Once upon a time, there was a boy named Aman. He was a college-going student. For research, he had to go to a village called Ramgarh as his task in an internship. He decided to go alone in his father’s car. Ramgarh was a beautiful village in the lap of the Himalayas. The temperature there was not more than 25 degrees. There was no competition for its beauty and pleasant weather. But in spite of all that, the village included just 8-10 families as its residents and very few people visited there as tourists. Aman had to find out the reason behind that in his research. So he packed his back with all the necessary things and got ready for his journey to “Ramgarh”. There was only one way that led to Ramgarh and that was through the jungle called “Ramda”. He started his journey early in the morning so that he could reach there before night. The weather was not good that day. It was thundering and lightning all night and raining since morning.
Aman started his journey. He was enjoying it. His car was going through the cities, then through the villages and mountains and forests.
It was an evening time, and he was passing through the jungle of Ramda. After covering some distance his car suddenly stopped. He got out of the car and saw that the tyre had punctured. The rain had stopped but there was lightening and thundering. All could Aman see was a long-stretched road in between the jungle, thundering weather, and a punctured car.
But a ray of hope was coming from the light of a lantern that was lit in a tea stall. The stall was by the side of the road. The evening turned more cloudy and it was so dark that it looked like a moonless night. The car’s headlight and the lantern in the tea stall were the only sources of light. Aman went to the stall. There he saw an old man. The hunchbacked old man had a snowy white long beard. He had a long stick holding in one hand. The old man was trying to see Aman by adjusting his spectacles. Aman asked the old man about the mechanic shop nearby, but the old man replied that there was no other shop except his stall. Aman was frustrated that he had been stuck there and would not be able to reach his destination on time. But the old man assured Aman that he would call a mechanic and the mechanic would be there in no time. Suddenly it started raining heavily. The old man shut down his stall and said Aman to come with him and wait in his house till the rain stopped and the mechanic came. Aman agreed and went with him. His house was in the jungle. That was a double-storied house with a garden in front of it. In the house, an old lady sitting on the sofa. After watching them coming, she welcomed Aman. She brought tea and some snacks for him. While having all this Aman was tensed about his car as the weather outside was getting worst. He asked the old man if he would call the mechanic once again. The old man called and said that due to heavy rain, the mechanic was stuck on the way, and he would come after the rain stopped. After some time, the old lady served them dinner. They ate dinner. The meal was delicious. Aman never had a meal like that in his whole life. He was so pleased after having that meal that he thanked the old man and old lady. After some time, Aman felt sleepy. He went to the drawing room and slept on the sofa.
Sometimes something happens that one has never thought of. Something that left us perplexed. It becomes difficult to differentiate between reality and imagination. The same happened with Aman. When he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting in the driving seat of his car. He woke up and got out of the car. To his shock, he saw that the tyre was not punctured. The rain was still raining but lightly and that was the same time and same evening when his car had stopped. He saw all around him but found no tea stall there. To check he went into the jungle, but there was no house, no old man, no old lady. He found nothing except just the jungle, the “jungle of Ramda”.
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