I had moved to an upscale locality in this industrial town in Odisha when I was around 14 years of age. Having moved from a modest neighborhood
in the same city, where I spent my entire childhood, I found initial struggle in adjusting to the new location and friend circle. During this transition phase, I met many friends for life who made this transition easy for me, once such a friend was Monty bhaiya (Bhaiya - means brother, typically addressed out of respect to anyone senior to you). These friends taught me that people are all the same, no matter the location. Monty bhaiya was in college at that time and was one of the rowdy ones. He was very helpful in nature and, while some hated him, he was liked by many. We all used to play cricket together and used to travel to nearby fields together for cricket matches over the years. We had formed a very strong camaraderie. I remember, he used to always greet me, "Hey Junior, kaan chalichi?" (Hey Junior, How are you?).
in the same city, where I spent my entire childhood, I found initial struggle in adjusting to the new location and friend circle. During this transition phase, I met many friends for life who made this transition easy for me, once such a friend was Monty bhaiya (Bhaiya - means brother, typically addressed out of respect to anyone senior to you). These friends taught me that people are all the same, no matter the location. Monty bhaiya was in college at that time and was one of the rowdy ones. He was very helpful in nature and, while some hated him, he was liked by many. We all used to play cricket together and used to travel to nearby fields together for cricket matches over the years. We had formed a very strong camaraderie. I remember, he used to always greet me, "Hey Junior, kaan chalichi?" (Hey Junior, How are you?).
We were in a locality which was still getting established in pockets. There was a vacant area, which we had converted into our cricket ground for years. This is also the area where there were no lights after sundown and had become a hangout place for teenagers and grownups alike. There was a road by the cricket field which connected the old township with the new township. However, it always had very light traffic, especially in the nights, even though it was the shorter path to connect the two pockets. My friends and seniors used to hangout after the cricket games to smoke when it used to get dark, as there was no one around in that area to school them.
6 years forward: one afternoon I was returning back from my college on my bike and was almost near my home, when I saw one of my friends panting and running towards me. He came to me and said, "Someone killed Monty bhaiya. He is lying dead on the cricket field". Without thinking twice, I straightway drove to the cricket field. There was a large crowd already gathered there, with Police cars and Ambulance parked nearby. The police weren't letting anyone close to the body. The only glimpse we could get in that chaos was Monty Bhaiya's dead body covered in a white wrap, with blood stains near the neck region. Turns out he had some major fallout with a local gang, and they decided to take matters into their hands. The culprits were all caught. However, that incident was a major shock to our calm neighborhood, especially our cricket team. We stopped playing in that cricket field and going by that road, sometimes even during day time. People mostly stopped using that road after sundown.
One weekend, I went out on a walk with a friend who stayed on the other side of the township. We kept talking for a while after reaching his home and by the time I decided to return home alone, it was already dark. It was either a ten minutes’ walk by the field or a twenty five minutes’ walk via the main road. I was a fully grown 20-year man, what could have scared me, so I decided to take the shortest path. I also saw a few grownups ahead of me taking their evening stroll close by. Anticipating that they were my co-passengers on this walk, I took my steps towards home. However, by the time I reached the point where the cricket field starts, I couldn't see anyone else on that road. It was now either a two minutes’ walk to cross the field or go all the way back to a thirty minutes’ walk now. I started walking briskly with my eyes set on crossing the field at the earliest. I felt like someone was walking behind me, but was too scared to turn back, so I kept walking faster. .Suddenly, I felt someone tap on my shoulder and asked me, "Hey Junior, kaan chalichi?". That sent a shiver down my spine. Without even turning back, I sprinted the fastest race of my life until I reached home. I took some time to gather my composure before entering home.
Being a 20-year-old man, I never discussed this incident with anyone, as I might be termed as "Fattu" ("Coward"). It could have been my imagination or someone playing a prank or probably Monty Bhaiya was in fact there to help me overcome my fear. It's been close to two decades since that incident and there are multistoried houses that have come up in place of that vacant lot that we made our cricket field. However, I make my best attempt to avoid that road whenever possible.
*A true experience shared by a reader.
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