Venkatesh told me, “Rukmini, I am transferred to the Kasargod High Court. It is in Kerala.”  

 I just wondered about the language. Though I could understand Malyalam a little, I could not speak it.   

Venkatesh took me to a small bungalow with a pretty garden. I saw rose bushes, small mango and  jackfruit trees, plantains, jasmine, and chrysanthemum in several colours. Oh! I was so happy when I saw that. When we entered the house, we saw a lady making the bed.   

To my astonishment she greeted us in pure Hindi. She said that hot water was ready in the bathroom and dinner was ready. She wanted to know if she should wait to serve food or is it all right if she leaves now. Tomorrow early morning she would come and make breakfast.  

I wanted to spend the first evening with my husband. I said it was all right if she left now. 

The next day, as I was sitting in the backyard admiring the vegetable bed, the servant came and sat near my chair.  

 I asked her, “Paer enna? What is your name?”  

“Prema” She then asked me, “Madam, why did Sir choose this particular house? There are  many other equally good houses here.”  

“But Prema, what is wrong in this house? The house is very nice with flower garden, vegetable bed. I like it very much.”  

“But Amma, there is something wrong in this house.”  

“What?”  

“There is a ghost in this house.”  

I laughed loudly. “Ghost? Have you seen it?”  

“No, but I have heard about it.”  

“Come, Prema! Out with it!”  

“Amma, there was a young couple staying here- Krisnan and Meera.”  

As I listened, Prema proceeded to tell me the story.

 Meera was pregnant, and every month her husband use to take her the hospital, some miles from the home. A month before she was due, she started to get pains in the night. Since the doctor told them she wasn’t due yet, the lady thought this may be just a tummy upset. She made some cumin kashayam and drank it, but the pain persisted. By the time they decided to call a doctor, it was close to midnight and they would not be able to find a horse carriage to take her. Her husband went to get a midwife, a Dai.  By then, her labour pain was uncontrollable.   

But soon, a lady in white entered the house and said, “Child, don’t worry. Everything will be alright. Your husband sent me.”   

She delivered the child. Meera told the lady that there were some old saris on the cloth line to wrap the child in. But the lady didn’t respond. She took the placenta and went behind the house. At that time her husband arrived with the midwife. The midwife rushed to Meera and asked, “Where is the placenta?”  

Meera told her, “The lady whom Krisnan sent earlier took the placenta to the backyard.”  

“What? Before attending to your needs and wrapping the child she took the placenta? Strange!”  

 Krisnan rushed behind saying, “I didn’t send anyone” He saw the lady was holding the placenta and… Prema stopped talking.  

“Prema! And what? Tell me!” I pleaded.  

“No Amma, you won’t bear to hear it.” But she continued after a little prodding.   

Apparently, Krisnan also did the same. He didn’t tell his wife what he saw. He went inside shutting the backyard door behind him and said, “No one is there she must have gone home after helping Meera.” The Dai gave him a meaningful nod and put a broom and a knife on both sides of the bed so that no bad thing would touch her.   

The whole night Krisnan sat near his wife. Early morning he took Meera and the child to the hospital in a carriage. He took a house in other side of the town and took his wife straight to the new house from the hospital.” Prema concluded her story.  

“Do you know their new house?” I asked Prema. “We will go and meet him.”  

“No, no! Amma, I don’t know! Besides Sir won’t like it if you go to meet a poor labourer. Even the lawyer’s wives are afraid to talk to you, the Examiners wife.”  

I snorted at this. The lawyer’s wives might have their own rules about who they could or could not talk to, but neither Venkatesh nor I had any such rules. I put this reticence down to a real ignorance of the family’s address, or to Prema’s own reluctance to meet ‘a poor labourer’.  

The next day, I was sitting in the garden with a cup of coffee and admiring the colorful dahlias and long stemmed red roses.  

One man came towards me, “Namaskaram madam”.   

“Namaskar.  Who are you?”  

“I am the gardener here. Krucch poo venne? Do you want flowers, Madam?”  

“No, don’t pluck the flowers- they look nice in the garden.”  

