That Humming Sound

I was posted in that interior village as an Assistant Conservator of Forest.  I got a lovely quarter.  Two bedrooms with one balcony and a cute front-yard. One chowkidar with his family lived in a small cottage near my house to help me in all household work.

First night, I had a very sound sleep, while during the dawn, I heard a humming sound from far. There was a beautiful wood near my house. I could feel the humming sound was coming from the other side of the wood. 

I wondered, asked the chowkidar’s wife, if she knew about it. She said that this kind of sound comes from different trees and birds, and asked me not to worry at all.

Next few days too, I heard the humming sound, almost the same time. It was a sweet-sound, but didn’t seem to be real. I thought of enquiring more, but everyone said the same thing. 

On a Sunday morning...I got up early, laying back on a cozy chair and gazing at the sky with my cup of hot coffee. I was content to just sit there thinking about the humming sound. Suddenly, I heard the sound… It was gradually becoming mysterious for me, which was driving me insane. I wanted to know from where it was coming….I decided to visit the wood…

I wrapped around a shawl and proceeded towards the trees. Tall trees, impenetrable bushes, varieties of birds, all were making the whole scenario mesmerizing. I kept going deeper and deeper, following the humming sound….

After a while, I saw one open space, full of colourful flowers and a buzzing stream flowing in a zig zag way. I could see an old man plucking flowers and keeping in his basket.  He was looking at the flowers at the side of the meadow and noticing nothing else ….I went near to him and asked him softly whether he was the owner of the meadowland. He smiled, “No…! But, I am the owner of the breeze flowing over this….” He just laughed.  “I come here to pluck flowers every morning…” He added.

I quickly came to my point….I asked him whether he had any knowledge about the humming sound. He nodded his head with a smile. My face became brightened. I asked him what was that sound and what was it’s origin…

“Come, I will show you the origin of the humming sound…it’s nothing, but actually some gusty sound…”

He asked me to follow him… He had a stick in his hand.

He started his conversation…

“Many years back, when I was young, a pretty girl came to our village, like you. I had a sheep herd that time, often used to come to this grassland. One day, I saw that girl approaching me….I was nervous. She came to me and enquired about the same humming sound…”

He kept talking. And, we were walking deeper inside the wood…..It was becoming darker and darker, because of the density of the trees… Then, we reached a similar place from where we started our journey, near a whispering brook. Colorful flowers were decorating the whole savanna. We kept walking…

He continued… “I wanted to spend some time with her….so I told her that I knew the source of the humming sound…”

The old man had a glint in his face and childish exuberance, while he was walking me through the dense forest. It’s been quite a while I walked along with him listening to his story. Suddenly, I started feeling creepiness in air and realized it’s been more than 2 hrs since I left my quarter. He looked at me and gauged the uneasiness in my face, with a smile.  

He said, “My young lady don’t be worried I am taking you to the source of humming sound”. 

Suddenly, I felt like some animal is gulping water from a stream. Immediately, I turned around to see and realized that I was near the same stream, where I met the old man plucking flowers. 

I understood that something was wrong and decided to flee from there…from him…..I started running……..But, I had no clue which direction will take me back to my quarter…

I kept running…..I reached the dark place again, densely rooted trees, and crossing that place, I reached the meadowland with the brook again…..This time I saw the old man sitting on a rock, smiling at me…

I kept running…..and running……until I found myself next day at my bed. I was engulfed by many people…..

  

#AtoZChallenge 
My theme : Imagination and reality