Do you believe in ghosts?

It's a lazy Sunday morning, and I don't have anything to do. So I'm going to tell you about some unexplainable experiences I've had. You can decide to believe it was paranormal, or you can come up with a reasonable, logical, scientific explanation. I'm open to both.

It happened some years back while I was a student in Delhi. I with two of my friends had recently moved into this small flat on the 5th floor of a building in Rajendra Nagar. It was a one bedroom apartment, small kitchen, small bathroom with an enormous balcony. We pushed our beds together and all slept together. So it was like this major super king-sized bed where we could all loll around and avoid body contact, which was important in the intolerable heat. It was a crummy place, but we were not exactly rolling in money.

The first incident happened on our first night there. I was asleep when something (I think some movement) woke me up. I opened my eyes and saw a figure in the dark, I thought it was my friend Apuii going to the bathroom so I went right back to sleep. However, something woke me up again later, and I saw the person's silhoutte in the dark, still standing there. Thinking it was still my friend, I was unalarmed and drifted off to sleep again.

Something woke me up yet again, and I looked and saw the person still standing there. I saw it so vividly, even the way it stood. One hand on the waist, one hand on the back of its head, like it was rubbing it. I still thought it was my friend, but I was a little worried now, and wondered why she was standing there in the dark for so long. I thought maybe she was not feeling well but didn't want to wake us up.

I decided to ask her what was wrong, and called out 'Mate' (not the Australian 'mate,' Mizo term of endearment, which was how we always called each other). And the word had barely left my mouth when I saw my friend sleeping peacefully right next to me! Terror gripped me, I moved so fast I don't even know how I did it, but in a sec, I was hugging my friend as tight as I could, no longer mindful of the heat and the sweat - keeping my eyes tightly shut.

I lay like that for a while, but I started thinking, and I was angry with myself for being so afraid. So I finally moved away from my friend and opened my eyes. And saw nothing.

Another incident happened in broad daylight. I and one of the girls, Papi were at home sleeping late. Apuii had left in the morning because she had work. The Delhi summer was at its cruelest peak, and us being all girls, we kept clothing inside the house as minimalistic as posisble. We were sleeping almost naked, when I heard something and opened my eyes, and saw a man's figure standing at the foot of our bed, looking down at us.

The first thought that came to my mind was that we must've forgotten to lock our door, and the landlord must've come and walked in, and seeing us 'unclothed' was feasting his eyes and thinking dirty thoughts. Not that we were any real sight to feast on. lol

Anyway, I just had a quick glance of the man because the moment I saw him, I jumped up, the only thought in my mind to cover ourselves, I grabbed a sheet and threw it over myself and the still sleeping Papi. And then I looked up. And again, no one. I got up, checked the doors which were all locked. There was nobody in the house except us. The man I saw was shirtless, and wore what looked like drawstring pajamas. Kind of heavy looking.

And people always tell me I must have been dreaming when I tell them. But I know I was awake in both cases.

Another incident was one night we had gone to meet a friend and her husband for dinner at the Hyatt. And we were home pretty late. We were still marveling about the rich food and the rich surroundings and the rich people we'd just eaten with, so ghosts were the farthest thing from our minds.

Walking up the small, spiraling, dark stairs, Papi took the keys and walked a little ahead. Me and Apuii had almost reached our flat when suddenly, Papi came rushing down the stairs like she was crazy. She tried to push past us, she was that panic stricken. But we grabbed her and asked her what was wrong. She told us that she'd just gotten the keys out, and was just about to open the door, when she heard very clear, loud knockings on the door. From the inside.

We stood there, all too scared to go up, but not knowing where else to go. We stood there on the stairs for a long time, giving each other pep talks. "Are you going to let a fat "Vai's" ghost scare you?" "We are believers of God, we should not let this scare us like this" and so on and so forth. By the end of which we bravely marched up, our faiths considerably strengthened :) There was no knocking this time. And we slept in peace.

There were a few minor other incidents that were strange and a little scary. But these 3 incidents were the most unnerving, and I remember them best. We moved out after 2 months, and I've lived in many different flats in many different cities ever since. But I've never experienced anything like that ever again. Sometimes we sit together, me and those girls, and talk about those days, and wonder if we'd really lived in a haunted house.

Well, that's the story. I don't know what caused those, or how to explain what happened. But I always brag that I've lived in a haunted house to my little cousins back home. Makes for good story telling times under the blanket on a rainy night.