Boimela Picks: The Ghost of Pahartoli

Book: পাহাড়তলীর ভূত (The Ghost of Pahartoli)

Author: Shawkat Osman

Genre: Horror Short Story

Target Reader: Teenagers

Publisher: Soptodingha (Book Fair Stall# 521)

1st Published: December 2016

Copyright: Shawkat Osman

Dedicated to: Ruben, Rupen, Oarid & Gang

Cover: Niaz Chy. Tuli

Graphics Illustration: Shamim Mithu

Price: 80/- (At Book Fair: 50/-)

ISBN: 978-984-92273-1-1

''TOM DUM DIM BONG TOMTOM DONG!''

The narrator, a Bangladeshi born, is somehow stuck for 30 good years for work somewhere with a view of the Great Himalayan Range, surrounded by jungle, and unmanned paths. His neighbors are mostly not so civilised and believers of the jungle's ways.

To the adventurous ones among you, the place might seem amazing, but the narrator himself is scared and tired of his life there. So, one rainy morning when his school friend Moshtak, now a big shot Magistrate, pays a sudden visit, he is overwhelmed!

They go out for hunting, long walk, and they talk and talk till they crash out of tiredness. Night falls quickly there and the weather is a killer! At one point of night, the narrator wakes up and discovers Moshtak all armed in khakis, boots and a hunting rifle, whispering in his ears to wake up!

A big bad storm has started and Moshtak is riddled by a noise that seemed like countless people gasping for a little breath of air, while someone or something is strangling them with inhuman power!

Moshtak is all set to get out and save the dying people but his friend asks him to go back to sleep as it is a common sound that the nature makes during rain & storm. Not impressed Moshtak goes back to bed.

Next day his friend makes Moshtak's eyes sparkle with excitement telling that there are actually stories behind the noise, one being a long lost cruel jungle king sacrificing human lives by strangling them to death at a place called 'Pahartoli' just couple of miles away. And the noise is believed to be the death screams of those unfortunate ones.

A worse storm strikes that night. Moshtak, adamant to find the truth, and his friend, a believer of the supernatural, start their journey towards 'Pahartoli' with one lantern. The distance, though a few miles, is hilly and hardly ever walked before! Halfway there, they are stopped by a new noise, as if drums are being played in a perfect rhythm- "TOM DUM DIM BONG TOMTOM DONG/ TOM DUM DIM BONG TOMTOM DONG" ...

Anik Khan is a poet and journalist.