Siddhi

Having recently graduated with a degree in nursing, Shalini was desperately looking for work. She was prepared to do any kind of work, baby sitting, taking care of the elderly, working in a medical facility, anything was OK with her as long as she had a source of income and a means to escape the clutches of her evil aunt. Shalini's aunt wanted her to be the free maid cum cook cum cleaner for the family of four. Shalini being an orphan had been playing all these roles for the last decade after her parents had passed away in a car crash. Now she wanted a life of her own.

She had some unique qualities. Her voice was sweet as a nightingale earning her the title "Sweet Shalu" in the neighborhood. She sang at events to earn some quick bucks. But nothing further happened on the singing front. Nursing was the only stable career she meant to pursue. Another unique quality she had, which was truly unique, was that she had premonitions through dreams. Her dreams were very vivid in nature on most nights. And she had observed that whatever she dreamt of would happen on the same day or in near future. She had started having these psychotic dreams after her parents' sudden death, causing her to go through a traumatic phase of bereavement related depression. She ignored the pattern initially, but now she was very much used to it. All the same she couldn't deny the fact that most of these 'premonitions' were usually very silly and about insignificant matters.

Once she turned 19, her supernatural experience reached a whole new level, bordering on scary. The people she saw in her would appear in front of her the next day. What's more, they also recognized her, she felt. Her suspicions proved true when one night she dreamt of this girl her age who was trying to cross the road and Shalini ran to save her from oncoming traffic. The next day, a girl came up to her and tapped her shoulder from behind. Shalini turned around and was dumbfounded. It was the girl from her dream. And she said, with a look of bewilderment on her face, "You were in my dream last night. And you saved my life." Although Shalini had been a weirdo with unusual dream experiences all these years, this had been the first time that she had met another weirdo and 'shared' a dream with them. For the first time, she actually felt scared of these happenings.

She just smiled at the other girl and said "Oh" as she turned and walked away as fast as she could. It took her almost a week to get over the incident and stop looking over her shoulder to see if the girl was around.

But soon it happened again. Shalini dreamt that she was gifting a soft toy to a kid who was supposed to be her imaginary younger brother. The dream was too sweet to make Shalini perceive any clairvoyant signs in it. But the next day on her way to a job interview, a small boy did come running upto her with his mother tugging at him, as he shouted "This Didi came in my dream! She gifted me a soft toy, Mummy." His mother laughed it off and apologized to a meek looking Shalini who was shivering from mixed feelings.

Soon after her interview, she called her friend Neha and headed to a nearby coffee shop to wait and meet up with her. Neha arrived and Shalini was soon babbling away her story. Neha listened keenly sipping her cold coffee. She kept quiet for sometime thinking. Shalini liked Neha for this very reason. Unlike others who made fun of her, Neha took her stories seriously and offered comforting advice.

"You should meet Rajesh's grandfather." was her advice this time and it left Shalini a little confused.

"Rajesh is my colleague. His grandpa is - believe it or not - an astrologer and dream analyzer. I have met him and sensed a strange aura around him, similar to what I feel with you." she said, as Shalini went red hearing the line about her aura.

Soon they were at Rajesh's place while his grandpa listened to Shalini. "What you are talking about is very rare but not unheard of." he said with a quivering voice and a kind smile.

Shalini felt surprised, not unheard of? She couldn't believe it.

"Such people are called 'Siddhas' in Sanskrit. The power is called 'Siddhi' ", he said. "Siddhas have strange powers. They can achieve a lot through meditation. Do you practice meditation a lot?" he asked.

Shalini felt a jolt. How did he know? Yes, meditation had indeed been a route she had taken to alleviate her sorrow and depression from losing her parents. Was that the culprit behind these strange happenings?

"Yes" she answered him, sheepishly.

"That is why you have these powers. Siddhas can do lots of things, meeting others through dreams or in their minds is just one thing. They can change their form at will, appear to be of a different gender or age or even take the form of animals."

Shalini thought the old man was going a bit too far. She then remembered the kid and wondered how that was possible.

