by Mr Tushant
My uncle was in his late teens in the 80s. He used to spend a lot of time with his friends partying.
My grandmother scolded him often for that. But we all know how teens are.
Anyways, one day, after partying, my uncle was coming back home. It was almost midnight and back in those days, people were not very active at night.
They used to go home early after work so all the nearby shops and stores were closed. The whole area was desolate.
My uncle felt an urgent requirement to pee. He saw a tree nearby and peed under it. Little did he know that it was a tamarind tree.
In India, tamarind trees are considered homes of ghosts and banshees (a spirit of a woman who wails to signal that somebody in a household is going to die).
He did realize it, but was too tired to think about it. So he ignored it and went back home.
As soon as he entered his room, he saw a lady sitting on his bed, with her back facing his face.
My uncle thought it was my grandmother and told her to leave as he was exhausted and feeling sleepy.
She didn’t say anything.
He again told her to leave but again there was no response.
Now my uncle got irritated. He grabbed the woman by her shoulders, and to his surprise, her body was as cold as ice.
He flinched back and was stunned for a moment.
Then he saw something extremely horrifying.
The lady turned her face 360 degrees without the rest of her body and looked angrily at my uncle. She was snarling, like a wild animal.
My uncle fainted out of the sheer terror.
Next day, when he woke up, he was lying on his bed.
He recalled the events of last night and thought it might have been his dream.
He shrugged the whole thing off and returned to his regular activities. But the whole day he felt a pressure on his neck as if someone was hanging on to them.
He returned home late again. He lied on his bed and slept.
At around 3 in the morning he heard something; it felt like a woman was sobbing.
He turned on the light and a shiver ran through his body. He saw the same lady sitting upside down on the ceiling.
As soon as she saw him she jumped down and charged on him. She grabbed his neck and was choking him.
My uncle tried to scream but no sound came out of his mouth.
My grandfather woke up to get water then. He tried to check on my uncle, to know whether he has returned home or not.
He went to my uncle’s room. As he entered the room, he saw the lady throttling my uncle.
He shouted at her and she vanished. My uncle ran to my grandfather and hugged him tightly.
Next day, my grandfather gathered everyone and asked my uncle about last night. My uncle was crying uncontrollably.
He told everyone about the incident that happened on that day. My grandmother slapped him hard and reprimanded him for that.
They called a priest and asked him about a solution to this problem. The priest told them the woman was a banshee, and that tamarind tree was her home and my uncle made a blunder by peeing under the tree.
Now she was angry at him and wants a revenge. My grandparents pleaded to him for a solution.
The priest said that if my uncle apologized to her under that tree, only then would she leave him alone.
But in return she would have to take any of his relative’s life.
My great grandfather was alive at that time, but was suffering from cancer. As you know, at that time treatment for cancer was not very common so he was going to die within a few months.
So he offered to sacrifice himself for my uncle.
Next day, my uncle and my great grandfather went under that tree.
My apologized for his mistake and suddenly, right there, my great grandfather collapsed to ground.
My uncle started crying, his grandfather was not breathing anymore.
Nothing happened after that.
Even till today that incident still haunts my uncle.
He has a portrait of his grandfather in his house and he owes his life to him.
Every morning he thanks him for saving his life. Even I respect my great grandfather for the selfless thing he did!
Na wa o
Eleyi gidi gan