick up these flowers in wee hours during Phulari, Phulkari or Phul Dei festival, which goes on for a month starting on Chaitra Sankranti. In this Hindu month of ‘Chaitra’, children set out in the dark to gather the flowers and put the flowers in the doorsteps of the houses, before sunrise. Phyonli, thus, is a message of happiness and community togetherness, bringing joy to everyone in the village.
Young Phyonli who had come to the village about three years ago after her marriage to Shambhu, was true to her name and she was the most liked person by all, young or old. One could hear her name being called from different corners of the village. The houses in Siloli were scattered over the mountains, besides a small cluster of houses near the central place of the village where all social functions would be undertaken. A big banyan tree stood in the central place under which all village gatherings would take place. Siloli was a nice small happy village with very strong social fabric.
Chapter 2: Phyonli’s Arrival, A Wisp of Fresh Air
Phyonli’s marriage to Shambhu was a big celebratory moment for the village of Siloli. The talk of her beauty, simple nature and good qualities had preceded her arrival as new bride in the village. Shambhu was over the moon having married such a wonderful and extremely beautiful woman with all good qualities. His friends teased him often for being extremely lucky to have got into such wonderful alliance. Phyonli was also over the moon as Shambhu was one of the most sought-after young men, being a soldier in Army and handsome to the hilt. She was also happy as she felt that now she has a family of her own. She did not have a very happy childhood, as she had lost her parents early to an unknown disease, and was raised by the family of her uncle. She was treated like a burden by her aunt and was never appreciated for anything. Despite such setback early in life, and unpleasant atmosphere at home, she moulded herself into a fine young woman with all good qualities and very pleasing nature.
In her new home, she had her Mother-in-law, one Brother-in-law and one younger Sister-in-law, much younger to her. She was welcomed in her new home and she won the love and affection of all the family members in real quick time. Everyone was very impressed by her behaviour and demeanor, besides her other qualities of being highly sociable and accommodative to all. Everyone in the village became very fond of Phyonli in no time. She was very chirpy with her young women friends, unmarried or married, and shared her happy time with them during daily chores of her village life. She was equally responsive, caring and respectful to all the elder members of the village. The time spent by her after her marriage was like a dreamy sequence of well-crafted movie. Her every moment spent with Shambhu was blissful and she was very thankful to the God for having given her such a wonderful, caring and loving life partner.
Whenever Shambhu came on leave, he would hover around Phyonli wherever she
ventured. It had not gone unnoticed amongst the villagers and his colleagues. Village elders would tease and question him for being head over heels in love with Phyonli. Some of the elders did not approve of his public display of affection to his wife and would often lecture him to stay within the bounds. But Shambhu couldn’t care less and would try to spend time with Phyonli as much as he could while on leave. He would even follow her in the nearby oak forest where she would go to fetch fodder for the cattle. He would often tease her by singing the famous Uttarakhandi song to her,
whenever they were alone-
फयोंलेड़ी त्ववे देखी के औंदु यो मन माँ ,
औंदु यो मन मां
तेरो मेरो साथ छयो पैला जनम मां...
तेरो मेरो साथ छयो पैला जनम मां...
(Hey, you like the beautiful flower of Phyonli, whenever I see you, it comes to my thoughts that we were together in our last birth too)
Phyonli would shy away, but in heart of hearts would want Shambhu to keep singing that song to her forever. Their love life was talk of the village, as all the villagers young and old, were very fond of both of them. Shambhu was also a very brave soldier and was posted in border area, where terrorists sponsored by enemy country had continued with many mindless attacks on innocent civilians as well as on security forces. He had confronted many such terrorists and excelled in each encounter. He was one of the bravest soldiers in his battalion. He had already had few close encounters with dreaded terrorists and he jokingly was called ‘Mahakaal’ for his fearless approach to charge at the armed terrorists without caring for his own safety.
In their married life of just about two years, Shambhu had come on leave only thrice and they yearned for their togetherness. It was always so heart wrenching for them to part ways after his leave. Last time in particular, it was unbearable for them as Phyonli was now pregnant and both of them wanted to share their maximum time together. It was however, not possible for Shambhu to take her along; one, because he was posted in a non-family area and second, he wanted her to take care of his mother and younger siblings. He promised to come soon and spend more time with her and be by her side at the time of delivery of their child. With moist eyes and deep anguish, she bid him farewell. Both of them had no clue that this was the last time they would be together.
Chapter 3: Wrath of Destiny
Unaware with the wrath of destiny awaiting, they remained busy with their respective schedule of work; Phyonli in her daily chores of working in the fields, managing household, caring for the cattle, looking after her in-laws etc. and Shambhu in his routine patrols and surveillance of the border areas day and night as per the intelligence gathered on terrorist hideouts. It was not easy for them to speak on phone on regular basis due to security restrictions and network issues. They could communicate with each other only through letters. Away from each other in solitude, they would spend hours reading those letters many times over, remembering each other and wishing for time to fly to make them unite sooner than later.
On one fateful dark night, based on intelligence inputs, Shambhu’s platoon went out on a search patrol and barged into a hideout where five dreaded terrorists were hiding after killing some unsuspecting innocent civilians. He like always, took the lead to neutralise the terrorists and killed two and wounded one of them. He however, faced the barrage of the bullets from one of the hiding terrorists and succumbed to his injuries. Despite the success of the operation, a pall of gloom engulfed his battal