Hundread

Episode 1: The First Omen

Lingapuram – A village at peace

1953

Nestled between lush green fields and winding dirt paths, Lingapuram was the kind of village where time moved slowly, where people knew each other by name, and where life followed the rhythm of the seasons.

Mornings began with the calls of hawkers pushing their carts, the scent of fresh jasmine from the temple, and the clang of brass vessels as women drew water from the well. Children ran barefoot across sun-warmed courtyards, their laughter ringing through the air. Life was simple, predictable, safe.

Evenings were for quiet conversations under the banyan tree, for oil lamps glowing softly behind wooden shutters, for the hum of crickets rising with the night. The villagers believed in omens and spirits, but they also believed in prayers, in rituals, in the comfort of the known.

But something was about to change.

Shankar, a vegetable vendor, had lived in Lingapuram all his life. He did not question the old stories, but he did not fear them either.

His wife, Padma, was more cautious. She followed rituals with a quiet urgency—as if keeping the Gods pleased was a full-time responsibility.

Their son, Bujji, was sixteen and restless. The village was too small for his dreams, too slow for his impatience.

Bhuvana, younger but wiser, watched more than she spoke. She saw things others missed—the way her mother’s rangoli patterns had become more intricate lately, the way her father lingered near the temple a little longer than before.

Something was shifting.

The first omen

It began with the well.

At dawn, when the women of the village gathered to fill their pots, they found the water had turned black.

Thick. Still. Oily.

A silence fell over them.

Someone muttered a prayer. Another stepped back, clutching her sari.

By the time the temple bells rang, the news had spread.

Shankar, standing at the edge of the well, stared at the water. “It’s nothing,” he said, though his voice held no conviction.

Padma’s fingers tightened around her mangalsutra. “It’s an omen.”

Bhuvana, standing behind them, noticed something else.

The village was too quiet.

No birds. No rustling leaves.

As if the land itself was holding its breath.

The first death

By noon, Ramanayya the shopkeeper was dead.

His body was found beneath the banyan tree, his face frozen in a scream, his nails broken, his hands clenched into fists.

When they pried his fingers open, they found something inside.

A 100-rupee note.

Crumpled. Damp. Stained at the edges.

The villagers stood in silence. No one spoke.

Until Padma whispered, barely audible—

“It has begun.”

The second night

That night, the wind came.

Not a gentle breeze, but a sudden, tearing force that howled through the village, rattling doors, shaking windows.

Bujji woke with a start.

The room was still. The air was thick, humid. Wrong.

Then he smelled it.

Something foul. Rotten. Clinging to his skin, to the walls.

And then—

A whisper.

"Bujji..."

Low. Right next to his ear.

His chest tightened. He turned, his breath stuck in his throat.

A shadow loomed at the foot of his bed.

An old man, burnt beyond recognition, his skin peeling in blackened flakes, his fingers curled, charred to the bone.

The figure raised a hand.

And pointed.

Bujji opened his mouth to scream.

No sound came out.

And the figure vanished as instantly as it had come.

Bujji spent the rest of the night restless and scared.

He had no idea when he went to sleep.

"Wake up, Bujji, it is 8.00 AM. You need to get ready for school".

Bujji opened his eyes to these works from Padma.

He got up and made his bed.

And as he lifted the pillow to set it back on the bed, a 100-rupee note lay folded beneath it.

To be continued.....

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I am Sri Ram.

I head the Marketing and Alliances function at FinAlyzer.

FinAlyzer is an emerging global leader in the Enterprise Performance Management space and we are working towards one purpose....empowering CFOs drive sustainable growth and financial resilience through Automation of their Financial Operations around Financial Close, Consolidation, MIS and Budgeting and Reporting (Statutory and Management).

In addition to working towards this purpose, I read, I write, I watch movies.

I do all of this happily.

But I am at my happiest when I walk my dog and going by the way she looks at me when we are out strolling, I am sure so is she.

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