I’ve loved stories from the time I can remember and would
pester any adult I could find to relate new ones to me (of course, once I learnt to read on my own all I needed were books and more books :D). Chandamama (the iconic
children’s magazine) came to our house in its English as well as its Malayalam avatar, Ambili Ammavan (Moon Uncle). There were also other Malayalam weeklies in the
house. Usually a willing adult would read out and explain the stories in them. Ambili Ammavan had the legends of King Vikramaditya through the Vikram-Vetal series as
well as tales from mythology.
Chandamama also had the occasional stories of ghosts. I
remember the illustration from one about a young bride who’s too lazy to answer
the knock at the door one night, so she stretches out her hand all the way from
her bed to open it! There were more horror stories in the form of serial comics
in the weeklies. Neeli was one in particular that stays back with me simply
because of the climax episode when the pretty Neeli transformed into her true
form, with gaping holes in a horrifying face. Not surprising considering she was
a yakshi (spirit). :D
The only time Mom had for stories was at night when her work
for the day was over and we all sat around for dinner, food forgotten, eagerly
waiting for the next episode of… Bram Stoker’s Dracula! :D Till date whenever I
refer to the name of the book it is with the author’s name because that is how
Mom referred to it. We were fascinated! A being that had fangs to suck blood
and that could turn into a bat or scrabble up walls! For some reason, fear had
not set in then for, to me, those were ‘stories’. They didn’t seem real.
Till one day… my older sister, Jaya, helpfully pointed out to
the darkened building opposite and to two red lights shining from a window and
said, ‘Look, those are the monster’s eyes’. I looked. They did rather seem
like the red eyes of a monster glaring down at me and that day I learnt fear. That
was the end of any demands for ghost stories.
Long before the storytelling sessions, I had these spectacular nightmares. These even had intros that had quite the
Doordarshan influence. :D At the beginning of every show, the Doordarshan logo
would slowly spiral out. Similarly, my dreams began with bubbles in various
pastel shades that slowly expanded from the size of a dot till they filled my dream vision. Once a
few of these bubbles were done, my dream or… my nightmare would begin.
One was about me driving a Premier Padmini (my nightmare was
quite particular about the make of the cars I drove :D). Now, strangely as in the case of dreams, this driving was
not happening over a road but up wide, shallow steps brightly lit by moonlight
while the rest of the scene fell into darkness. All my windows were shut and yet I
was terrified because the moment the car reached the top of the steps that led to some kind of open ground, it was surrounded by wraiths trying to get in. I don’t know what they intended to do or what I thought they could do but that imagery was
so vivid that years later I did what a writer does… and eventually used it in a different form
in the first book I wrote. :D
I realize now that ghost stories formed just one part of a lot of
stories about monkeys and cats and other tales. However, perhaps they, along with stories of gods and demons, formed the
beginning of my fascination with fantasy, with things larger than life, with
things beyond what we know as real. :)
Next Part: More nightmares and stories ;)
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