In
our hostel days, we used to talk about anything in the world. It was just like
another day, busy with chatting. We were in our room. There were some other
friends from the nearby room. We neighbours are having a group chat.. the
topics were vast and wide, no limits..Then, somebody told about a new thing,
that we have seen in a movie, but neither discussed about it, nor experienced..
It
was “OJOBOARD”.. The game with the spirits...!!!
In
that movie named ‘ Aparichithan’ ,the heroine and friends got an ojoboard, from
a witch’s place. They had seen her calling spirits of dead persons and talking
to them . One night, they had stolen the ojoboard and tried to play the game in
their place. The only light was provided by a candle.Placing the ojoboard coin
at the centre of the board, they called out a spirit. To be safe, they called
out a good spirit ,who won’t make any harm. “Good spirit please come.. Good
spirit please come.. Good spirit please come.. Good spirit please come.. Good
spirit please come............” They
felt a change in the surroundings .But, they continued,..they continued, till
the coin started moving itself. Yes!! The spirit had come. They asked it
whether it is dead or alive, and man or a woman, and name.. The spirit’s name
was said as ‘Ram’. Then one of the girls got scared and disturbed all the
arrangements. And the surroundings got changed in to normal. But, they didn’t
know, the spirit they called couldn’t return from where he came. He was with
them, till the end, having a purpose..rest the story of
movie..
So, coming back to our chatting in
the hostel room... When we started discussing about the movie, the topic
changed to ojoboard only. “is it a real thing” was our doubt. To my surprise,
the girls in the next room had more knowledge about this. They had told us many
real stories (they claimed them as real) regarding this, and two of them told,
they had experienced that. And, told us, how to try this in our way, as we don’t
have the real ojoboard.
At last, came the idea of trying
it.. “just try it”..said some, who considered themselves brave and like to do
risky adventures [they think themselves like that! It’s their first adventure
any way ): ], “yeah, let’s try it”, said some who don’t believe in such things,
and need to prove that, that was a fake idea and won’t work. But, there are the
rest of the girls..” Oh no..Please don’t do this, we don’t have to try this.
What if the spirit really came? What if it is not a good spirit? We don’t have
to risk our lives”. There were some other people who don’t have any particular
opinion. They think “let it be”, whether the decision is ‘to go for a try’ or ‘the
deal is over(“we can stop this nonsense)”.
And, finally it is decided that, its
a “No Deal”. We don’t have to risk other’s life, though we are ready to put
risk to our lives. And the meeting ( chatting), dispersed as it was time for the
dinner.
Everything was normal, from then. We
all had our dinner, our usual things before going to bed. Some have assignments
to do, two of them reading some novels or something, some were in the study
hall, as they have a test on the next day. And, among the rest, one went to bed
already, and a group of four was discussing something. ‘Ojoboard’?? Hey, no..
Me went back to my assignment. It was
almost 12.00 am , when everything got
settled and everybody on their beds.
Me always have some problem with
sleep. The sleep won’t bless me as soon as I get my bed. I need to wait, sometimes with some
books, or some music.. but, as the lights were already switched off by our
hostel warden, no more deal with books. So, I closed my eyes and waited for
sleep......
“Hey, make your sound low, they will
wake up”- a husky sound heard. And that followed some other sounds also. “bring
that candle, oh..and the steel glass too..” the conversation was between more
than two “yeah, everything is ready” some other’s voice. ‘what is happening’ I couldn’t
figure out first, whether I was seeing a dream. But, it was sure, I was not blessed
then..
Okay,
then some thing is there. I just turned the other side slowly and , watched
out..There were 4 of my roommates, they are doing something in the dark, in
candle light. “Oh..No!!” they were trying to play ojoboard!!.. ‘What should I
do? Shall I stop them? Or silently watch
this? And if the spirit come, what if it caught me first?” .. “ Oh, what am I
thinking? There is no such spirits or something. We are engineers, believe in
science and technology. Don’t be stupid”,
I scolded myself.
I wake up, making them notice . They
all got startled, seeing me. But, when I neared them, I was also in the group,
trying to arrange the settings. A small candle, a steel cup, a sheet of paper,
on which all the alphabets and numerals are written on periphery and at the
centre there was a circle, to place the coin, and on two sides, written ‘YES’
and ‘NO’ . The ojoboard got ready to play. It was like, we play this every
night. Everybody seemed so confident and brave (what about me..? ). Then, one
of us explained the rules on ‘how to call a spirit’. That was Sari, the bravest
one among us. So, everything was ready..it was set..and we went for it..
We sat down on the floor making a
circle. Then we lighted the candle, a small candle as we have to cover the candle using the steel
cup, as per the rules. The candle was placed on a coin . These all, the coin,
candle, the s teel cup, all on the sheet of paper , which we have converted in
to an ojoboard not any less than the real one.
12.30 am. The silence of night..we
have done everything as per the plan. Now, its time for calling the spirit. Remember,
‘ Good spirit’.. We have hold our hands
stretched, with the forefinger pointing to the steel cup. We repeated the words
from the movie “Good spirit please come.. Good spirit please come.. Good spirit
please come..”...And........
We were reciting those words with
full concentration...suddenly....” Stop this nonsense..” somebody screamed..and
put down the cup, tore the paper..the candle was already turned off. One of us
switched on the lights. Thank God, nobody wake up from sleep. And, we were
looking each other ,’what happened’ ‘who screamed?’ ..you know, who was that? It was Sari, the
bravest girl among us. She looked so
frightened, looking on something on the floor. We couldn’t find anything there.
We were still sitting on the floor. We called her ,shaking her body? We all
were scared..then she said “ Something is rotten somewhere....” .... “WHAT??????” We all asked in unison and burst in to a
laughter.. What does it mean..? .
After we settled from the laugh, we
asked her, what actually happened to our ‘Brave little woman’? . As we laughed,
on her that strange wordings, the situation got loosened. She was feeling a
little shame, and said that, she felt something strange that time, felt the
steel cup moving itself and don’t know how that words came to her mind...
We
told her, there was nothing like that, and we didn’t feel anything strange.. and
assured her that, may be someone among us had touched the cup, and made it
move.. We finally managed to get in to the normal. And, it was already late,
and we went to sleep....
....................................................................................................................................................
The
next day, the girls in the other room had asked us whether we tried ojoboard ,last night. And told us that, they expected that. But, we told them..” No, and
never..”..and we looked for Sari..She was there , busy in something..
