A lot of us have always liked reading, watching movies and listening to the endless tales that grandmothers still sometimes tell us at bedtime. People like us wait for the morning’s paper, chat endlessly with our friends, gossip all day long and hear patiently the tales our co-workers tell us from their experiences. This thread that binds us and keeps us going is a common love for a good story and how it is told.
I particularly cherish all Indian tales. Coming from our land, these stories are rich with mystical drama, vibrant with color and as diverse and intriguing as stories can ever be.
The legendary tales of majestic kings, queens and magicians from history and ghostly accounts that friends tell when they get back from Himachal or Coorg, make it to my list of favorite tales that I can hear at any time. I love hearing about the fantastic setting of historical palaces, the grand words spoken and kept and how, the struggle of a million people in the Indian history and how they yielded their character at crucial moments and most of all the chronicles of paranormal activities at strange and frosty places in the countryside. A combination of all these would be my dream come true and I would any day let myself be consumed in the incredible aroma of this incantation.
Now the thing about ghost stories is that they are best told and not read. Told either by someone you know or through a movie with all its Dolby Digital sound track making the experience more marvelous and exciting. This is the reason why ghost storybooks don’t really appeal to me. Most such books I have read haven’t managed to tickle my senses except for “Omnibus” by Ruskin Bond. Its an adorable collection of fables and why I use the word ‘adorable’ here for a book of ghost stories is because, it has stories that I am sure you have heard before. They will bring back the memories of your childhood time when you heard the stories first. Reminding you of all the beautiful times spent with nanis and daadis and best buddies from childhood. These are the stories that I am sure we will pass on to our nieces, nephews and who knows even our grand children!
Book Review: The Phantom Rickshaw & Other Eerie Tales
A few days ago, as I browsed through a range of best selling classics on the shelf in my friend’s house, a thin paperback peered out at me and hit the chord in my mind that was in the mood for some wraithlike adventure.
Rudyard Kipling’s “The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Eerie Tales”, roused all the curiosity in me and soon I found myself enrapt in the loony, spooky and wondrous world of the vaporous beasts that might have been at large some great many decades ago.
It’s an amazing collection of parables from the times of the Raj that transport you effortlessly to an epoch of game hunting, hand punkha and rickshaw rides across the beautiful slopes of Simla. Rudyard Kipling is indeed one of the greatest story writers and especially in this compilation he has spun yarns that are truly eerie without the necessary presence of a ghost character and yet they leave the reader with an uncanny feeling that it’s not quite forgettable.
As the words right in its beginning of the book say “May no ill dreams disturb my rest, Nor powers of darkness me molest”, do read and enjoy this book!
Its available in India for Rs. 199. I for one will not forget to return this book to the friend who I borrowed it from!
I particularly cherish all Indian tales. Coming from our land, these stories are rich with mystical drama, vibrant with color and as diverse and intriguing as stories can ever be.
The legendary tales of majestic kings, queens and magicians from history and ghostly accounts that friends tell when they get back from Himachal or Coorg, make it to my list of favorite tales that I can hear at any time. I love hearing about the fantastic setting of historical palaces, the grand words spoken and kept and how, the struggle of a million people in the Indian history and how they yielded their character at crucial moments and most of all the chronicles of paranormal activities at strange and frosty places in the countryside. A combination of all these would be my dream come true and I would any day let myself be consumed in the incredible aroma of this incantation.
Now the thing about ghost stories is that they are best told and not read. Told either by someone you know or through a movie with all its Dolby Digital sound track making the experience more marvelous and exciting. This is the reason why ghost storybooks don’t really appeal to me. Most such books I have read haven’t managed to tickle my senses except for “Omnibus” by Ruskin Bond. Its an adorable collection of fables and why I use the word ‘adorable’ here for a book of ghost stories is because, it has stories that I am sure you have heard before. They will bring back the memories of your childhood time when you heard the stories first. Reminding you of all the beautiful times spent with nanis and daadis and best buddies from childhood. These are the stories that I am sure we will pass on to our nieces, nephews and who knows even our grand children!
Book Review: The Phantom Rickshaw & Other Eerie Tales
A few days ago, as I browsed through a range of best selling classics on the shelf in my friend’s house, a thin paperback peered out at me and hit the chord in my mind that was in the mood for some wraithlike adventure.
Rudyard Kipling’s “The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Eerie Tales”, roused all the curiosity in me and soon I found myself enrapt in the loony, spooky and wondrous world of the vaporous beasts that might have been at large some great many decades ago.
It’s an amazing collection of parables from the times of the Raj that transport you effortlessly to an epoch of game hunting, hand punkha and rickshaw rides across the beautiful slopes of Simla. Rudyard Kipling is indeed one of the greatest story writers and especially in this compilation he has spun yarns that are truly eerie without the necessary presence of a ghost character and yet they leave the reader with an uncanny feeling that it’s not quite forgettable.
As the words right in its beginning of the book say “May no ill dreams disturb my rest, Nor powers of darkness me molest”, do read and enjoy this book!
Its available in India for Rs. 199. I for one will not forget to return this book to the friend who I borrowed it from!
excellent review!! im going right away to buy it
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