The Dead

‘It is hard to convince dead people that they are dead. I never understood this until I was dead’

He must be around 10 or 11 yrs old. And that was a graveyard where he was standing. He was wandering here and there over the graves of all the rested-in-peace souls.

“What anna? I didn’t see you yesterday. Where have you been?”

“Where would I be? Don’t you know?” said the person, who appeared to be in his mid 40”s.

“Many people came to see you”

“yea, I know. ‘People.’ They never care when we are alive. I wonder why they come to see after death”

1848 Hrs Saturday

I’m Sanjay, 3rd year B.E. CSE student in a reputed institution in Chennai that is affiliated to Anna University. Actually I come from Tiruchy. I stay here in Avadi with 3 other college mates in a rented room. Armed Vehicles and Ammunition Depot of India - Avadi – It is a Chennai sub-urban Special Grade Municipality. It is at the centre of 20+ colleges within the 20 km range. So it is obvious for many students like me to stay here.

My room mates are Karnamoorthy, Prithviraj and Sai Praveen. Karna is from Madurai. Prithvi and Sai are from Coimbatore. We are one happy bunch. Lucky we got pooja holidays for the next week. So we are here spending the weekend together. We would leave tomorrow to our respective native places. It’s our usual practice to roam out in the evenings and that is what we are doing now. Quite strangely today, I saw this kid in the grave yard, alone. He was talking to himself, all alone. What is he doing?

“Machi did you see that boy over there?” I asked.

“Who? That one in the graveyard? Yeah man. I’ve seen that kid already. This place is quite strange, you see. There are lots of rumors that keep running around about that kid.” said Sai.

“What kind of rumors?”

“People say that he can see and hear only dead people and not living people like us.”

“Ah man! Are you telling him that Sixth Sense story? Please, stop that.” interrupted Prithvi.

“So you know this already?” I asked.

“Yeah, he just said me. And it keeps nagging me all the time I come this way.” said Prithvi.

“Bite that! You want me to believe this kind of stupid rumor?”

“Only if you choose to” said Sai.

“Ok. I don’t choose to believe. Look now. Hey thambi!” I clapped and waved my hands and tried to call that boy. He didn’t turn at all. That was weird.

“Maybe he didn’t hear me” I said.

“and that’s what I’ve been saying all this while” shrugged Sai.

2135 Hrs Saturday

Prithvi came back buying dinner. Prithivi and Sai went together. I don’t know why he has come alone.

“Dei, where is Sai?” I asked.

“Sai has gone to Deepak”s room. He said he will sleep over there and come tomorrow morning. Have you guys started?”

Ah! Now it starts. We were planning to drink this evening. So we bought “sarakku” and we were ready. Sai doesn’t drink. Maybe that’s why he’s gone to Deepak’s room. Karna stands like a rock how much ever he drinks, but most often he doesn’t drink much. Prithvi went to buy dinner long back. I couldn’t wait for him. So we started without him. Karna had finished up his limited portion and I just remember having two shots and very lately I realized that I had finished up Prithvi”s portion as well.

“Dei you have finished it without me? And even mine too?” screamed Prithvi.

“machi… sorry da. i…”

*thud*

Out of nowhere Prithvi got so furious and knocked me down with a huge blow on the left side of my head. I managed myself to creep up on the bed. I couldn’t get up. I just slept.

0645 Hrs Sunday

Ouch! It still hurts. Damn! My bus was at 6 AM. And here I am in my room rolling on the bed. Never mind. I’ll catch another bus. Prithvi and Karna were tensely packing their stuff and getting ready. Prithvi and Sai have their bus at 9 AM and Karna”s bus was 9.30 AM.

I managed to stand up on my feet. Though Prithvi saw me, he didn’t bother to notice me. I wanted to give Prithvi a huge blow as revenge. But then it was all my fault. So I started to apologise.

“Machi… sorry da…” he still didn’t bother. I was pissed off, if that was the right word. He didn’t even look at me, how much ever I tried to talk to him.

“Karna, look at him, man. He’s behaving like a kid. Why the hell does he have to be so much angry on me for such a sappa matter? Anyway he hit me for that yesterday, right? Why is he still angry on me?” I was shouting to Karna. He too didn’t bother about me. Both of them were tensely getting ready. At that time, Sai came to the room.

“Sai, you have no idea what these two guys are doing to me. I’m so badly irritated, man. These guys…” as I continuing to complain Sai went past me talking to Prithvi and Karna.

“Dei Prithvi, have you packed all your things. We need to start at 7.30. Get ready soon. Karna you too get ready soon and come along with us.”

I was totally baffled. Sai was talking to Prithvi and Karna without bothering about me. He was talking as if I never existed.

