Sunday, April 13, 2003		Books

Things that go bump in the dark!
Jaswant Kaur

Ghost Stories from the Raj
edited by Ruskin Bond. Rupa & Co. Pages 170. Rs 250.

THE debate is on. Something unusual has happened. There is the educated elite on the one hand and uneducated commoner on the other. The former tests everything on the touchstone of reason. And where reason fails the latter comes in, for he believes there is something beyond reason, beyond identification — the supernatural.

Now, what does the cautious journalist do? Well, as usual, he spins a story, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions. But when it comes to Ruskin Bond — well-known fiction writer from Dehra Dun — there is certainly something unusual in the offing. Whatever role he plays, that of a writer or an editor, his work is always exciting. His readers range from the young to the old — from nine to ninety. So does his work — from the childhood days of Rusty to the strange world of ghosts.

Ghost Stories from the Raj is a result of his unrelenting interest in the world of the supernatural, where evil overpowers good and there is no place for mercy. It is a collection of ghost stories based on incidents either experienced or imagined by British writers. "The British, "Bond say, "are a phlegmatic people, not given to displaying much emotion or excitement, with the result their supernatural experiences are quite convincing when put down on paper."

Be it dilapidated dak bungalows, isolated graveyards, dense forests or simply a peepal tree, there is always a possibility for the appearance of a ghost, for "ghosts require no passports. They are universal beings" and can turn up wherever, whenever and in whatever form they like. Written during 1840-1940 — "a century of ghosts" as Bond puts it — these stories present a different India, a haunted India. There are the churails (women with their feet facing backwards), the munjias (spirits of unmarried Brahmin youth), the bhoots (spirits residing on peepal trees) and the prets (violent and noisy spirits), all set to surprise the reader. Among the writers who figure prominently, are keen observers of Indian customs and folklore: Lieutenant-Colonel Sleeman, Alice Perrin and C.A. Kincaid. Therefore, their stories are more or less influenced by the beliefs of the people they come across. The most representative of them all, and one of the best, is C.A. Kincaid’s The Munjia. Balwantrao’s son Mahadev dies of plague at an early age. As is the common belief, Mahadev becomes a "vile, evil spirit"— the munjia — who enters the body of an Assistant Judge, Collin Travers. To free his spirit for rebirth, he has to destroy the body he now occupies. Being a staunch Hindu, who believes that "suicide is a grave sin", the evil spirit kills Collin’s wife and her friend Miss Smith who has come to visit her. The story takes a strange turn when, considering his sincere confession (and of course everyone was suspicious of his conduct), and much to Travers’ disgust, the Sessions Judge orders a penal servitude for life instead of a death sentence. It all ends when he turns the jail into a battlefield by killing half a dozen sepoys.

Unlike other ghost stories, the ghosts in these stories are not always frightening. They have emotions no less tangible than those of human beings. Some are sad, some violent and some even funny. At times, they are silent, vague figures, appearing for a while and then fading into the dead of the night. Yet they form an inseparable part of the story.

In Chuniah, Ayah, the maidservant Chuniah, kills little Dot in a fit of anger. Her sin does not leave her in peace. The baby’s spirit keeps on haunting her, ultimately forcing her to confess her crime. Although harmless, the spirit keeps the story moving till the mystery is solved.

In yet another story Caulfield’s Crime, Caulfield and the narrator go on a shooting spree.

As they shoot at some birds, a fakir interferes and shoos the birds away. Angry,

Caulfield kills the fakir and hides the body in the grass. When they return from their hunt, they find a jackal staring into their eyes at being disturbed while eating the fakir. Hurriedly they drive it away, unaware of the consequences that may follow.

Where these stories reveal popular Indian beliefs, they also tell something of the colonial attitudes. On the one hand, there is arrogance, selfishness and insensitivity but on the other, there is love, compassion and the capacity to sacrifice. Amidst all this is the

element of the unknown. As far as the debate about the existence of ghosts is concerned, it still goes on.