An Indian Ghost Story

A trapped soul


Once upon a time in an old forgotten village there lived a middle-aged man who was extremely lazy. On one particular summer night, he woke up suddenly. He’d just had a nightmare. He tried to get back to sleep but to no avail. He was feeling extremely thirsty. He looked around himself. All his family was sleeping on cots under starry sky. On the cot next to himself was his elder brother. Being the laziest of all, he asked his brother to fetch a glass of water for him. His brother muttered something, rolled over and snored on. He thought that he would have to go inside to have a glass of water himself. Summoning all his strength he got up and went inside.

Moments later his brother woke up. He remembered vaguely that his younger brother had told him to fetch some water. He turned around and saw him fast asleep. Knowing that his brother would have never got up due to sheer laziness he himself made an effort and went inside to fetch some water and have some water himself as well. Inside there was an earthen pot in which water was kept. He noticed that the lid which usually covered the pot was lying aside. It was a strange observation. But being in a sleepy mood he just shrugged it off, filled a tumbler from the pot and drank to his satisfaction. He then filled it with water for his brother, put the lid on the pot and moved his way out. His brother was still enjoying a sound sleep.
He shook his brother violently to wake him up but he refused to open his eyes. Noticing that something was wrong, he kept the tumbler aside and felt his pulse.
There was no pulse at all. His brother was dead. In the dead of the night, under the starry sky, beside the shady tree and surrounded by peaceful, cool night breeze he was sitting beside the corpse of his brother. A weird thought struck him and then he realized something. The truth dawned upon him with such a force that he screamed and fainted.
The next day, the earthen pot which was used to keep water was flung in the river with its lid still closed.
To this day the villagers believe that when the lazy man had got up, he left his body behind. His last wish was to have some water so the thirsty spirit went into the pot and fell asleep (?) there in the pot itself. When his elder brother put the lid on the pot, the spirit got trapped inside.
Till now no one knows where the pot is, with the soul of a man trapped inside…