‘Iswaran the
Storyteller’ is a short story written by R. K. Laxman. The story features two
important characters: Mahendra and his cook Iswaran. Iswaran is an avid reader,
thus he is also a great storyteller. He has a unique way of narrating incidents
and anecdotes.
Mahendra works
for a supervising firm. He is a junior supervisor there. His job is to move
from one construction site to another, like coal mining, railway brides, office
buildings and so on. Recently, he has been told to shift to a site where a chemical
company is to be built. Because of a moving job, from one site to another,
Mahendra has used to the ways of life and expects no good form of luxury in his
life. He lives in shacks or small huts, well above all this he has a fixed cook
with him always, and he is none other than Iswaran.
Iswaran is
quite a talented person when it comes to finding vegetables and ingredients out
of nowhere. Also, he is a wonderful cook. After Mahendra leaves for work,
Iswaran cleans the living place (shanties or huts) and takes bath and then
indulges into reading. Since they are mostly into on-field jobs, they cannot
have access to TV. Nevertheless, Iswaran’s story telling fills the absence of
having a TV.
Mahendra
listens to his stories regardless of their credibility. One day Iswaran
narrates a story about an elephant that went berserk, that time Iswaran was a
student, and when the elephant entered the school premises, it was Iswaran who
sent the beast into a state of numbness by hitting a plank. Upon asking how he
did that, Iswaran replies that he used a Karate technique to bring down that
elephant down.
One morning
Iswaran asks Mahendra if he can cook something special for dinner. According to
tradition they must prepare various delicacies to feed the spirits of their
ancestors. At night, Mahendra feels replete after having the dinner and
appreciates Iswaran on his cooking skills. At this time, Iswaran informs
Mahendra that once this site was a burial ground. And Iswaran has seen human
skulls while traversing through the path. He also states that this place is
haunted and he has seen a female ghost with a foetus in her hands. Mahendra
doesn’t believe his stories and tells him not to believe in all this stuff.
But inside his
heart, Mahendra starts feeling uneasy, and every night he gets into his bed
with some strange nervousness. One night Mahendra wakes up from his sleep after
hearing a low moan close to his window. First he thought that it’s a cat but
the sound was so guttural and it couldn’t be of a cat’s. He decides not to look
outside lest he gets heart-attack. But curiosity gets better of him, and when
he sees out from the window, he freezes at the sight: a dark cloudy figure
clutching a bundle. He doesn’t believe himself and mutters that it could be
something like illusion getting created at the back of his mind.
In the
morning, Iswaran reminds him of the previous night’s moaning and asserts that
this place/site is haunted. Mahendra believes him, and afterwards in the office
he hands down his papers to leave this haunted place.
Well, after
reading this story, you may think that it is a horror story. But in real it is
mix of both – horror and superstitious beliefs that we feed into our brain.
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ReplyDeletewasn't that a holiday homework given to you
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DeleteInteresting story
ReplyDeleteAwesome story 👍👌😍😍
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