It’s been over a week in Mayong and I was getting a bit frustrated. I wanted to meet some ojhas and tantrics who could teach me a few things or show me the magic of tantra and the occult. I wanted to see the practice with my own eyes. We had failed to find someone genuine.

Finally, my driver told me that there was a tantric who had a small shop and that he could give me a brass taviz that would bring me good luck. So the first thing we did that day was to chase this man and find out what he knew about black magic or Indian voodoo.

The guy turned out to be an old village man who first said he could not tell my future. But then, from one of the sweet jars, he pulled out a brass amulet which looked like a taviz. He then put some powder on the metal taviz and rolled it in a small piece of paper.

Tantrics

“Keep it with you and put it under some soil in your house. You will always be protected,” the man said with a toothy grin.

I was not very satisfied. I was hoping to see some spirits and ghosts, but I could not see any. So I ventured out again and we drove into the interiors of the village. From there, we walked a bit to reach a hut. This was the abode of another ojha—in fact there were two of them, both thin and frail, but sharp and alert.

There were a few families who had come to them for consultation. I sat down quietly to watch what they were doing. One man would rub some oil on a mirror that he was holding, then he would recite a mantra and blow onto the mirror. After that, he would hand the mirror to his partner sitting by his side.

I was told to ask them a question. As they did not understand Hindi or English, my driver had to translate everything for them.

“Will the murderers of my father be hanged?” That was the first question that came to my mind.

The man looked at the mirror as if asking it to reveal an answer and then soon shook his head as if to say no.

“He has had fights with people before and he has murdered before as well. But no, he will not be hanged. He will be in jail for the rest of his life, but he will not get the death penalty,” the old man sitting on the left answered, and then closed his eyes.

“So how will my life be in the future? Will I get married? Will I have a wife?” I asked the thin-looking ojha.

“Yes, yes, you will marry and you will have a good life. But you will marry for sure,” the man answered with full confidence.

He was looking at the mirror and rubbing his fingers on it. It was as if he could see something in the mirror that none of us could see. I too took some photos and even made a video of the antics of the two ojhas.

“See, science cannot explain everything. This is beyond science. This is a matter of faith,” a man who had also come for consultation told me.

I did feel I had seen something strange and mystical here, but that will only be proved once the court verdict of my father’s case comes. Till then, I will have to go by the words of the ojha.

We then walked a few kilometres to a small temple in the middle of the forest. It was beside a large hut and there was a small Shiva linga with the large hood of Shesh Nag covering the linga. It was all cut from pure rock and was fascinating. I could see a few ducks flocking beside the hut and then I went deeper into the forest.