Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The mysterious laughter

Krishnan nambiar dabbled in a small way in stock market. He did not have the resources to invest big. He used to sit daily in a broking firm and make a couple of hundreds buying and selling the same day.. Some days he would lose also. One day when he made a cheque for investing a tidy sum on what he thought a blue chip stock that he expected to zoom, he felt he heard a wisp of laughter behind his back. He turned round to see none. A fortnight later the stock crashed when fudging of accounts of the company came to surface and cases filed against management.
There was a long standing court case on a paternal property and he had spent considerable money towards lawyer and court fee.Nambiyar was told his case was very strong. He left in the early morning for the district court in another town. It was when he bought the bus ticket he heard again the same mild laughter behind his back .The source could not be located in the noisy bus stand. There was a lump in his throat with a ting of fear. He ignored and continued his journey. The next morning he got the shock of his life when the court decided against him with costs to be paid to the other party. The memory of the laughter haunted his mind but being a rationalist he chided himself for being superstitious.
He was already 28 and his aged mom pressurized him to marry. He had a permanent job in the government and there was no reason to put it off. When he expressed his willingness, his mother went into raptures. Soon she found a good match for him from the adjacent village.. The bride was good looking, more qualified, had a better job and from a wealthy family. Both liked each other and agreed to marry.
It was the wedding day and there was a huge crowd of relatives and friends. The auspicious time for tying the knot had arrived and the purohit started chanting the mantra in loud voice.Nambiar with the mangal sutra in his hands neared the bride who was seated on her father’s lap to tie the knots. The nadaswara vidwan (piper) started playing the music briskly and was loudly accompanied by melam(drum).As Nambiar bent to tie the knot amidst the smiling faces that surrounded him, the poor chap felt again that he heard the very same laughter. He was sure he heard it distinctly. His face became pale, he started perspiring heavily and his limbs seemed to go limp with fear. Urged by the purohit, he tied the thread hastily with three knots. The smile had faded from his face and he looked ashen as if struck by a ghost. The bride looked at him with concern. Someone brought a Pepsi.
That night when they were together in the bedroom, the young wife asked him “Can I ask you one question?”
When he nodded his head, she said “Why did your face turn pale and you started perspiring heavily when you tied the knot. Your face was grim with no happy smile. Are you not happy with me?”
He smiled at her with effort and said “It is nothing”
When she prodded him further, he said “I thought I heard a vicious laughter behind my back just as I bent to tie the knots. That put me off.”
“What a strange coincidence! At least you were lucky with a mild laughter. I heard peals of laughter behind my back when you bent towards me” she said
Soon the relatives saw the girl rush out in panic screaming that her hubby had fainted.

8 comments:

  1. Is this where we laugh? I am confused as to the ending of the story...

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  2. hmmm.. naturally he should be.. ha ha.. reminds me of a story which my mother used to tell.. when a guy inside the house used to be afraid of voices in the night.."podatta, podatta".. once a traveller who took shelter for the night in his thinnai.. found the voice disturbing and to silence the voice he told it seems" pottu tholai".. and to the surprise of everyone in the morning, he had run away with a fortune.. with ponnum, maniyum, muthum scattered on the street..

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  3. Scary for me. I am afraid of such things. Such stories with out answers haunts me a lot.

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  4. thats a nice one...
    It leaves a lot for our discretion…
    I liked it
    and i m sure, time will reveal the mystery :)

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