Bhuda man (Old man)

I was breathing in the cool summer evening air and mildly panting as I saw my friends play around and under the swing, and the seeker among them trying to catch others by touching them once. I generally got tired before others did, so I took some time to recuperate and enjoyed the twilight. I stared towards the New Officer's Colony as the light slowly faded into darkness. Suddenly I heard what I thought was the end of their game but ignored it for the time being. My friend and next block neighbor patted me on my shoulder and spoke in my ear, "Do you know about Bhuda man?"
"Bhuda man!"
"Yeah, rumor has it that Bhuda man visits this children park just before it gets dark and puts all the kids he can find in his big bag and takes them with him."
"Yeah, right!" But I already had this image of an old energetic man with long untidy white hair and badly wrinkled face, long nose, long fingers with long nails and a bag where he stuffs any and every kid he finds.
My friend looked at me with a serious and concerned expression, then suddenly started running towards the colony, leaving a trail of his voice behind that said, "Hurry before the Bhuda man finds us."
'Damn' I told myself and ran after him.
'I wonder why I listen to him' I thought, panting heavily while on the road of the colony, as my friend walked into the block of his house. I turned back and looked at the children park, deserted and slowly being covered in darkness, but I couldn't see any Bhuda man. Perhaps for a second there I wished I could see the Bhuda man for once.
'Maybe I listen to him because he's taller than I am.' I concluded and with hasty pace walked back to my house.

2 comments:

@nks said...

there's always a scary story related to either boodha baba ... or a budiya ...

I wonder why as a kid we were scared of old people ... specially one with wrinkled skin

Abhishek said...

All folk tales and TV. :(
But do imagine a thin, wrinkled skin being with uneven broken teeth and long dirty nails, AND super strength and little bit of spooky magical abilities! :D That's what makes a horror show! :P