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| pic courtesy: http://bit.ly/29eiwjB |
“Let’s plan a trip to the Morgan House in Kalimpong this
summer”
The planning of this trip started just like that, in between
conversations of four young souls on a lazy weekend night at Kolkata! We made
the bookings immediately and were pleasantly surprised to get our train tickets
confirmed within just a few days.
Our journey started from the Sealdah Railway Station and we
were too thrilled to experience the coming nights in the lap of the mountains. And
most importantly, we were excited to be at the so-called haunted house in
Kalimpong. There were too much of talks and discussions about how we would face
her if in case we get to see her! (Here, ‘her’ is Mrs. Morgan, the lady who is
said to haunt the Morgan House since her death) And to be frank, we were pretty
scared too!
The next morning we took a 3 hours drive to the Morgan House
from Siliguri. The journey was beautiful, amidst the splendours of nature and
we were simply not being able to hold our excitements anymore! And finally, we
reached our destination!
The magnificent cab way, the creepers-adorned bungalow and
sprawling lawns on both sides were enough to heighten our expectations for the
stay! We got our respective rooms and were happy enough to settle down in no
time! The creaky sounds of the wooden floor, a typical cool air inside the
rooms, a smell of the fresh mountains and our keenness, all in all, it was
coming up as an awesome recipe for a perfect sojourn in a haunted house.
We spent the evening clicking pictures of the magnificent
mountains, the Morgan House and us! And soon, it was dusk.
“See it’s a Raven”
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| clicked by self |
One of our trip mates exclaimed. We all looked up and yes,
it was a Raven on top of the roof of the bungalow which was now looking quite
haunting with just a few lights on. It was a perfect scenario for a haunted
movie and although we smiled in astonishment, there was a tinge of fright in
our hearts as well. The night arrived and we were inside our rooms. The manager
told us that by 8 p.m all the staffs will leave so we should have our dinner by
8. We were stunned! The mobile phones weren’t working properly for the poor
network conditions, there were no landline phones available nearby, the market
was far off and we were a total of just six families living in the Morgan
House! I mean, what if we need help in the middle of the night?
The kitchen manager packed our dinner on a casserole and
kept it in our room before leaving. The four of us were chatting, laughing out
loud and at around 10 p.m., we had our dinner. We wanted to go for a night
stroll after we were done eating and hence, we stepped outside in the dark. It was
pitch dark with no living souls around apart from the four of us. We walked
down the cab way till the big Iron Gate and returned back to our room within
half an hour.
The night was scary, at least for me! I couldn’t sleep for hours
and was tossing around on the bed. Suddenly, the television blinked! Now, it
was my husband who freaked out in no time and sat upright on the bed. After
thinking hard, we found out that the electricity was back (there was no
electricity since evening) and hence, the flickering of the television! It was
a big sigh of relief for both of us!
The next morning, the incident became a good topic for
laughter and amusement amongst the four of us! And soon after having our
breakfasts, we left for a day out.
It was our second night at the Morgan House and we were dead
tired after the tiring journey to Lava, Loleygaon and Rishyap. We came back,
got fresh and left to have a delicious dinner at the famous Gompu’s Hotel situated in the Kalimpong
marketplace. We were hungry and thus, gobbled up a few plates of delectable
pork chilly, chilli chicken and chowmein. I must say, the food was awesome and
above our expectations. We came back to the bungalow talking about how much we
enjoyed the dinner and went back to our respective rooms again looking forward
to an exciting night. To my utmost surprise, we all slept like logs of wood and
got up straight in the morning at 8 a.m., which meant that Mrs. Morgan ditched
us for the second time!
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| pic courtesy: http://bit.ly/29eiwjB |
Our trip was over and it was finally time for us to leave
for Siliguri. As I was packing my bags, I felt a sudden chill down my spine. A sudden
cool breeze touched my face as I was facing the window and don’t know why but I
felt happy from inside. It was as if the mountains were trying to say goodbye
to me and all of a sudden, all my frights vanished into the thin air!
We stepped into the car and as it drove down the cab way, I
looked back and thanked Mrs. Morgan for it was she who had filled our minds with
anticipation and for which we had planned this amazing trip and got to
experience the real beauty of nature amidst the humdrum of city life!
