Penguin Book Of Indian Ghost Stories (1993) - Plot & Excerpts
Worth for the range it covers. Apart from the much anthologized Kingling tales (Mark of the Beast et al), it contains some pleasant surprises. Especially enjoyed the ones by Satyajit Ray (Fritz), a tale by Ruskin Bond, and some by obscure writers who used the British India as a setting, its sahibs and their obedient servants, engineers during the early Railway days, old crumbing temples, ravines filled with lepers, and the usual symbolism to good effect. Tales set in British India have to be about ghosts, ain't it? Like the appearance of a ghost or a witch is nothing unusual in a Shakespearean tale, a story set in the India at the dawn of the 20th century has its own share of ghosts lurking around or underneath the surface. They don't have to be explicit but even in the description of the most commonest things they manifest themselves. Maybe it has something to do with that bygone time. Its a genera in itself, and a dying one. While reading this book I felt that Ruskin Bond may just be the last of the Mohicans. Also, the cover art is pathetic :)
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