The Unexplainable Old Woman

let me start by saying I wasn't a firm believer in the paranormal until this I had this particular experience. This happened back in 2009 when I had visited India for the 2nd time, for a family function which was supposed to be in Bombay, or at least that's what I thought. When I got to Bombay with my parents I figured that the event was going to take place in my family's "native place" which was called Vaked, a tiny almost abandoned village about 600 miles from Bombay.

I vaguely remember being there on my last visit to India which was about 5/6 years before this incident. I have heard a lot of stories of the place being haunted/cursed/a place for evil, etc. I used to discard these stories considering the village barely had 10 or 15 people living in it and it was close to nothing and totally empty.

When we had got to Vaked it was about a 5 day stay there, we were living in an old family village house which was supposedly where all of my ancestors grew up and lived. Now skipping forward to day number 5 which was the day we were meant to leave back to Bombay, I had taken my luggage into an SUV which was going to take me and my parents and a few other members of the family back to Bombay. Now keep in mind this particular SUV had a back door which opened forward from the side, like an actual door and not upwards like most SUVs.

So, as I put my stuff into the back and I had kept the back door wide open and was leaning on it for a while until everyone gets there, I just closed my eyes for a bit as it was quite early in the morning and I was tired as well. All of a sudden I heard a shriveled but happy sounding voice of an old woman behind me asking me in Marathi (a regional language within India) if I had enjoyed myself. I just lethargically replied back with a lazy "yes" thinking it's one of the relatives trying to make small talk.

What happened next stunned me on the spot for a bit, "Last time I saw you, you were just a little boy and now you have started smoking, you grew up so fast." Hearing this, I immediately turned around to see who this person was and how did she know of my smoking as nobody besides my dad and my friends know about it nor was I smoking while this happened. I turned around, shut the SUV's back door and there I saw a frail but really happy looking old woman with a plastic bag in one of her hands. I immediately recognized her, but I couldn't remember who she was. She was standing less that 10 feet from me, dressed in a bright orange and green saree (traditional Indian women's attire) covered in jewelry, slightly hunched, with the biggest smile on her face, like she was excited to see me. She started speaking to me in Marathi but I just couldn't fight away the feeling of knowing her from somewhere but not remembering where.

She then goes to say that, she had better get back now (I have no idea where). Saying that she pulled out a purplish packet of biscuits called "hide and seek" and place them in my hand and told me that it was for my long journey that I was going to have. She then walked to the side of the SUV and literally vanished into thin air and I was the only person around while this happened, like she was scoping the area to find me alone or something like that.

While I was still trying to comprehend what had just happened less than a minute ago, there was a pat on my back, I freaked out like never before and turned around, it was only my dad asking me if I had taken all of my stuff from inside. During the drive back to Bombay I tried talking to my mom about what had happened earlier that day, she just ignored it saying that I might have been tired and thought this all up. Even if it did all happen in my head I still can't explain the packet of biscuits that the old lady had given me, which I later trashed.

I have never really talked about this much but have given it quite some thought recently. If anybody could explain what or who the lady was or why did I have a confident feeling of knowing her from somewhere or how could she have just vanished in cold sight and how did she know that I was a smoker even though she'd never met me before except for when I was a baby (as she claimed) I would really appreciate.

If anyone has any questions/quarries about this, I'd be glad to answer.