A Scary Night To Count

The fragile, old woman named Meenakshi reached Kayal’s house around midnight.  Kayal could not resist the shiver that the dark night sent down her spine. She had to strain her eyes in the faint moon light.

Kayal along with her parents followed the old woman without a word.  Kayal carried a bag with the pooja articles. 

Meenakshi patti stopped at a spot.  The place looked darker as there was no light there.  Faint streaks of light from a lamp post a few meters away lit the place scantily.

“Kayal, please bring the pooja items.”

Kayal handed over the pooja items to the old woman.

Kayal helped Meenakshi patti to spread the fresh banana leaf on the ground and arrange the pooja items. The banana leaf displayed an array of items.  Perfumed incense sticks, katholai karugamani (rings made of palm leaf and black beads strewn together like a strand) puffed rice, two lemons, strands of jasmine flowers, kungiliyam, a packet of fresh vibuthi (holy ash), turmeric kungumam, fresh rice flour (to make a small human like figurine), sandal paste, six banana fruits, coconut, pieces of camphor, betel leaves and areca nuts.

No one spoke.

Meenakshi patti mixed water and the rice flour to make a small human figurine.  She kept the human figurine in the centre of the banana leaf. After removing the fibre around the coconut, she broke the coconut into two.  She placed one-half at the right end and the other at the left end of the banana leaf.  

Then, she lit the perfumed incense sticks and pinned them on one of the bananas. The perfume from the incense sticks rose up in the midnight breeze and filled the place with an awe-inspiring spell.

Kayal took a heap of holy ash on a plate and placed a few pieces of camphor on it.  Meenakshi patti lit the camphor and did the arthi. She took a lemon and cut it into two halves and applied turmeric kungumam on them.    

With her hands folded, she then stood facing the east.  She kept the lemon pieces inside her folded hands and prayed for a few minutes.  Then, she cut each half of the lemon pieces into two more pieces and threw the four pieces in four directions.

As the last ritual, Meenakshi dug the ground with her bare hands and took a handful of dry earth. She folded the banana leaf with all the pooja item and without talking to any one, she started walking towards the factory gate. 

Meenakshi patti’s grandson, who was waiting outside the gate, held her right hand.

“I will take care.  She may want to go to the local graveyard now.” 

Without saying anything, they both left the place.

Next morning, Meenakshi patti came to Kayal’s house.

“Come inside.”

Kayal’s mother offered her something to eat.

“What happened?” Kayal’s mother asked with an anxious look on her face.

“Everything went off well. I completed the ritual. It will all be fine now.” Meenakshi patti gave a look of reassurance.

Six months went by without any major incident.  Though the routine life sometimes bored Kayal, she felt happy that nothing had happened to break the happy spell at home.

However, the scare came back, haunting them. 

Kayal opened the window and looked outside. The midnight breeze gave her goose bumps.

“Don’t look outside the window at midnight.”  Her mother had always advised her.  But she could not resist her anxiety to check.

“What are you doing there?” Kayal’s father asked her. 

“I heard some sound over there.” Kayal replied.

Kayal’s father opened the main door and walked toward the room near the gate.  Kayal followed him quietly.

When her dad opened the door and switched on the light, they could feel someone’s presence.

The gunnysack that covered the bamboo lid was thrown to a corner. 

They could smell fresh blood in the air. 

Kayal felt dizzy and understood something was wrong. 

The bushel kept at the corner of the room was in tact with the hen sitting in the middle. Kayal’s dad slowly lifted the hen. The hen made strange eerie sounds, as if asking them to save her life. 

When her dad counted the number of chickens, he found some of them were missing, almost half.

Kayal’s dad looked around, scrutinising the windows. No one could have come inside the narrow window bars. Even if a snake had found its way down into the room, only a few chickens might go missing. But things looked worse than expected. 

Not even a single drop of blood on the floor, every drop of blood that was spilt on the floor was cleaned away without any trace. Who would have done that? There is no chance of a cat coming inside the room through those narrow bars. 

The next day brought them another shock. The remaining chicks were gone too. They were flummoxed. 

One day in the middle of the night, Kayal heard stealthy steps outside. She could not tell who it was from the sound. She decided to sit near the window and watch. Till two am in the morning, nothing happened. Then, in the darkness, she could sense some movement. Some animal was trying to jump at the window. The animal somehow succeeded in going inside the room through the window. After some time, she could hear it jump outside. She could see the tiny bead like eyes shining in the dark and those eyes stared at her boldly.

Kayal’s scream woke up the entire family. 

The unknown animal jumped across the fence and ran into the open space. Kayal got a glimpse of the thick bushy tail and she could smell fresh blood in the air. 

Next day, Kayal’s father took away the bushel from the room and kept it safely at the corner of the veranda. He left their dog at the door to watch. Nothing happened at that night. 

Two days afterwards, when he left the bushel in the usual place, but with a trap below the window. 

Next day, a well-grown adult mongoose snarled at them angrily with the wet blood on its mouth.