Oh no, not again! Taposh woke up in the middle of the night by an unusual noise coming from somewhere close to his room. This is the third night in a row that this noise has woken him up in the middle of the night. Taposh is a daredevil young man or why else would a person come to this solitary cabin of a house in the middle of nowhere.

Taposh was overjoyed when he was offered the position of Assistant Manager at the tea garden in Himachal Pradesh. He loved the mountains and the chance to trek was an added bonus. So, he had accepted the offer immediately. It’s been three months that he joined the company at their head office in Palampur. He was asked to visit a few of the company’s tea estates further up north.

About six months back he had met Timothy Williams in Delhi, an Australian nature photographer working freelance with National Geographic magazine. He had mentioned that he will be spending some time in the hills of Himachal Pradesh to observe the bio-diversity of the region and do photography. Timothy also mentioned that his maternal grandfather owned a bungalow in Bagora, close to Palampur in HP. As the luck would have it, Taposh was asked to visit the tea estate in Bagora which he agreed immediately. Before, joining the company, he had bought a second-hand Suzuki Gypsy, 4-wheel drive with a hope that it will come handy in exploring the state during his off days.

Taposh started for Bagora after breakfast and reached within 2 hours. It took him took another 30 minutes to locate the William’s bungalow called Rose Villa, named after Timothy’s grandmother at the outskirts of the town. He stopped his Gypsy in front of the gate and climbed out. A quick shower, very common in the hills had washed the surroundings making it clean and green. The Sun had made its appearance but the dark clouds hovered on the horizon. The bungalow had a couple of bougainvillea trees right at the entrance gate creating a natural canopy. The lush green lawns with flower beds in the forefront of the white bungalow looked surreal. Taposh honked and Timothy came out to welcome him. He was smiling but looked stressed.

“Welcome my friend, hope it wasn’t much hassle finding the place.”

“No, not at all, Google Map is a great help, though at times it has misled people as well.”

After few pleasantries, Timothy said, “Good that you have come at this time. I was getting worried what to do with the house… there’s a caretaker here to look after the house in our absence and also manage few occasional guests through Airbnb but yesterday he has taken leave for 3-4 days to go check on his son who is unwell in the village. This morning, I received this message from my sister in Melbourne to come home urgently as my mother is in hospital with sudden deterioration in health.”

“No worries, I am here for at least one week and can extend by few more days till your caretaker comes back from the village. You should go back immediately.”

Timothy made his travel arrangements and left after lunch; the cab would drop him directly at the Delhi airport from where he would take the flight to Singapore and a connecting flight to Melbourne. Taposh visited the tea estate, met with workers and the supervisors, took stock of the production before coming back to the Rose Villa. At night, it looked completely different, a white house standing amidst the black surrounding. It gave him an eerie feeling but he shrugged it off and entered the house. He had his dinner at a roadside dhaba, so he freshened up and changed into nightwear and went to bed. He selected the room that Timothy was using instead of unlocking another room.

Taposh wasn’t sure about the time but by the darkness of the surrounding, he guessed it to be midnight when a constant khss…khsss…khss… noise woke him up. He lay still on the bed and tried to figure out from where the noise is coming. He also thought if a thief is trying to break-in. He realised he doesn’t have any appropriate weapon to counter any attack on himself. He did not move an inch waiting for the intruder to show up, if at all. After few minutes which for Taposh seemed eternity, the noise stopped on its own. Taposh breathed a sigh of relief and went back to sleep.

In the morning, he looked around the house for any tell-tale signs of break-in but couldn’t find anything. After breakfast, he left for the tea estate and spent the entire day working. He came back late after having dinner at the same place. He found a walking stick at the foyer and took it with him, just in case. He was tired, so fell asleep immediately but for a short time. The noise khss…khss…khss… woke him up, clutching the stick tightly he waited for the intruder to come in, but nobody showed up and the noise stopped. Taposh sighed and fell asleep again.

When the same noise woke him up on the third night, he decided to ask someone in the tea estate to come and help him find the source of it. So, during the lunch time he narrated the incidence of the noise at night to the supervisor, Dinesh, a young man of same age as Taposh or younger. He readily agreed to spend the night with him at the Rose Villa.

In the evening, Taposh and Dinesh instead of sleeping, waited in the living room for the noise and they were not disappointed. Around 11 o’clock the they heard the khss…khss…khss coming from somewhere close to them. They got up silently to probe. Dinesh with his keen hearing, went to the rear door opening to the small kitchen garden and opened it in a swift action. A bundle jumped inside the room and purred.

Dinesh started laughing hysterically pointing to the greyish feline making itself comfortable on the sofa in the living room. “Sir, this is Timothy’s pet cat. Didn’t he tell you about this? The cat roams around the neighbourhood and comes for the food and sleeps here through the night. Since, you were never been home during the day, you didn’t notice the cat.”

“Thank you for solving the mystery otherwise I would have imagined that Timothy’s racist grandfather was trying to kill the native living in his house.”

Both had a hearty laugh and retired to their respective rooms for a sound sleep.