This looks interesting, though it must rank as one of the worst covers in pb history, $2 from the Salvos store:
The Penguin Book of Indian Ghost Stories, ed Ruskin Bond, 1993
Contents
Introduction
Ruskin Bond, Out of the Dark (poem)
John Lang, The Meerut Graveyard
Lafcadio Hearn, A Ghost
A. Conan Doyle, The Brown Hand
Rudyard Kipling, The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes
Rudyard Kipling, The Mark of the Beast
A.C. Renny, The Fire-Jogi
Hilton Brown, The Fourth Man
C.A. Kincaid, The Werewolf
F.R. Corson, The Tail-Light
Satyajit Ray, Fritz
Satyajit Ray, Anath Babu's Terror
R.V. Smith, Ghost of Korya Khar
Sudhir Thapliyal, The Yellow-Legged Man
Ruskin Bond, Topaz
R.K. Narayan, Around the Temple
Jug Suraiya, A Shade too Soon
Victor Banerjee, The Red Hydrangea
Ravi Shankar, Mixed Blood
O.V. Vijayan, The Little Ones
Jaishankar Kala, The Loving Soul-Atmah
A bookshop had this on sale for $10, rather than the retail $26.95 - when did Penguin paperbacks become so expensive?
I got a hold of a copy of the Penguin Book of Indian Ghost Stories, which seems to be more a collection of macabre tales than ghost stories.
John Lang - The Meerut Graveyard
Vaguely enjoyable, but nary a ghost in sight.
Lafcadio Hearn - A Ghost
Probably good, I skipped it. An essay rather than a story.
A. Conan-Doyle - The Brown Hand
Quite good. The nephew of Dr. Dominic Holden tells the story of his uncle's haunting. Having spent many years in service as a military doctor and then private surgeon in British India, he returns home to Wiltshire for health reasons. Having become sleep-deprived because of his nightly ghostly visitor, he calls upon his nephew to help. Available online.
R. Kipling - The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes
Morrowbie Jukes, on a moonlight ride, falls down a steep slope of sand into a crater. He finds himself in a village of the living dead. Available online.
R. Kipling - The Mark of the Beast
Fleete gets drunk at the Club on New Years Eve. On the way home he desecrates a temple of Hanuman, the Monkey God by stubbing out his cigar on the image of the God. Naturally no good will come of this at all. Also available to read online.
A. C. Renny - The Fire-Jogi
The narrator spends the night in the jungle and later meets a fire-jogi (yogi) who an transform himself into fire. His guardians are a leopard and a tiger, and an elephant has it in for him. Ghost-free and not scary either.
Hilton Brown - The Fourth Man
Four acquaintances get into the habit of visiting a small hotel on the coast for weekends of drinking and gambling. During one visit, one of the four is killed in a carriage accident.The others go their separate ways; one being the unofficial leader of the group who commits suicide. Some years later a grand hotel is built, and the ghost of the leader starts appears whenever he feels the need to "make up a fourth".
C. A. Kincaid - The Werewolf
A traffic superintendent, Frank Bollinger and his friend Major Sinclair are obliged to spend the night in Sehwan, a forgotten town in Upper Sind, because of flooding on the line. Mr. Bollinger is happy to spend the night in the train carriage but the irate Major Sinclair happily agrees to spend the night at a guest-housein the cooler hills. The station-manager informs Bollinger that the guest-house owner is really a were-hyena, the reincarnation of a butcher who killed people and sold their remains as mutton. You'd think the title would be "The Were-Hyena" then, wouldn't you? Bollinger (being extremely foolish in my opinion) decides to walk up to the guest-house and share the danger, armed with an old hunting-knife.
F. R. Corson - The Tail-Light
Donald Mackenzie, "burra sahib of Bryce and Mackenzie" tells a story to eager listeners on the overnight train from Bombay. Thirty years ago, he was an engine driver on the Bengal and Behar Railway. One night he sees a white-clad figure carrying a red lamp, standing in the middle of the track. The figure vanishes after Mackenzie gets off the train, but leave his lamp, a "tail light" behind.
Satjajit Ray - Fritz & Anath Babu's Terror
Fritz - A boy's uncle brings him back a doll from visit to Switzerland. Twelve inches high, in the form of an old man and dressed in exact replica old-style clothes. Jayant plays with the doll to the exclusion of all else, until one day it's damaged by two wild dogs and buried under a tree. Jayant returns home many years later for a visit, and dreams of two legs walking over him as he sleeps. This story has a great twist that I wasn't expecting at all.
Anath Babu's Terror - The narrator is invited to visit the ancestral home of an old college friend. After arriving from Calcutta, he overhears some men in a shop talking about a two-hundred year old mansion, which is supposed to have a haunted room in which a man died. A man the narrator met on the train is an expert on ghosts and the supernatural and plans to stay in the room.
R. V. Smith - The Ghost of Korya Khar
The narrator is travelling through the Korya Khar, or "ravine of lepers" a few miles from Agra. His bicycle develops a puncture so he continues on foot, armed with a rifle. A short and nicely gruesome story.
Sudhir Thaplival - The Yellow-Legged Man
Bhawan Singh of the Garhwal Rifles arrives home from the battlefields of France to the central Himalayas in 1918. As he arrives in his uncle's home village, all is silent. Another fine story.
Ruskin Bond - Topaz
A writer sees a ghost of a woman hanging from an oak tree outside his window. Rushing out to check, he meets the dead woman's sister, Hameeda. They become friends and she give him her topaz ring. A poignant ghost story.
R. K. Narayan - Around the Temple
A forestry offical is sent to Mempi Forest for some special work. Being a rational man, he holds the cross-roads temple in contempt. He fires his driver after he asks for the afternoon off to visit the temple to pray for his sick child. He had to drive himself to his club, with unforeseen consequences.
Jug Suraiya - A Shade Too Soon
Freddy invites some college friends for a family wedding dinner. They all tell ghost stories, until it's Freddy's turn. He tells them of his father, who was evacuated into the countryside by his father during WWII. Returning to the city on business, he stays in the family home and encounters a ghost of the future. One of the best in this collection, if not the best.
Victor Banerjee - The Red Hydrangea
The narrator, Victor, has a strange encounter with a European man in the hut ofRanjit, caretaker in the Protestant cemetary in Mussoorie. The man is searching for his 6 year old daughter, who set out to find the rare red hydrangea.
Ravi Shankar - Mixed Blood
Kuttan sees the ghost of a woman combing her long hair underneath the frangipani tree outside his window, looking towards the temple where his grandfather prays. Very atmospheric...
O. V. Vijayan - The Little Ones
The narrator's farm manager, Nagandi-appan tells him and his sister stories of ghosts and colourful snakes and other magical creatures. Some are called The Little Ones, who have healing power. After the narrator becomes and engineer and his sister a doctor, he returns home to visit the aged and ailing Nagandi-uppan, who promises him he shall see The Little Ones.
Jaishankar Kala - The Loving Soul-Atmah
A young man, Sunil, helps rescue Savitri, a teenage girl thrown down a hillside in a bus accident. The bus has plunged down a Himalayan road and spilled its passengers into the Ganga river below and in the area around it. While Sunil struggles to sleep at a filthy guest-house, her spirit falls in love with him. A gentle ghost story full of Indian customs and beliefs.
