This the final part of Lakshmi Raj Sharma's acclaimed ghost story set in rural India. Lakshmi is professor of English and European languages at Allahahbad University and earlier this month represented India at a writing conference in the UK.
All 29 parts of THAT NIGHT are still on this blog site, however if there is sufficient interest and with Lakshmi's permission I am happy to post one single blog withe the whole story as one piece. Please comment and share.
Blog on, Dudes!
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THAT NIGHT (part 29)
I decided that I would have to gather the courage to settle matters with Pran, who had been a son to me once. I had to agree after realizing the significant role I was playing in the whole affair. I would suffer silently and reform Pran. He was after all connected to me so closely. If he was full of pride and obstinacy he had inherited some part of his negativi
ty from me. I made up my mind that I would spend the remainder of my life according to a spiritual plan. I would even die to save the world of the spirits.
I had two goals left in life now. The first was to help the spirits and also help my own spirit in the process. The second was to write my novel and describe the world of the spirits as I had begun to understand it now. I had definitely changed from the one who was so scared of spirits. I learned to look upon them rather differently, with understanding. The plot of my novel was contained in the story of these spirits. There was a hero, heroine, villain – all were here and all I had to do was to put together their various subplots into a neatly rounded story. I also realized that the villain could easily be looked upon as the hero as his villainy was probably a result of frustration. It was merely a small failure, loss or disappointment which could get converted into a big depravity and degeneration. Pran was not to be treated like a villain but a son gone wrong.
The most surprising thing happened when I next met Pran. He fell at my feet and wept. I wondered why that happened. It was after I thought and thought that I understood the reason for his transformation. He was after all a spirit who could know my mind and my plans without my telling him about them. When he discovered that his father was trying to change him for his advancement and his general welfare along with the general welfare of all the spirits, he decided he would co-operate with me. He now had someone to call his own rather than suffer eternal loneliness and alienation. I loved him for taking such a positive step. Manoj told me later that my wisdom had begun to pass on into him now, just as at one time my pride had been his total inheritance.
I had two goals left in life now. The first was to help the spirits and also help my own spirit in the process. The second was to write my novel and describe the world of the spirits as I had begun to understand it now. I had definitely changed from the one who was so scared of spirits. I learned to look upon them rather differently, with understanding. The plot of my novel was contained in the story of these spirits. There was a hero, heroine, villain – all were here and all I had to do was to put together their various subplots into a neatly rounded story. I also realized that the villain could easily be looked upon as the hero as his villainy was probably a result of frustration. It was merely a small failure, loss or disappointment which could get converted into a big depravity and degeneration. Pran was not to be treated like a villain but a son gone wrong.
The most surprising thing happened when I next met Pran. He fell at my feet and wept. I wondered why that happened. It was after I thought and thought that I understood the reason for his transformation. He was after all a spirit who could know my mind and my plans without my telling him about them. When he discovered that his father was trying to change him for his advancement and his general welfare along with the general welfare of all the spirits, he decided he would co-operate with me. He now had someone to call his own rather than suffer eternal loneliness and alienation. I loved him for taking such a positive step. Manoj told me later that my wisdom had begun to pass on into him now, just as at one time my pride had been his total inheritance.
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