Nisha the Ghost and Other Stories
Contents: Preface. 1. Bhola. 2. Nisha the ghost. 3. The well diver. 4. School inspector. 5. Radha. 6. Raja Saheb. 7. Picnic. 8. Bird\'s eye view. 9. Dak Bungalow. 10. Maya Debi. Index.
While some of the stories in this collection namely Well diver, School inspector, Radha and prince are based on events that look place years ago of which the author had a personal knowledge, the other stories are fictional in nature.
The scene of an old woman sitting on the verandah with a monkey at her side feeding at her breasts is as lively in my memory as that of a blind old man with his pepper coloured close cropped hair, a lean body with muscles who visited our house, often, accompanied by his granddaughter for recovering fallen articles from the well in the compound. I was only a lad of seven or eight years old at that time. So also the boat tragedy that snapped shut the lives of four members of a family when they were out picnicking at a river side, which shook the entire township of Burla a sleepy town where a dam was being built in the year 1957, is ever fresh in my memory. I worked as an engineer at Burla at that time, and witnessed the heart wrenching scene at the cremation ground where pyres in a row were lit.
While Nisha the ghost is the story about a girl who died under tragic circumstances and who turned into a ghost that decided to live in an old man\'s house and shared the joys and sorrows of the family till her sad end. Raja Saheb is an account of a ruler of a princely state during British Raj, who adopted means foul and fair to enrich himself and ultimately met his sad end. (jacket)
While some of the stories in this collection namely Well diver, School inspector, Radha and prince are based on events that look place years ago of which the author had a personal knowledge, the other stories are fictional in nature.
The scene of an old woman sitting on the verandah with a monkey at her side feeding at her breasts is as lively in my memory as that of a blind old man with his pepper coloured close cropped hair, a lean body with muscles who visited our house, often, accompanied by his granddaughter for recovering fallen articles from the well in the compound. I was only a lad of seven or eight years old at that time. So also the boat tragedy that snapped shut the lives of four members of a family when they were out picnicking at a river side, which shook the entire township of Burla a sleepy town where a dam was being built in the year 1957, is ever fresh in my memory. I worked as an engineer at Burla at that time, and witnessed the heart wrenching scene at the cremation ground where pyres in a row were lit.
While Nisha the ghost is the story about a girl who died under tragic circumstances and who turned into a ghost that decided to live in an old man\'s house and shared the joys and sorrows of the family till her sad end. Raja Saheb is an account of a ruler of a princely state during British Raj, who adopted means foul and fair to enrich himself and ultimately met his sad end. (jacket)