"But I saw a kid the other day who also..." she couldn't complete the sentence. She wondered if the kid was really a Siddha or...she felt ridiculous imagining a kid meditating.

"Yes, although its rare, even children can have such powers. We Hindus believe that these powers come from their previous births. Great saints like Vivekananda, Saint Thyagraja, exhibited immense knowledge in verses and religious chants at tender ages of 5 or 6, without learning a thing. We always attributed such inexplicable happenings to reincarnation. That is the only easy explanation we have to things with no explanation" he laughed.

Shalini hesitated and asked him "If I stop meditating, could i, may be come out of the vicious cycle of these strange events."

"Yes, it's a possibility. It may take some time before you start leading a normal life though." he said matter of factly.

Shalini and Neha thanked him for his time and left. Shalini didn't know if she could change her routine now after all these years. Yoga and meditation had become an integral part of her life. She imagined what it would be like to get rid of them now.

Shalini fell asleep that night, pondering over the pros and cons of stopping her meditation drama. In her deep slumber, she had another strange dream. She dreamt that she was walking down a muddy path in the middle of a small forest. She reached the end of it and saw a big house with a large gate and two lamp posts at its ends. She opened the gate and went in to find a small pathway across a garden of yellow roses. She could hear a dog growling at a distance. She reached the door of the house where "Mrs. Siddha" was written in beautiful handwriting on a gold framed name plate. She opened the door and saw an old woman slumped in a chair. She wore a white saree, big earrings, and straight long white hair was falling down her head shielding her face from view. Out of the blue she lifted her head and began shouting at Shalini, baring big yellow teeth, asking her to get the hell out of her backyard or she'd kill her. Shalini looked at her ominous eyes and felt a chill run down her spine.

Shalini awoke with a jolt and sat up straight perspiring. This was her first scary dream ever and she hoped against hope it wasn't about to come true. She couldn't get over the dream all of next two days. At the same time she was simply glad that it hadn't come true yet, but she felt like it won't be long before it did.

There hadn't been much progress on her work front. Having interviewed umpteen times, despair was setting in and she had lost hopes of ever working as a nurse. She started speculating if she should take up singing full time.

That day as she sat reading the news paper she read a strange piece of news. A series of burglaries had taken place in and around the area. The modus operandi seemed very simple. All the victims had the same story to share. A frail old woman would knock at the door of the victim, who would usually be  a house wife belonging to rich family staying alone at home during day hours. The old woman would ask for water and appear to be feeling faint. As the victim would rush into the kitchen, get water and return, she would find that the strange old woman has disappeared.

On examining the road she would find no one. After suspecting something foul, she would go into the master bedroom to find all doors ajar and all jewelry gone. The old lady had been described as someone with aging yellow teeth, wearing big gold ear rings and aged somewhere between 80 and 90.

Shalini read the news and went numb. Not again. This was definitely linked to what she had dreamt of last week. But she was sure that this was just a premonition and she wasn't about to meet this ugly old lady. Atleast no old woman had come and told her she dreamt of shouting at her to get out. She was sure there were no 'Siddhas' involved and felt tremendously thankful about it.

Luckily for her, she got a call that day from someone who wanted a nurse to look after an old woman. Shalini set out wondering if she was about to meet the star villain of her dream. But as she neared the address given to her, the house and place looked different from her dream and she heaved a sigh of relief.

The old woman was kind and so was her daughter in law, who had spoken to Shalini on phone. Shalini was overjoyed to finalize her employment there and fix up a salary that was too good to be true. She left the place and started walking towards the main road when she noticed a big house at the far end of the road, set apart from the other houses. Shalini saw the main gate and her stomach lurched. It was the same one from her dream. She warily started walking towards it and noticed the same things that her dream had presented. The two lamp posts, a rose garden. She felt excited. Had she found the place of this famous serial burglar? After all the description in the newspapers had matched what she'd seen in the dream.

