The Sixth Sense

The moon was shining with all its glory. Its light slithered and filtered through the leaves of the big mango trees in the backyard. The whole scene was painted in monochrome -silver and blue.

 The little girl, her eyes as wide as saucers looked out of the grilled window and appreciated in a childlike way at the beauty before her. This was the first time she was sleeping away from her parents, in a room she shared with her sister. She was wide awake; her sister was sound asleep; she was thirsty; should she wake up and walk to the dining room by herself to pour herself a glass of water or holler for her mother to get it? She decided to get up, as she was wide awake anyway. Having quenched her thirst she padded up to the window barely reaching the sill. The cemented courtyard edged with beds of lovely yellow flowers (Only now they looked all silver) was beautiful and she could hear the rustle of the birds in the mango trees and the hoot of the owl before it flew off to catch a mouse and other nocturnal sounds went on being recorded in her tiny consciousness.

 

As if by an unseen force her eyes moved towards the abandoned rooms at the back of the courtyard and she saw a silhouette of an aged couple- the woman still erect but the man bent double over a walking stick. They started moving slowly towards the end where the mango trees were. She wasn’t afraid only very interested in what they would do! They strolled around slowly and disappeared after they reached the trees.

 

This is my first conscious memory of interacting with spirits, for they were that. After a week or so of watching them, I asked my mother about them. She asked the maid and we found out that the parents of the owner of the house had died in the house some years ago and they were described as I had described them!

 

Over the next decade or so we shifted to many new houses and in many of them I have either seen or felt the presence of spirits. I have fortunately never been scared of them for they have been content ghosts. I have no direct proof of their existence so I have never discussed about them other than as a good way to spend a night when the electric supply has gone off! But I am sure they exist! As sure as I know that ice will melt if kept in the sun.

 

Most of them have passed me by or ignored me as they move in their own dimension. But some of them have been sad and discontented like many of us are. Once I remember a small child ghost who would love to scribble on my notes when I was in the twelfth standard and how frustrated I was (Just imagine writing your homework all over again!) it was a small child because all the Á’s were inverted and so were the ’D’s! As if the child had a learning disability! There were no children in the house at that time, only I with my parents. The house was a cute cottage, large and rambly with coconut trees outside and built at the foot of a small mountain.

 

For a long time after this I lost touch with my friends! Life was busy and though I continued moving to many different places I stopped feeling their presence. I believed that my sixth sense had died with my becoming an adult. Secretly I missed it but never spoke of it (No one believed me anyway!)

 

The drive was beautiful – the black tarred roads snaking through the lovely post monsoon green landscape- but we were hungry. The little Udipi restaurant in the middle of nowhere was so attractive that we took a U-turn to get some yummy snacks.  After a full stomach we decided to stretch our legs and wandered towards the river where a half-constructed hotel lay in ruins. The sun was on the verge of setting; the river looked inviting and peaceful; it was silent but we continued to move forward, suddenly there was a cacophony of caws accompanied with the fluttering of wings – I looked up at the tall Banyan trees and saw hundreds of crows trying to sit on one branch sidling away at.... then I felt them! I clutched at the child with me and shouted to the others; to come back from entering the abandoned building; the urgency in my voice made them turn back but they were puzzled. The sunlight was mild now but it fell on a wall on which thousands of snails were climbing up – the sight was the strangest and I knew we were not with my pleasant friends! These were there, hungrily looking at one of us to climb the banister less stairway. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry- my sixth sense was back!

 

I had developed another dimension to my sense before this happened. I always felt the presence of any relative who was on his death bed – they would say bye to me before going off to their ethereal plane- As this has happened five times with me, I don’t think I could have imagined it so many times. I have told Junu about this at least twice before we have received the news of their death!

 

The old, dilapidated building in Alexandria looked sadly up at me as I peered down my balcony into the hole in its roof. The sun was shining and it was cold and I saw this black mist swirling up and around this house and moved out of my line of vision. The children make fun of me as I wave at this presence whenever we pass the house but it is there and it is good, maybe a little apprehensive that the house may be demolished but happy, nevertheless.

 

I was all alone. The house is huge and lovely with French windows lining one face of the apartment followed by the long balcony. There is plenty of sunlight streaming into the house. I was having a bath when I felt someone peeping through the window, we live on the tenth floor and there is nothing to stand on outside the window. I brushed aside my uneasiness and went on with the day. The maid had bunked that day so I was busy setting the house to rights. I took a small rest with a cup of tea and I saw someone in the balcony I rushed towards it and found it empty! I was in the kitchen cutting vegetables when someone peeped into the kitchen window (This is not outside the building it is to a corridor in the house!) I joked about this to Junu saying that I had been hallucinating! We avoided telling this to Mickey as she would be scared. A couple of day later Mickey told us of a similar experience. Then it was repeated with Junu who had been sitting up late one night. I have felt it twice more by now both times during the day. But it is good; I feel no sense of fear with it around!

 

I do not know how to explain this phenomena but I am convinced that there is another dimension to existence and there is some intangible force which is around us at all times. Like our ‘real’ world there is good and evil and maybe it’s a step towards the eighth dimension that I had read of somewhere!