What can I say, Rajiv Bhawan has to be the most notorious hostel to exist in the IIT Roorkee campus. Now I am not a fan of ghost stories but you don't always experience things that land right in your comfort zone. Some are beyond normal, if not haunting.
I spent my first year of college in Rajendra Bhawan right next to it. I used to see this half-brutalist piece of infrastructure every time I came back from LHC. Every time I resisted the temptation to go inside. But after summers of 2018, I was shifted to this hostel. I didn't feel anything different. On the contrary, it was a pleasant experience. Who knew what this hideous place had in store for the likes of me for the rest of stay.
It was mid-January of 2019. I was in my room when I heard a loud noise outside. It was a human cry. Now you don't get alarmed by these things in hostels. You think it might be another episode of someone freaking out after having had too much shit to take in a day. But that noise was edging on the upper limit of audible range. I came out of my room to see who did that and more importantly what made him do it. A sophomore year is a least busy year and you always have time to hear college life rants. So you never miss an opportunity to hear these rants.
I came out of my room, looked around and noticed that the wall standing opposite to my door was painted red. Now you always find something written on corridor walls in hostels. Hell, you rarely find a clean wall. A swear word, an edgy movie dialogue but mostly the cave drawings of pre-human fantasies about women flash everwhere. In a place where no one can stop you these walls serve as an excellent outlet for creativity and frustration.
But this was different. It was written in red. And not the colour as much as the words were scary. And the font bore a heavy resemblance with those of the Harry Potter movie posters. And it was the mysterious shriek that added to the fear.
Now the corridors here are never properly lit. You might blame the administration but that would be unfair. The students, mind you, break the tube lights as fast as they are replaced. As if they have taken a vow to break them or something.
So the only way I was able to read the wall was because of the light leaking out from my room.
That was when I noticed. A figure. The closest thing to a zombie you will ever see in real life. It leaned forward not sideways, head bent, hands cutting through the air like he was practising slow-mo karate.
What do you do when you see a zombie in a hostel. Yeah, you guessed it. You do nothing. It's not an everyday thing. There are no safety instructions there. So I just quickly entered my room, shut the door and waited for footsteps to fade away. They did fade, alright. I stood in my room shaking with fear and thrill.
For next night and indefinitely after I saw experienced similar episodes every now and then. Little variations. The words changed. Their colour did too. Even the face and silhouettes. So there were many. But who were they? Where did they hide during the day? And most importantly how come no one else sees them.
Now when they pass and I stand at the door. They don't notice me. They just go on. And then another one passes, on and on and on. In the morning the chain stops. The light breaks into the corridors and I see humans all ready coming out of their rooms for breakfast and class.
But quite interesting that every experience ends with me finding the butt of the joint on my flooring the morning. Quite interesting that only I notice these zombies of IITR.
My fear borders on curiosity now. What I wouldn't give to sit with one such zombie one day and ask him everything I want to know? Or do I already know them?
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