“Sanjay would have boarded the bus, right? Did he leave on time?” asked Sai.

It took me a while to realize what he was asking. I was confused. I didn’t even know what to do. I was just standing while Karna and Sai were talking.

“machi, I have to tell you something”

“ what da?”

“Sanjay is dead da” said karna.

That was the moment I felt something inside me for the first time ever in my life… er… I’m already dead. But how is that possible? I was just sleeping and now I woke up. I still could feel the pain. What are these guys talking? Have they gone nuts? Ah! Please! Somebody listen to me. All the while they were talking, I cried, I shouted, I screamed but all in vain.

“What the hell! What are you talking? What happened?” asked Sai in a trembling voice.

Prithvi started to say in his cryish voice “I didn’t do anything. I just hit him once and he fell down and I tried to wake him up at night 11 to ask sorry. That’s when we found he was dead. I really didn’t do anything da” he started to cry out loudly in fear.

Sai continued to tremble in fear. His body was already shivering. “oh my god! What have you done? What are we supposed to do now? Should we call the police? Where is he now, I mean where is his body?”

“We buried his body in that graveyard” said Karna.

“What? Why did you do that?” screamed Sai.

Karna was the only guy who wasn’t tensed. He started laying out his plan.

“See, we can”t change what has happened. At the same time, we can”t take the risk of calling the police and putting our life and career in huge risk. So we buried his body, took his cell phone, money and chain and put his bag nearby. We”ll now leave to our respective places as scheduled. If anybody asks we”ll say that he left early morning and we didn’t know what happened to him. It might be concluded that he was killed for money by some robbers.”

I was startled listening to this. So was Sai.

“What the hell! What kind of a stupid plan is this? You are trying to make an accidental death into a planned murder, you idiot. Have you people gone nuts?” screamed Sai.

“You should have been here yesterday to tell all this. Since you were not there, I laid this plan and you are going to stick to it. You get that?” Karna shouted at Sai.

Sai couldn’t do much. He had to oblige. But I’m still not able to convince myself that I’m dead. How can that be? Argh! And these people… they are planning an escape route. Damn It! I cannot blame them. I was trying to make myself understand, that I’m no more.

0735 Hrs Sunday

“Have you all packed everything? Don’t miss anything. Don’t keep your faces like that. We shall leave now” Karna was giving instructions, as they all left the room. I was also standing along with them. Sai locked the door and they were leaving. At that time, the house-owner ‘akka’ was standing there with her 7 yr old kid. I rushed towards her, to talk to her, because I still didn’t believe that I was dead.

“Oh! You are all about to leave already! Fine. Where is Sanjay?” she asked. And that shattered my belief a bit more.

“He left early morning itself. He had to catch the 6 AM bus” said Karna.

The three of them left. The house owner akka also left. I didn’t know what to do. I was so confused. I was in so much disbelief. But I didn’t know what to do. I just lied down on the portico. I was so tired, that I shut my eyes.

1805 Hrs Sunday

I woke up and saw it was getting dark. It took me a while to realize that it was evening and I had slept all day long. Wow! Maybe that’s how dead people sleep. Awww! “I’m not dead” I kept saying to myself. But I know I was dead. Damn it! I started to walk. I was walking for a long time. I suddenly realized that I was near that graveyard. If what Karna said was true my bag must be beside my buried body. I got inside and tried to look for my bag. I looked probably everywhere, but I couldn’t find. That made me think maybe I’m not dead. As I was about to leave, at the farthest corner I saw someone looking into a bag. I went closer. It was that kid and that was my bag. I didn’t dare to take another step closer. I just stood there, frozen. That kid suddenly turned towards me and asked

“Who are you anna? Are you new to this place” he asked me.

“y..y…yes” I said as started to walk backwards. I started to tremble.

That kid, who could see only dead people, just spoke to me and he asked me if I’m a fresh dead-meat. Wow. I lost every bit of hope. I’m convinced at last. I’m dead.

1945 Hrs Sunday

After wandering all through the streets, my tired legs came back to my room. I was sitting on the portico for sometime, until I heard some noise from inside the room. I tried to get inside. To my surprise, the door was not locked. It was just latched. I opened the door and it was too dark inside. I managed to reach for the switch on the right side and switched the light on. Wait a minute? Can dead people touch real things? With this doubt I turned and I was totally shocked to see Sai, Prithvi, Karna, house-owner akka and my parents standing there. Sai was having the cake in his hands. And everyone shouted in unison happy birthday Sanjay. Yes. Today is my birthday and that was the best birthday prank that I had ever had. What a nice way to celebrate your birthday!

The End