Whispers of Kuldhara

My visit to Kuldhara, the abandoned village near Jaisalmer, was meant to be a journey into history. Instead, it became an experience that still haunts me.

On a cool January afternoon, my guide, Ramesh, dropped me at the entrance of the deserted village. Refusing to accompany me inside, he warned that the place was cursed by the Paliwal Brahmins who had mysteriously abandoned it over two centuries ago. Dismissing the legends as folklore, I entered alone.

The ruins stood silent beneath the desert sun—roofless homes, crumbling walls, and deserted lanes frozen in time. As I explored, I found myself repeatedly returning to the village temple, no matter which direction I took. Inside the dark sanctum, the air suddenly turned cold. Faint chants echoed around me, and a whisper emerged from the silence.

“Why are you here?”

Terrified, I rushed outside, only to discover that dusk had fallen and the village exit seemed to have vanished. The narrow lanes twisted endlessly, leading me deeper into the ruins. Then came the footsteps—soft, barefoot, impossibly close. Whispers surrounded me.

“Go back... Not yours...”

Panic took over. Clutching the cross around my neck, I ran into an abandoned house. On its wall, scratched hastily in Sanskrit, was a chilling warning:

We were watched... We were hunted... Do not listen to the girl.

Moments later, I saw her.

A young girl in a faded red sari stood motionless in the doorway. When she slowly raised her head, her eyes were nothing but hollow darkness.

“Come with me,” she said in a voice ancient with sorrow.

I fled into the darkness, running blindly through the village until I stumbled into the desert. By what felt like a miracle, I found Ramesh waiting beside his jeep.

“You’re lucky,” he whispered as we drove away. “They don’t usually let people leave after sunset.”

I never returned to Kuldhara.

Yet even now, on quiet nights, I sometimes hear a distant whisper:

“Not yours...”

And in my dreams, a girl in red stands silently in a doorway, waiting for me to look back.

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