Super Stories about the Supernatural

Ever since I have started blogging, I find myself staying up quite late ( when I say late I mean really late -post 11PM !) in the night trying to make use of the  peace and quiet to collect my thoughts. Most often there is just light from my PC illuminating the room ( I know it is bad for the eyes etc etc but what to do- I need to conserve energy!). Often I feel a shiver down my spine and get the feeling that maybe someone is standing behind me reading what I am writing. Then I tell myself not to be sillly and continue with the writing. Sometimes it is not so easy ( especially when there is a gust of wind that makes my curtains fly around) and I  keep looking back and finally switch on the light over the table. In the morning I cannot beleive that I let myself get scared like that !

But seriously folks, tell me if you have never felt like that ....?

My introduction to ghosts began in my childhood. Living as we did in those huge colonial bunglows we grew up hearing stories about these creatures. I think Bengal probably has the maximum variety in terms of ghost stories. There were stories about entire villages being wiped out by cholera and the lone survivor ( usually a student who lived away from his village in Calcutta)  coming back to his village to encounter weird happenings before realizing that everyone was dead and what he was seeing were their ghosts. Then there were stories about the previous occupants of the bunglows we lived in - Sahibs who climbed up and down the wooden steps during the nights. The stormy "Kalboishakhi" summer nights were the scariest .. when we imagined stairs creaking and windows opening and closing by themselves. The stories extended beyond our homes in true railway tradition to include that abandoned siding in the railway station in our little township where people claimed that ghost trains were seen. In addition to these were the bengali stories that we devoured - Tagore and Satyajit Ray which had enough about the supernatural. I can still remember that scene from Ray's " Teen Kanya" of a woman clad in a red banarasi saree and when she lifts her veil all you see is a skull. But all bengali stories had the same format- a ghost that screeched and laughed to announce itself. There were stories of horse carriages that stopped outside houses and shadowy figures coming out of them. I am sure many of you would have heard the famous story of the ghost of Warren Hastings of Hastings house in Calcutta!

Hindi films had their own version of ghosts- beautiful women clad in white sarees with jingling anklets and flowing hair often on a swing ( remember Madhubala singing " Ayega Ayega...!"). Some film makers have tried to vary the format and so we had Dimple Kapadia clad in dark robes holding a lantern in Gulzar's "Lekin". But somehow the setting was always the same - huge mansions or colonial houses surrounded by trees with the ghost making its appears on a windy, rainy night.

Ruskin Bond is another favourite of mine where ghost stories are concerned. He is probably the only Indian author  who has written about "railway ghost stories"!

But coming back to our main protagonist - the ghost...! I am not really sure what to make of it. I mean the rational mind does not accept this but there are irrational moments in our lives when we allow ourselves to be governed by our fears. For e.g whenever I read a particularly scary ghost story, I keep imagining things that definitely do not exist!  I saw a program on Discovery channel once which was about a haunted house and one of the statements made was " Ghosts draw  their power from our fears".

People at home have a wonderful time playing on my fear of ghosts. We live in this old rambling house with dark corridors. One of my husband's favourite activities is to lie in wait for me outside a corridor that leads up to the bathroom so that when I switch off the bathroom light I would bang right into him in the corridor and scream out in fear...! The daughter is also beginning to enjoy these encounters.

I remember while in college a group of us were trying to summon a spirit. We positioned ourselves in a dark corner of the college building ( which was deserted except for a few cupboards) and tried to concentrate on a spirit. Suddenly, we heard a shuffling sound behind one of the cupboards and before anyone could mention the "G" of a ghost I got up and ran away from the spot..! Ofcourse, none of my other friends were that silly..some of them went  to investigate and guess what they found? A couple in action behind one of the cupboards- we had apparently invaded their secret rendevouz. This story is one of the most popular one among my batch mates- I am sure I must be known as that girl who was scared of ghosts!

That I am scared of ghosts is a reality..! I remember watching a film called " The entity" which was about a ghost but you never saw anything faintly resembling a ghost throught the film- it was only the background music and other sound effects that were used to instil a sense of fear.  I still shiver when I remember that scene of  doorknob turning and a door opening by itself!

So if you beleive in ghosts this is not the right blog for you to read...! If you do not ,, then you can laugh and comment about how silly some people can get! But sure , please share your comments and if you have any experiences I would love to read about them...

Good night and hope you have no ghostly nighmares!