ABANDONED

BISWAJIT

‘Come inside, you are safe in my cottage’

'You live here? Alone!’

‘I had come to absorb nature; nature engrossed me’

After a long silence the old man reassured, ‘Relax in that guest room’

It was a lifeline. I came in the morning to enjoy an escape from suffocating schedules. Obsessed with landscapes, I walked aimlessly all the day along meadows, villages, amidst soft green nature. The afternoon sky looked like a magic colour palette. I could hardly blink eyes.

Spellbound, I forgot how remote a place I came to. When my awareness came back, with a shock, it was already twilight. I ran to the main road as fast as I could. But? I saw the last bus passing by yards ahead. I cried loudest, but in vain. It disappeared. Alone in the dark deserted land, I started to march expecting some inhabitants nearby.

What a terrifying twist nature unleashed before me; by half an hour night became too dark to find a way through.

I saw at last a dimming light, approached, and this is how I found this cottage. The old man gave me a cup of rich coffee and a cup cake. I fell asleep in the small room provided.

The next morning, friends woke me up there. The local police had helped them to trace me.

I asked, ‘Where is the old man?’

An officer came ahead, surprised, ‘Who are you talking about sir? An eminent writer used to live here, almost 250-years ago. Now it is abandoned’

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Photo: Author