By horror, my definition is not those weird makeups and bloody scenes. I mean the real stuff and things that connect to the real tales that have happened. We come across many things like haunted places and haunted stories that have their own history.

My mother told me the most fascinating tales about such topics and trust me none of those were fiction.

One such tale was about my uncle. My mother's first cousin (my nani's sister's son) who used to live in his nani's house who is also of course my mother's nani. My great grandmother's house is located in a village. Back then it was not at all developed. My mother's cousin, that is, my uncle and his siblings and his mother spent most of their life in that village.

Back then villages were not developed much. Transportation was limited. Power supply was not sufficient. So people used to wake up early to switch on the motor so that they could water the fields and plants in their irrigation land or garden before the power cut happened for the rest of the day.

My uncle was in college then. As usual, he woke up early in the morning to switch on the motor as he was instructed by my great grandfather to do so every day. He reached the garden and after switching on the motor as he was returning, he saw a guy in a white dhoti with a long black coat, a turban on his head, and his eyes were a bit red. My uncle was startled by looking at him. The man had no expression on his face. He was just standing.

My uncle in his sleepy mood did not bother to ask him who he was as there was another family residing in the neighborhood and even they come to the garden in the early hours. My uncle thought he might be a guest of theirs or a visitor. My uncle did not pay any attention. The same day when the sun was totally up in the sky my uncle was busy with his routine.

My great grandfather's house was always full of people and there was a lot of hulchul in the house. My uncle was asked to check on coconut boras kept in the garden before he left for college. He went into the garden to do so and he came across the same man whom he had encountered a first time in the early hours of that day. The man had the same expression, no moment, he was just staring at my uncle. My uncle started worrying and he asked that man - who are you? Without saying a word, that man just kept staring at my uncle and walked away.

My uncle was bothered by that man now. He came back to the house and asked my great-grandmother about that man. She said old maali had left the job may be your nana would have appointed him. He told my great grandmother about that man's strange behavior. She replied, "People who do tedious works in villages don't have a soft demeanor and asked my uncle to not think much and that she will inquire about that man.

Later, my uncle went to college to the town but he could not forget that man. A day or so passed. My uncle inquired if there was any visitor or guest in the neighborhood house, they denied. My great grandfather told my uncle that they had been looking for a new maali and that man might have come for that job or it's a big village and people roam around here and there, he may have visited our garden and asked my uncle to forget about that man.

Next morning, as usual, my uncle was getting ready to go to college. He used to reach the bus stand by cycle. He went to town, to his college, by bus and he used to park his cycle in someone's house who were familiar with him, near the bus stand.

While riding his cycle, at the main gate, he saw the man with red eyes again. My uncle stopped the cycle immediately and looked back, the man was not there.

My uncle somehow managed to divert. He reached bus stand and got into the bus. He reached his college in town. As my uncle got down the bus near his college and was approaching the main gate of the college, he saw the same man near the college gate. My uncle immediately turned pale. That man was just standing there and was staring at him.

"How can it be possible?" My uncle thought. My uncle sweated like as if he had just taken a shower. He was tongue tied. As he turned around and looked back, again the man had disappeared. My uncle was stunned and he fainted there itself. My uncle was rushed to the clinic nearby. He had high fever.

My great grandfather came to the clinic. He took him to the village to his house. Even after extreme care and medicines, my uncle did not open his eyes. He was stiff and he couldn't speak a word. All his relatives, his mother, were worried. It is a village and if not medicine, people believe in magic. My great grandmother and others spoke with a pandit nearby and he suggested to remove evil eye on my uncle using salt and chillies and throw them in fire.

As soon as my great grandmother did that, my uncle miraculously opened his eyes in half an hour, after a day. He still had high fever, but he managed to wake up, sit, and eat and drink something. It took him a week to get back to normal again. After he managed to be somewhat well, housemates and family asked him what had happened? He told them everything about that man with the serious face and red eyes and how he appeared in front of him a couple of times not only in the village but also in town. My uncle said that man used to  disappear in seconds.

That's when my great grandmother said, "so it was a spirit."  She said that's why you woke up immediately after we did a few things asked by guruji. My uncle visited that guruji and he confirmed that it was not human but a spirit and not to worry about it much. He gave my uncle an amulet and asked him to wear it and chant hanuman chalisa if ever he feels scared.

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