Disclaimer: This story is based on a true personal experience. Any resemblance to any related ghost story is a mere coincidence. For privacy reasons, the names of fellow travelers and people involved in the incident have been modified.
This story takes me back to the vast barren meadow, enclosed in the mysterious and stupendous, snow capped peaks housing an old dilapidated abandoned cottage on a full moon night, only partially disturbed by passing clouds. Nearby, sits an old well belonging to a temple that is dedicated to the serpent God which is thronged by visitors once annually, on the auspicious day of Nag Panchami.
It was a chilly day in the month of December 2018. The winter line, a gift of nature to Mussoorie, had just dimmed to the overpowering darkness and Nag Tibba slowly immersed in an eerie silence, broken only by the sudden cacophony of a group of campers. As the moon rose higher in the sky, the spectacle of the Milky way slowly faded against the bright moonlit night.
Just some context to the trip. In December, when I had gotten back from university for a short winter vacation, we had planned a short trek to Nag Tibba with an overnight stay just below the peak, so as to witness the sunrise at the peak.
TIP : Nag Tibba is a short overnight trek, from Pantwari, which is approximately 60 km from Mussoorie. It can be done on your own, but I would advise you to either go with a professional trek company or local trek group in Mussoorie, if you do not have any experience of trekking in the mountains.
For us, the situation was slightly different since most of us had lived in the mountains all our lives and we had experienced guides and trek leader from among our group.
The trek to the base camp site took us just over 5 hours from Pantwari. Through the historical village and amidst the dense coniferous trees, through barren and sun-beaten trails and snow-covered shady parts, we reached our camping site at 5 pm, just in time to witness the setting sun, slowly replaced by the deep reddish hues of the winter line and finally dissolving to darkness.
We chose to take shelter in the old abandoned cottage for it had an old fireplace. While some of the more courageous proceeded to the old well, to shatter the ice and pull out the icy chilly water while the rest of us picked up old dry logs of wood, pine cones and lit the dingy fireplace. As the flicker of the fire slowly dimmed, we made our way to the tent, pitched around 150 m away in the vast meadows, amidst the twinkling stars and tall deodar tress.
As we took shelter within the tent and laid out some cards under the bright light of the lantern. Aarti and Rishika scampered back to the cottage for Rishika had left her jacket at the cottage.
Five minutes later, we heard some muffled laughter as they stepped inside the tent. Curiously inquisitive, I asked them the reason, when Aarti replied that they had a serious discussion with Vinay, near the cottage. Now Vinay is someone who hardly speaks to anyone outside his closed group of two companions. And if and when he does utter something, it is usually something funny, so they were amused to see Vinay actually have a serious conversation with them.
I was SHOCKED. HOW COULD IT BE??? Vinay was sitting right in front of me. He had just distributed the cards. No one besides, Aarti and Rishika had entered or left the tent.
I sat there agape, mystified by their nonchalant demeanor. As they excitedly narrated their experience, Aarti turned to her left and in the far deep corner sat Vinay, equally stumped. Her jaw dropped. She nudged Rishika. They screamed.
Calming them down, I asked them what they exactly saw. And here it goes. "There was a man with two cameras, who sat besides the cottage. He wore a Sapphire blue padded jacket, which distinguished itself from the dark surroundings under the moon light. His hair touched his ears. As we approached the cottage, we went up to him and asked him what he was shooting and how long did he plan to stay out in the bitter cold.
He said he was trying to capture a passing cloud slowly fly by the moon. And he wanted to sit under the Milk Way, far from city lights. He further asked us to join him. We were shivering, so we refused.
He went on to ask us about our future, what we planned to do. As I (Rishika) told him about my plans to continue with my outdoor leadership and trekking internship, he asked us to pause. To stop running for one thing after another. To slow down and enjoy each night under the stars. To trek to liberate ourselves and not just to earn a living out of it. He spoke of his plans to shoot and edit travel videos for a living.
Now the only one in our group with two cameras was Vinay. He had spoken about taking some shots of the full moon while we were acending. The man spoke in a soothing calm voice, exactly like Vinay's. He had a slight stutter in the beginning of sentences, just like our Vinay. The tone, pitch matched................................. Who was he???
At 3 am, I woke up shivering. Chilly winds were entering the tent from a small opening on the right side. Aarti and Risihka were wide awake, traumatized by their experienced. We couldn't sleep more. So we made our way to the cottage to warm up against the fireplace. We were scared. Each step ahead was a task. There was no one. A wolf howled in the distance. We stepped inside, leaving the creaky door open. Suddenly, a massive gust of wind struck the door. It slammed shut.
At 5 am, in pitch darkness we stepped outside to climb the summit. With a bunch of lanterns and torches and packed in warm layers, we ascended the forested trails, each diverging to multiple small trails. We just followed our leader, a man who had left spent his life exploring the trails in the Himalayas. The forested trails gave way to icy paths and snow-covered slopes. He was sure-footed. We blindly followed, until the first rays of the sun hit us. The sun rising in between two snow clad peaks, with the first rays streaming through the coniferous leaves. Ahh!!! That is what heaven looks like. I wish Aarti and Rishika had joined us. But well, they hadn't slept a wink all night and we had hoped they would have fallen asleep once the sun was out.
We yet do not know whether it was a ghost, a figment of a imagination, hallucination or maybe a lost shepherd, who resembled Vinay and indistinguishable in the dark. Sometimes, we do tell this tale to others. Sometimes we ponder over the mystery. Yet Aarti and Rishika still remember every word of the conversation.
So if you ever go there, and meet this lurking someone, please do write to me.
