A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

It was the summer of 2006. The gruesome “first month” of SCA2K5 batch had just got over and the season of entries to various erstwhile inaccessible amenities had set in. In a series of coveted entries to numerous sporting arenas of the hallowed Gymkhana, the treasures of Gym were slowly being opened to the ‘Special 13’ brave lads. Smile had begun to return to the mauled faces which, after the month long assault, were even more charged with indomitable courage to take anything and everything in their long strides. The pages of long-lived traditions were getting unfurled slowly and with each passing day, 2K5 and Gym were inching closer. The foundation for an eternal relationship had been well-laid.

It was one fateful, or rather ill-fated evening of that summer when the “visit to the graveyard” was planned. After the evening sports and the countless rounds in the twilight, the batch was ‘cooling off’ on the ET with ample refreshments in the form of dozens of bananas, eggs and cheese-cubes for each of the studs. The batch senior was asked if he could go to the graveyard at midnight alone. With a long banana adjusted in his mouth, his confused face replied, “the first month got over, didn’t it?” and the sound came “Yes”. After some dares challenging their manhood, the batch soon roared a big “Yes” for the trip, which was to be the experience of their lifetime.

It was a happy coincidence that Gym then had ‘seniors’ from 98E, 99, 2K, 2K1 and 2K3 batches all present. Few members 98E and 99 were there on some course after their probation, 2K was in probation and 2K1 was about to pass-out. With lots of seniors present and guidance aplenty, preparations for the trip went on high. Within minutes, the adventure freaks assembled and ideas poured in to make it a memorable night for the fatigued firstees. It was then that three of them got into some serious ghostly business. The adventure stalwarts (a present DM, a Hyundai tycoon and yours truly) arranged some props to ensure the forlorn firstees had nothing to fear in their life after that scary night at graveyard.

Soon after dinner, the three of us secretly receded to the graveyard while other seniors thickened the air around with horror for the already horrified yet contending 2K5. They were to begin from Gym at 2255 hrs (2355 hrs actually). Almost all senior fellows present were to escort them, with hockey-sticks, golf-clubs and three-cell long torches in their hands. In the dead of the night, the expedition began. Horrified firstees putting their brave faces on along with reassuring seniors as escorts, a group of around 40 people set off for the graveyard, which lied between the hills and the Gym. Only a couple of the senior fellows knew our secret plan, which was to reveal itself at the opportune moment, only after the firstees had frozen with horror.

            One of us was to hang upside down from a tree, the other was to roam from grave to grave in a white cloak and sob aloud and I was to lie between two graves wrapped in a white shroud. A white bed-spread was cut round at the centre to make the cloak. Ropes were hung from the tree, which were to oscillate along with the hanging ghost, the senior most of the three and the team leader. We had strategically positioned ourselves, each ghost around 20 feet apart, one on the tree, another jumping from grave to grave in the hindsight and the third lying and turning between two graves. The escorting senior, a SrCDO now, was given the signal of our readiness. And we waited for our prey.

Soon, we could see the large group slowly toddling towards us. The grill at the gate of graveyard remained locked and the group was supposed to jump over the four feet high wall to get inside. Then, each member of the 2K5 batch was supposed to walk to the tree alone and pluck a leaf from there. It was the same tree which had several ropes hanging along with a hanging ghost. With no moon light above us, the flashing torches indicated that they were now close to the gate. We could overhear instructions about the minimum size of leaf to be plucked from the tree.

At that very moment, an intense light showed at the gate. It was the headlight of a four wheeler which slowly cruised with its humming engine. WTF. It was a police patrol jeep. While I laid still, the jumping white ghost and the hanging one lurked behind the tree. The police was now making loud noises asking those fellows with hockey-sticks and golf-clubs the purpose of the late night loiter. My heart sank. It was the worst nightmare. The ghost prank had backfired. The negotiation took a few odd minutes, after which the policemen said, “this was not expected from the creams of the country”.

The worst was yet to happen. The senior escorting member called on the cellphone of the hanging ghost asking us to come out, as the plan had already ended in a fiasco. The police as well as the firstees saw us rising from the graves and falling from the tree, with their jaws wide open in utter disbelief. Even those senior escorts not knowing our plan looked bewildered. All three of us, along with our ghostly paraphernalia jumped out of the wall and joined the group with our hands up. With my face down, I could only sense the stunning silence. The policemen too were speechless. The surprises were too much to handle for all of us.

With sullen looks on our faces, we trolled back to Gym. The firstees really had a terrifyingly good time and the clandestine smirks on their faces were evidently obvious. We all had lived through a nightmare.

For me, that dark debacle still refuses to recede into oblivion.