Celebrations In A Ghost House

While in CMS college one of the most important things I enjoyed was the annual tours with MSc students. In the early years, during the five days we were on tour we would visit six or seven important places. That meant traveling almost all the time. This was often grueling and robbed of the charm of the tour of my concepts. A tour, to me, meant being in a different place in a different atmosphere among strange people speaking some other language, lying idle in idyllic spots like the banks of a slowly flowing river listening to the folk songs of the boat-men  or enjoying the inebriating fragrance, again lying in “savasana” in a quite corner of the sprawling Ooty  Botanical Garden and inadvertently  transcending  to romantic heights of fantasy.  Mad, it may sound. By the start of the nineties  I still had many seniors in the Physics department. I could convince the big wigs  there to toe my line. Thus started the kind of tours where we would reach a destination and remain there for two  or three days singing, dancing filling each moment with fun, making each moment to be fondly remembered for ever.

Each tour was unique in its own right but the one with the 1993 batch was very very special with musical stalwarts like Durgaprasad, Joji, Liby and the jovial Christeena. Jerry made us burst into thunderous  laughter with his mono-act and mimicry. His master piece was his imitation of Devassya Sir (of course in his absence). His depiction of Sir was so incredible that, I am sure, even Sir himself would have failed in a competition with Jerry. Jerry in full flow was simply amazing. Dev was a welcome interlude with most of his “launches’  crash landing. The taller of the two Sujas provided a crop of humour  all through the tour. She never intended to crack any jokes, but whatever she uttered made others laugh. And one cannot blame her if by the end of the tour she started counting herself as a humorist! Just read this sample..... “Jesus fed five thousand people with just “FIVE BREADS and TWO EGGS (Karthavu 5 appavum 2 muttayum kontu ayyayirangale poshippichu!!!”. Reeni, Sreelatha, Molcikutty, Maya formed the “Ulsaha committee” which stuck to its duty with utmost devotion.

In Kodaikanal we stayed at the Kenley House (or Aanley House, I don’t remember – both were CSI cottages). These imperial bungalows situated among the pine trees blended divinely with the nature. The stay there was one of the rarest of my tour experiences.   One felt like being detached from reality and felt like living in some distant past.

 In the evening there was a “Pandimelam—Western fusion” played on the antique round tables made of Rose wood. The musical quality of these beats was very close to that of a Chenda. Those beats still reverberate in my ears. Durga, Joji, Jerry and I formed the foursome that engaged in some fantastic drumming for about an hour non-stop, with of course,  Durga in the lead. All in our group who heard it vouched for the quality and the entertainment it provided. This was followed by dinner. Christeena had brought a huge variety of pickles in huge measure from her father’s iconic PALAT  Pickles. It will be a sin if I don’t describe the role of our driver Thankachan. A man born to drive vehicles and drive people to rapturous laughter. After the dinner we all settled for the much awaited “Talent Night”. This is the most important item of our tour. The talented can showcase their talents. That is not any special. In this show anyone can participate. Even Mohan Kurien Sir and Devassya Sir can sing. Thankachen  was the star of the night. He gave us his visiting card (instantly created) where it was written “Dr Thankachen, MBBS,INOUT”. Dr meant Driver. I forgot the expansion for MBBS. The degree INOUT meant “ In/Out”. Thankachen high jacked the day with his fancy dresses. Every fifteen minutes he came in a new avatar. If he is Tippu Sultan now after a little while he would be Veera Pandya Kuttabbomman. That was amazing. The show was progressing with ecstasy filling the  atmosphere .  It was about 1-45 am. Mohan Kurien Sir summoned me and some of the students to an adjacent room and started talking in a hush  voice.  “At the stroke of 2 we should stop the show for ten minutes. There is nothing to fear. But let us not take any chances. I have been to this place many times. There is a story in this locality that at two in the night the ghosts of the British Bishops who lived here will visit these bungalows. If they find something wrong here they will bring havoc and our whole tour will be in doldrums. You people should manage it somehow”.

It was fireworks of fun in the adjacent room. We had fallen into a gloom. Seeing us so helpless and shattered Mohan Kurien Sir offered to manage it for us without telling anyone of the ghostly situation. We were frozen. We feigned in vain to be courageous. I told the others that all these are rubbish ...... after all we are Physics people. When Mohan Kurien Sir stepped into the next room we were  terrified as there was only five minutes left for the Bishops to come. I still do not know what Sir told the boys and girls in that room. The show stopped abruptly. Sir came back and told us. Nothing to worry now,go and sleep.
Sleep? I and the two students could not sleep a wink that night. A small tick there or a slowly moving shadow there, we were shivering with fear. We kept reminding ourselves that we are Physics people and should not be scared by such rubbish stuff. Physics of course ... but... in case the Bishops....?
All fear vanished with the first rays of the Sun. All were still asleep and Mohan Kurien Sir was still roaring, read snoring. At about eight Mohan Kurien Sir came out of his room. Seeing the three of us sitting under a tree shattered, he came to us with a broad smile on his face and instead of wishing us a good morning said ....." SorryDa. This is the first time I am staying here. We were very tired and wanted  a good sleep...... that's why I..". Now adding insult to injury he hastened to add ..."But I never thought you all are such cowards".