The Modern Ghost

by Nandita Tiwari

This incident dates back to the year 2013, the month of February, when we got transferred from Dooars to Assam. Transfers are all well known in the tea community; what was new was that it was our first transfer to one of the Assam gardens.

North view of the Amgoorie bungalow. All pix by author 

And we drove into the majestic bungalow of Amgoorie, taking in the Assam weather, drinking in the nectar of fresh air, the lush green lawn, the colourful flowers and a strange feeling of everything new in and around us.

Akhil (my husband) dropped me to the bungalow and went for a round of his new garden. I sat on the lawn taking in the new place. As the sun began to set, the beautiful rays of light were vanishing and lush green lawn started to appear greenish grey to me. I started feeling lonely. So I moved inside the bungalow and the staff helped me unpack.

Ghost stories and tales of haunted bungalows etc. are often heard of in tea bungalows, and the bearer started narrating some of them, although assuring me that our bungalow was safe. I asked them to concentrate on unpacking. As we retired for the night after an early dinner, the first night in the new environment -- new bed, new staff, new room, all put together gave me an eerie feeling. So I recalled the time-tested technique of backward counting… 100…99…98… and soon dozed off.

The foggy compound

In the middle of the night, I woke up as I wanted to use the washroom. So I groped in the darkness and switched on the light of the bathroom and was relieved. The night was still; an owl screeched somewhere. However, my relief was short-lived. I heard a high pitched, loud noise of someone laughing - perhaps a woman or a child. “He-he-hee-hee-haa…” and I froze. 

The laughter sent shivers down my spine. It sounded exactly like what I imagined a witch’s cackle would have been. I cannot even begin to describe my fear. My hands and legs would not listen to me, they refused to move. My vocal cords refused to produce any sound. I mustered all the courage I could, taking God’s name and returned to bed.

I nudged Akhil a little but he was fast asleep, exhausted from the day’s activities. So I tried my best to go back to sleep. The next day passed by quickly with lots of unpacking, the incident of the previous night forgotten until… the evening chowkidaars were switching on the security lights of the bungalow and compound as I sat in the verandah sipping a cup of hot tea.

To my utter astonishment, I heard the cackle from last night again. Judging from the direction of the sound, it seemed to be coming from near the chowkidaar. There was silence again. 

To investigate further, I called the chowkidaar inside and found the cackle emerging from his pocket. “He-he-hee-hee-haa…”

The mystery was solved. The night ghost was caught. After reprimanding him and asking him to change his phone ringtone to a more conservative one, we went about the chores of the evening. 

Soon, we started settling down in Amgoorie. Last February, we completed six years and have loved every second spent here, night ghost and all. 

 

Meet the writer: Nandita Tiwari

Nandita joined the tea fraternity in 1991 when she arrived in Danguajhar in the Dooars. She and her husband Akhil were in various gardens in the Dooars for over 30 years, and also in Amgoorie (Assam) for a brief period of time. They are now settled in Siliguri.

In 2019, Nandita decided to start penning down some of the unique experiences that came her way. You can read her stories on her own blog, here: https://nanditat6.wixsite.com/rosee-t

Is this your first visit here? Welcome to Indian Chai Stories! Do you have a chai story of your own to share? Send it to me here, please : indianchaistories@gmail.com.

My name is Gowri Mohanakrishnan and I'm a tea planter's wife. I started this blog because one of the things that I wouldn't want us to lose in a fast changing world is the tea story - a story always told with great seriousness, no matter how funny - always true (always), maybe a tall tale, long, or short, impossible, scary, funny or exciting but never dull. 

Happy reading! Cheers to the spirit of Indian Tea!