She reached the mystery house and opened the gate and heard a dog growling, just like her dream. She went to the door and the name plate looked the same except it read "Mrs. Saha" instead of "Mrs. Siddha". She knocked the door fully expecting the crook old woman to open the door. But she was surprised to find the door opened by a young and beautiful lady, presumably Mrs. Saha.

She was pretty, wearing a red salwar, her shiny hair tied up in a bun.

"How can I help you?" she asked courteously.

Shalini fumbled." Uh, I was wondering if there are any old women who need a care taker. I am a nurse looking for employment" she said, congratulating herself at her presence of mind.

"No madam, sorry. I live alone here. There is no old woman living with me." The lady said smiling, much to Shalini's disappointment. She had almost expected to find the old woman who was the burglar to be inside, and had imagined that the old woman was a kleptomaniac who loved robbing rich families behind the back of her son and daughter-in-law. But Mrs. Saha said she lived alone. She didn't even mention her husband much to Shalini's disappointment.

"OK, Thank you" said Shalini feebly and left the place.

But this kept playing on her mind. She couldn't concentrate on anything that afternoon. She didn't bother celebrating her first job either. She sat in her room thinking, when it hit her like a bolt. Why hadn't she thought of this before? She picked up the phone and called the cops.

She anonymously tipped them of Mrs. Saha's address and said that they would find the loot from the burglaries hidden in her backyard.

Of course the old lady must have been upstairs. Why would Mrs. Saha mention an old lady if she was hand in glove in the crime. Shalini was super excited at having done something useful.
She waited for the evening news. Sure enough, there was the news of the loot having been recovered and Mrs. Saha having been taken into custody. Shalini jumped high into the air hooting and whistling. Her joy knew no bounds. She had done something useful with the power she had, and used her brains and investigative skills for a good cause. Her power seemed like a boon for a change.

Then she stopped as the newsreader said that no old woman was found in the house. And Mrs. Saha's pleas of innocence were falling on deaf ears.

Shalini wondered if the old woman had simply used Mrs. Saha's backyard as a hideout for the loot. If that was the case, Shalini had got the wrong person caught in this legal mess.

Surprisingly she didn't have any weird dreams for the next 3 weeks as the burglary case took up most of her thoughts and time. She followed every development through the news channels and papers.

Finally one day the newspapers screamed in bold titles about Mrs. Saha's release. Shalini felt a tremendous relief. She had hated the idea of having sent an innocent behind bars.

That night she sat in bed, trying to read a book while her mind kept thinking of the case and Mrs. Saha. Whatever happened to the old woman, she wondered. She didn't know whether to feel sorry or annoyed at the granny who turned to crime to earn easy money at this age. She must have obviously fled the area after the news of her confiscated loot broke.

She fell asleep that night and dreamt again after ages.

Mrs. Saha sat in the chair where the old woman had been the last time. Shalini opened the door of the same house and walked in towards Mrs. Saha.

She sat near Mrs. Saha and said "I am sorry I got you caught in the police case. I was pretty sure that you were involved as well."

"Oh I was..." said the woman as Shalini looked at her in shock.

"Then, you hid the old woman somewhere? Or helped her abscond?" she asked.

"Havent you realized yet?" asked Mrs. Saha.

"What?" asked Shalini, waiting with bated breath.

"I was the old woman.." whispered Mrs. Saha and laughed hysterically. "I am a Siddha!!" she hissed. "And now that I am free, I will find you....".

Shalini opened her eyes in the dark and lay in bed perspiring. She had no idea how long she lay there without moving, because it almost felt like Mrs. Saha was right there next to her. She had met a true evil Siddha finally, she thought. And she felt petrified.

After ages, she recovered as the sun rose and the room filled in with its golden glow.

She sat up and looked at her forlorn reflection in the mirror.

"It's time I stopped meditating." she thought.

As she looked out the window, she remembered Mrs. Saha's last sentence in her dream and groaned.

"I will find you" had been threatening to the core.

She shook her head and looked back at her grim and helpless reflection...
"It's also time I found a new place to live...", she said to it.