My spine chilling encounter with the paranormal spirit of a woman!

The midnight of 19th January, 2012, proved to be one of my most horrifying experiences. Not that I haven't encountered it before. Were they my illusions or just scary facts that I can see the paranormal? Unfortunately, it’s the latter. It was totally unexpected as I clearly remember that my day began like any other normal day.

The following day proved to be an action packed one for me as my colleague, Mahesh and I, were busy mulling over the concept for the launch of 1st of our Campaign Ads for one of our projects. It was a usual day, but the last minute brief changed everything. This sudden decision of placing an Ad in one of the leading tabloids on the very next day put an unexpected responsibility on our shoulders.

We braced ourselves for the challenge that confronted us. But we were not going to back down as well. As it's an opportunity for me to impress usually unflappable Boss with my quality work and commitment. Once our team members left, the real work began at 8:30 P.M.

Then it was just two of us and our team members from Marketing Department. We were busy racking our brains inside out for fleshing out a concept, visuals and of course, my specialty of Copy in Advertising parlance. Unfortunately, my colleague, Mahesh, who is a Sr. Visualizer, was busy multitasking. He was lending them a helping hand in putting together a Media Kit consisting various marketing collateral. As we had the launch of our hospitality chain with a press conference at a swanky restaurant in Mumbai beckoned our team including our Boss, VP of Leisure Division and Marketing team the very next day.

While we were preoccupied with our work, hunger pangs got the better of us. We were so consumed by our work that we had even skipped our dinner. But all thanks to the largesse of our Marketing Manager who ordered dinner for all of us. Once the order arrived, we grabbed a quick bite as it was almost past 1:00 AM! And by the time we left the office premise, it was around 2 o' clock.

My colleagues called a ‘Cool Cab’ and they dropped me near the bridge as my place is barely 10 minutes walking distance from that spot. I looked at the watch and it showed 2:12 AM. Night was black as street lights were switched off. I was walking with a weird feeling that someone was following me. Then I came to an intersection point of ‘3 Way Road’ where I had to take the right. As I was about to take a right turn, a middle-aged woman with a red sindoor appeared out of darkness and tapped on my shoulder from behind and asked for direction for going towards Majiwada. I directed her by pointing my finer towards the road. I felt something spooky. I turned back after few moments, she disappeared into the darkness.

After experiencing that, my heart almost skipped a beat. I started briskly walking towards my place. Finally, I reached home and heaved a huge sigh of relief. As soon as I entered home, I narrated this bizarre, yet horrifying experience to my parents and spouse. They warned me to never come home alone by foot. Apparently, I nodded my head in agreement as their point made sense to me. The next 4 days were normal.

Nope. As bad as I wanted to get over the nightmare of that freak incident, the spine chilling moment was far from over. The next day was Sunday. It was an eventful one as I indulged in a game of cricket with my friends in my locality. And my in-laws had come over for lunch. It was a pleasant day throughout. Around 5 PM, we went to see the exhibition near Gadkari Rangayatan, a prominent landmark in Thane city. It was a good outing for me as my spouse and I accompanied my in-laws to that exhibition. We proceeded to my maternal uncle’s place with them. It was a quality family time that I was fortunate to share with those who matter!

Around 9:30 PM we left my maternal uncle’s place. We got into a rickshaw and proceeded towards our place. It took about 15 minutes to reach as there was no customary traffic. Finally, we reached home sweet home. By the time I hit the bed, I felt asleep immediately. And I thought that the nightmare of 19th January, 2012 was over! I have this habit of getting up in the middle of night for sipping on water. I got up to quench my thirst. As soon as I kept the bottle down and looked up, here she was! The nightmare of the street was right there in front of me staring me back into my eyes! I was shell shocked and speechless. I started to sweat profusely despite being a chilly night.

My mind was in overdrive trying to get rid of this unwelcomed visitor, the spirit of the woman who I met few nights ago. Somehow I summoned my courage to chant my ‘Shri Akkalkot Swami Maharaj’ divine name. Now I felt confident that she could do no harm to me. I kept repeating it several times. Sooner my beloved spouse woke up to check on what’s happening. Just as I looked up, the spirit of that ghastly woman disappeared without a trace.