Then abruptly he said,“Madam, Sir should not have chosen this house. There is a white dressed ghost comes in the night.”  

“How do know?” I asked him. 

“I knew Cherian Sir who was staying here.”  

“Was Cherian staying here before Krisnan stayed or afterwards?”  

He didn’t grasp what I said, and stared at me.  

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, “go on.”  

“Madam, every day when Cherian Sir returned home he used to hear footsteps behind hime. It sounded as if someone was following him, but he could not see anyone. After he entered the compound and shut the gate it used to stop. One day he forgot to shut the gate. The footsteps followed him inside the house.” He continued the story.  

“The day after the footsteps followed Cherian Sir into the house, he didn’t hear them anymore. However, when he entered he was surprised to see the table set with good, home cooked food. He assumed that along with the house, the company he worked for also provided him with a housekeeper.  This housekeeper probably came in the afternoon and completed her work before he returned home.  Occasionally, he would find a list of required groceries on the table which he would purchase. Matters continued like that for a few days.  

He settled properly, and then wanted to bring his family. The day he was to leave for his home town to bring them, he returned in the early afternoon. When he came home he saw a woman lying down on a mat in the living room. In the same room there were some bananas that were tied to the roof to ripen. She had elongated her hand and was calmly picking bananas from the roof, more than 30 feet away.

He was so terrified by this that ran out and never again returned.”  

The gardener finished his story and sat waiting for a response from me.   

“Where is Cherian staying now? Can we meet him?”  

“No, madam. He left his job, and went back to his native place.” 

I shifted my attention back to the flowerbed.   

“Why were they telling me all these stories? To frighten me? What will they gain?” As I was looking at the flowers, the answer struck me. “Of course, the produce from the garden. Not only are there plenty of vegetables, but they can also sell the flowers. Any of the rich ladies here would like to have these long lasting dahlias and long stemmed roses- no matter what the price.”  

Most evenings, Venkatesh followed a set timetable. After the court, he would have tea and then go to the club. He would then return after the sun had set and the roads were dark.   

One day, while sipping tea Venkatesh told me “Richards says that when we return from the club, he hears foot steps behind us and when I turn to our gate it stops. I wonder what it is that he hears!”  

Now I was really nervous. I wondered if I should tell him the story, but decided to wait a while. Unwilling to let him go alone, I started to walk with him a little way. While walking I heard the steps too.  But when I looked behind, I noticed that his sandals were loose and flapped when he walked. I asked him to stop and tighten the strap by a hole.  

That day when he returned from the club, I asked him if Richards had heard the noise again. “No!” Venkatesh told me, “Today Richards said that he couldn’t hear the footsteps.”  

“How could he?” I replied “Your sandals were making the footstep sound as they were loose. Now that you have tightened the strap, they won’t flap behind you.”  

Though I had told Prema several times to go home after her chores,  she used to wait till Venkatesh returned from the club. One new moon day, we were sitting in the veranda and waiting for him. Suddenly, we noticed an image in white as if someone was standing on the road.   

Prema started whispering, “Amma, The ghost! The ghost! Come inside!” I sat there with the lantern while she ran to the back door to tell the neighbors. They all came to their verandas and started peering towards our house. Prema returned and sat holding my hand.   

Suddenly we saw the figure turn towards the left. Prema said, “The Ghost is facing Kunni Amma’s house.” I noticed that they had removed the lantern from the veranda. Then someone brought the lantern back and the figure became upright again.  

I took our lantern in my hand and started going out. Prema shouted, “Amachi, don’t go!”   

The neighbours also started calling out, “Madam don’t go!”  

I reached the figure, which had not moved at all. I saw that it was actually a whole banana leaf that was half broken from its stalk. When the light fell on it, it looked like a white figure. I looked at Prema and the other houses. All were looking at me speechless with fright. I extended my hand and dramatically tore off the leaf from the stalk.   

At that, everyone exclaimed with relief and rushed towards me applauding my ‘bravery’.   

And so the ghost in my house was finally laid to rest.