Konkan's Chakwa

𝙆𝙤𝙣𝙠𝙖𝙣'𝙨 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙠𝙬𝙖

Konkan is a beautiful land sandwiched between the mighty green Western Ghats & serene Arabian Sea stretching from Northern Maharashtra to Goa. The locals do not recommend a road trip to Konkan beaches during the night as travellers share "strange" experiences who have attempted night drives. These strange experiences are locally called Chakwa. The Chakwa is a spirit in Konkan's culture which is harmless but playful & derives pleasure by misleading their way/route. Its presumably active only at night & its power diminishes at dawn as the locals claim. 

This happened with us on 14 April 2018 when we were heading to Anjarle Turtle Festival from Pune. The plan was to reach Anjarle by evening so we did leave the city around 12:30 in the afternoon. But due to the traffic caused by Ambedkar Jayanti processions, we were behind our schedule. It was pitch dark when we crossed Mandangad at 8:30 pm. We were 10 people in two cars, 5 passengers in each car so we didn't get bored during the journey but were exhausted due to hunger. 

The ghats & winding roads started & no person was to be seen on the road. The only lights on the streets were the car's headlights. We were driving the cars at constant speed maintaining safe distance between both the cars so as to not lose the path. 

Suddenly, out of nowhere a rabbit crossed the road & to save it my friend applied the brakes quickly. The car behind us also stopped & enquired whether we were ok. We five of us did actually see the rabbit but we were surprised by its sudden disappearence. We saw there was a huge flowering tree besides us & a rusted board which had something written but wasn't clear. 

     

We decided to let my other friend driving the second car take the lead while we followed them. My friends were driving extra cautiously now since there was no network & Google maps was useless at that point. We were now following the milestones & boards to reach our destination, when suddenly my friend driving the car ahead stopped. This time we didn't come out of the car & neither did they. Thirty seconds passed in sheer silence. Without getting of the car, my friend went next to the other car to check. We all were flabbergasted to see the same rabbit ahead on the middle of the road with its eyes shining in the car's headlights..!! My other friend exclaimed, "See to your left..!! Its the same rusted board & huge flowering tree..!!" We all were horrified & shocked by this when finally we saw a tempo traveller. He stopped to enquire us & told us to follow him as he too was heading to Anjarle.

We had enough adventure for the day so we quietly followed him & reached the hotel at 10:30 pm!

Science behind the "strange" experience: 

Konkan area is home to many native flowering trees which release a certain aroma at night for protection from animals. The released aroma in the air hallucinates people present in certain radius of the tree. Therefore, people tend to get lost in these areas at night. Hence the term 'chakwa'. About the sighting of rabbit by all of us could be an example of shared psychosis. 

Courtesy: Satyam Todkar 

Thank you, Satyam. Very well written 👍