Till this day, I am still baffled. Is it an illusion or my spine chilling encounter with Paranormal? To be honest, I was scared to death. But my loved ones including my friend Sundar had informed me to never display fear in front of the spirits. I followed their advice and stayed strong. Here I am as I have lived another day to tell this tale.

My Dirty Experience!

The word 'dirty' evokes an erotic imagery in general. To me, the word 'Dirty' symbolizes different contexts. In today's case, I use it in the context of a movie. That's right. It was dark, murky world of opportunism where a certain siren from down South called 'Silk Smitha' who sent men in a tizzy with her raw sensuousness and bold demeanor.

My Dirty Experience revolves around a movie aptly titled ‘The Dirty Picture’ based on the original seductress, Silk Smitha. To start off with, its promo was laced with oodles of oomph. It was enough to send everyone's mind including mine to a greener pasture where it finds the orgasmic peace of mind. For a change, it was refreshing to see a movie that had a woman playing a lead in the movie. The silky reason behind its success was Vidya Balan who gives one of her most memorable performances till date.

Everyone knew of Vidya's high calibre as an actress with her laudable performances - be it in critically and publicly acclaimed 'Parineeta' and 'Paa' which firmly entrenched her reputation as an actress for all seasons. With 'The Dirty Picture', she went up a notch higher with her riveting performance that will give the original Silk Smitha a complex.

Finally, we have an actress who can do justice to both women oriented roles as well as to the so called 'Commercial - Multi-starrers'. All of a sudden, she is B-town's hot property. It makes me grin from ear to ear as she happens to be one of my favorite actresses after Madhuri Dixit.

Right from start to end, Vidya's acting prowess looms large over everyone including a seasoned Naseeruddin Shah and a spunky Emraan Hashmi. To share the screen with such a dynamic actor and give him run for his money is no mean feat at all! Hats off or shall I say, Shirt off to Vidya! Being a Milan Luthria movie, it was supposed to be edgy and that's what it turned out to be. The direction is up to the mark, dialogues are witty and yet, laced with sassy overtones.

The first half of the movie starts with her rise to fame, while the latter half unfortunately portrays her dark reality with an unexpected astonishing fall from the fame leading to her demise. That puts an end to a career that promised so much, but failed to live up to her lofty expectations. Her hot-cold relationship with Naseeruddin Shah's character where she claims to share sizzling bedroom chemistry with him marks the coming of age of Indian cinema.

On a closer look, there are various factors that led to her downfall. Among them is her voracious appetite for being famous, her 'on your face' attitude, her on-off relationship with the hero of the movie, Naseeruddin Shah and later with his diffident yet struggling writer brother, Tushar Kapoor. Silk becomes a self-induced victim of two relationships that fails to give her peace of mind, let alone love and happiness.

As the relationship with Naseeruddin Shah’s character goes sour and abject failure to find solace in the arms of his brother, Tusshar Kapoor. Initially, Tusshar Kapoor knows of his brother’s extra-marital affair with Silk. Initially, he has a pity on her. But as the movie progresses, Tushar Kapoor’s character falls for the seductive Silk. He even decides to tie a knot with Silk. But his elder brother Surya (Naseeruddin Shah) strongly objects to their alliance. Besides, he lures his brother by giving him an unavoidable opportunity of giving him his first big break. As a result, even Tushaar Kapoor’s character ditches Silk at the last moment.

Another big surprise package of the movie was Emraan Hashmi. It seems that Emraan is fast becoming a good actor with his strong performance in ‘The Dirty Picture’. To be honest, it was unlike the Emraan Hashmi we have known over the years. In fact, he plays a struggling Director who happens to detest Silk and everything about her. As the time passes, they become good friends.

Finally, she loses her control and gets addicted to booze. Ultimately, she loses her eventful life in a rather quiet manner. All in all, it was really a dirty experience that will continue to linger on my mind. At a time when Silk eventually succumbs, everyone from Naseeruddin Shah’s character, Tusshar Kapoor’s character and her admiring junta failed to show up at her funeral. What unfolds is a stark reality of deserted look on the street outside her bungalow instead of a mass hysteria.

It’s worth a watch at least once! Kudos to Vidya Balan for her riveting performance yet again! Keep watching this space for more.