A Mysterious Trip to Shimla

There is an army officer, named Pulkit and he used to live in Delhi, he had a lot of desire to see that mountain, see a little natural beauty. So one day he planned for trekking in Shimla. Shimla was not such a big tourist hub in the 1970s as it is today. After reaching Shimla, he turned around a little earlier so that he gets a little idea of ​​the place. While wandering, he forgets the path. It was the month of December, by evening; the light snow had fallen in the path below. He thought he would reach his guest room by asking someone the way ahead. So; he kept on walking for a long time because he had forgotten the way.

The weather had become a bit bad by the evening and the snow was falling too much. He was feeling very cold and a little bit scared due to losing his way as he was new to that place. Now he was thinking that the guest room was too far away, he does not know whether he will be able to reach it or not. So he sees someplace around there stayed so that he could stay the night, after a long time, he saw an old uncle tuning in to him. The old uncle was a little far away who was carrying a lantern. Pulkit gave a lot of voice but the old uncle did not respond. Then he runs to the old uncle and says "Kaka I am lost here and it's too late so will there be a guest room around here, where can I stay?" Old uncle says "No son there is nothing around where you can stop but if you want you can walk with me in my village hopefully you'll get a shelter for today". Pulkit walks with that old uncle. The old uncle goes to his master's house and tells his boss about the army man. Since the owner had retired from the army, that's why he has a very soft corner for the Pulkit, so he permits him to stay in his house. While having dinner, the house owner was discussing a lot of antiquated politics with Pulkit. He felt that the owner was old, so he was talking about his time but when Pulkit told him about current Govt. policies and the New Army system; the house owner suddenly got very angry and told Pulkit to go upstairs and sleep. This was the first time when Pulkit feels a bit strange but he did not say anything and went to bed after having dinner.

The next morning at 5 o'clock, old uncle picks him up and tells Pulkit that you should go now. Pulkit said it is only 5 o'clock, it is still dark. Old uncle said no, now you should leave ... he felt very strange but he did not say anything. Then he starts getting ready, and then the house owner told the old uncle to leave him outside the village. Old uncle leaves Pulkit till the link road and warned him not to sit in the black color horse-drawn carriage, wait for a little and go from bus or any vehicle but do not sit in the black color stagecoach and give him a bottle of Holy water after that old uncle disappears even before Pulkit says thank you…. Now Pulkit gets a little scared and he thinks about how a person can disappear so soon.

Pulkit is scared; just then, he sees a black color horse-drawn carriage that stops near him. He asks the coachman if he will leave him to his guest room, the coachman shakes his head and says yes. Pulkit sat down, as the stagecoach moves forward; he smells a foul odor and feels soggy.

Till then it was dark, he said to the coachman, brother, how is your stagecoach so dirty and also smells strange? The coachman did not say anything and the speed of the stagecoach was slightly faster than before. Pulkit tried to talk to the rest of the people who were sitting in that stagecoach, but no one spoke to them. Then Pulkit took out his perfume and spray it on himself, all of them started staring at him and laughing terribly.

Now it was a little morning, he saw that they all had no eyes, and their clothes too were soaked from the mud and they all held Pulkit tightly. He shouts very loudly, but no one is there who can hear his voice, the speed of the stagecoach is now much faster than before. He tries hard to save himself, but those people were not leaving him and suddenly he remembers that the old uncle gave him Holy water he starts to get out of his pocket with Holy water which was in a glass bottle. The glass bottle slips from his hand and falls and breaks and the sprinkles of holy water splash over them. As soon as the water splashes, the body of those people starts burning, and then on seeing the opportunity, he jumps from the stagecoach. As soon as he jumped, the stagecoach fell into the abyss. Pulkit was severely injured in a snatch, so he became unconscious. Soon after morning, local people saw Pulkit in an injured condition so they hospitalized him. He senses after 3 days in the hospital. As soon as the senses came, local people asked him how he got hurt so much, then he told them everything about what happened to him, then those people told him that black color horse cart is ghostly, one who sits in that stagecoach is sure to die, how did you escape? Pulkit said that he survived because of an old man who gave him holy water. After getting his treatment done, he wants to thanks that old uncle. So he reaches the same village where he had gone to the old uncle but now that house was torn apart and looked old and there was no one inside, then he asked someone from that village, where are retired Army Uncle and his servant? That person replied in astonishment that the person you are talking about has been dead for 17 years, and now no one lives here. Pulkit says how it is possible I came here 1 week ago and they were there only. He didn't trust that person so he asked other people as well but everybody told him they were dead 17 years ago. He walked away from that place and returned to Delhi.