Silsili Chronicles - The Temple of Darshan Baba - Part I

This is a story from Silsili, a small sleepy town somewhere in the foothills of Himalayas. The town has its own railway station and a post office. There are two schools as well. And the government is talking about building an army camp nearby.

Life is not as fast paced here as you would normally see in the big cities. People do not run around busily to make their ends meet. They stop and ponder on the different unimportant things. Even today children sit down cuddled in the winter evenings and listen to stories from the elders.

There are many places of interest nearby. There is the Lal Masjid, the city mosque built hundreds of years ago. They say there used to be a temple at the spot where the mosque now stands. There have been many fights between the Hindus and Muslims over this in the recent years.

Then there is the huge Darshan Baba Dam across the Rukruka river. The dam got its name from the famous Mandir of Darshan Baba nearby. There are several stories about Darshan Baba in these areas. He was an infamous Tantrik who lived in the forest near the hills about one hundred years ago. There are several infamous stories about Darshan Baba and his Kali temple. It is said that every New Moon night he would sacrifice a young boy in the name of the goddess Kali. The village elders seldom visit the temple because they fear that if they visit the temple, then they would disturb Darshan Baba in his Samadhi and that would mean the devastation of the town of Silisili by the wrath of the Tantrik who knew Black Magic.

Such stories are nowadays not believed by many, but people do not generally visit the place even during the day. They try to avoid the place and since the place is a mile or two away from the town, daily business generally do not bring people to this place. But nobody would dare visit the temple at night.