Prologue:

This happened in early 1930’s, a pre-independence era in India. The first Bangla talkie movie ‘Dena Pauna’ had just released, India’s youth were mobilized and standing in unity to get independence and Bengal was in the epicenter of all this. My Grandfather lived in a small town named Krishnanagar by the banks of the Jalangi River in an interior part of West Bengal, famous for its clay figurines and amazing sweets. Bengalis are known for their love for fish fry, afternoon siestas and ‘adda’. My Granddad was a typical bengali babu and often set out for some early morning fishing and adda with his best friends.

One such Morning:

“Indu-da”

“Indubhushan Bhattacharya, wake up you lazy bones!”

“Who is it” Indubhushan was not particularly happy about being woken up.

“ Me, Narayan. Its 5 already let’s go before the hustle bustle starts.”

They reached the bank of Jalangi River and began setting up their fishing gears, placing their container to keep the fishes in proximity, cast their fisning lines and waited patiently for the big catch. After several moments, which seemed like several hours, Indu felt a tuck…

“Hey Narayan! I think I made the big catch…”

“Pull quickly Induda, here let me help you too”

And it was. The two got a little greedy and decided to fish some more. It was proving to be a very lucky day so far, they caught a few fishes and their containers were nearly full.

After a while Indu suddenly noticed a boat moving to and fro from bank to bank at a distance. At first they thought that the boat is being moved by the breeze. But, they quickly discarded that idea as the boat kept moving in the same pattern. Up and down the river from bank to bank.

Narayan got a little spooked.

“Induda, lets head home. I think this place is haunted”

“What non-sense!! Lets go and check and I am sure there is a logical reason.”

Indu who was then in engineering college, was a man of science and believed everything in the world had a rational explanation; we just didn’t have all the answers yet. Often time he won big bets spending entire nights in a cemetery and houses believed to be haunted.

Narayan though a little reluctant at first followed Indu half out of curiosity and half because he was too scared to be left alone.

As they got closer they realized that there was no current in the water at all. And Jalangi River was not known for under water currents. This they knew because they often went for a swim in the same river.

The boat started to come towards them, Narayan quickly grabbed Indu’s hand and screamed in desperation.

“Indu! Let’s get out of here now!!”

“Keep quiet Narayan, you will scare the ghost away”

The boat moved closer and suddenly stopped for a few minutes. Indu quickly got on board and checked and found nothing. He decided to try anchoring the boat. He found the Anchor and threw it in the water. Tugged a little to see if it was nice and secure and then got off.

He smirked and said. “There you go Narayan, I have put a leash on your ghost”

Narayan stared at the boat for a few, the boat didn’t move, relieved he suggested that they get back to their fishing. Indu yawned, stretched a little.

“Now I am tired Narayan, plus we have already caught a few fishes. Lets get home catch a short nap”

Narayan was also feeling sleepy so he agreed and they headed to their spot.

As they reached for their container, it felt surprisingly light they looked in and all their fishes were gone. Indu tried to rational the situation, but he could not come up with any logical explanation. They looked around and wondered how dead fishes could’ve got out of the deep container and found their way to the river. The answer was simple: It was almost impossible!!

While they were still around packing their fishing equipment, they heard a creak. Indu turned back expecting to find a thief hiding some where, but he froze in place as he noticed that the boat was in the move again, back and forth, bank to bank.

By this time Narayan was really spooked and Indu decided to head home with him, instead of investigating further.

As Indu’s mom was waiting and angry as he entered his home.

“Indubhushan! Where have you been so late in the night?”

A little confused he looked at the watch and was shocked, it was 1:30 AM.

Epilogue:

So how did the boat unfasten itself? And how was it moving only to and fro the river banks? And the bigger question was how did all those fishes just disappear?

Indu went their a couple times more just to find answers but never saw the moving boat again. In the years he relived the moment hoping to find logical explanation, to this day the questions remain unanswered.