Ghost Story (standard:Ghost stories, 949 words)
Author: Juggernaut	Added: Oct 30 2010	Views/Reads: 4123/2230	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A funny ghost story

Ghost Story 

Subba Rao 

Visiting Hyderabad, a southern India city was always fun for Juggernaut.
As far as he can remember, with his mother and other siblings he 
visited his uncle living in Hyderabad every summer until he completed 
high school. Long before 1950, Hyderabad was perhaps the only city in 
the state that has underground drainage sewer system. The Nizam, the 
former Muslim ruler of Hyderabad was a visionary; he hired experts from 
other parts of the country to improve the city infra structure and 
medical facilities.  Thus, the city became a cosmopolitan long before 
India got independence. After he was abdicated, he still lived in the 
city.  Every time the Nizam was driven in his official vehicle through 
the city, the traffic cops cleared the street of pedestrians and 
rickshaws to make the way for Nizam's car to drive freely. On few such 
occasions, Juggernaut had glanced at the Nizam from a close proximity. 
The Nizam was a very small and slender man, sat in the back seat as if 
he slumped. It was well known that the Nizam has had several hundred 
concubines in addition to several official wives. 

Travelling from his own town on southeast coast, Juggernaut found
Hyderabad, a marvelous place with botanical gardens with a zoo and a 
huge lake in the center of the city. The buildings that housed 
hospitals, colleges and courts were majestic.  His uncle's house 
located in one of the better residential areas in town has indoor 
plumbing with toilets that can be flushed after use. On occasions, 
Juggernaut flushed the toilet just for fun so many times to the anger 
of his uncle. During his annual summer vacations, Juggernaut learned 
from his unruly cousins how to ride a bike, how to play cricket and 
tasted beer for the first time in his teens. 

Most homes have several fruit trees, particularly the one that
Juggernaut liked was Kalojamun, a dark purple to black skinned fruit 
with sweet and sour juicy flesh. The juice was like a purple dye that 
can stain clothing easily and hard to erase it even after several 
washings. Later he learned from history lesson that Hindu God King Rama 
subsisted on the fruit in the forest for 14 years during his exile from 
Ayodhya  Because of this, many Hindus regard Jamun fruit as a 'fruit of 
the gods,' especially in Gujarat, India  where it is known locally as 
jamboon. Tree lined streets dominated most of the residential areas in 
the city. 

For the first time Juggernaut heard a real ghost story was from his
uncle. His uncle used to drag young juggernaut to sit to listen to his 
ghost story. 

His uncle starts the story  “Long time ago when I was in high school 
living in the temple town  Tirupathi, exactly at midnight an old woman 
ghost used to walk pass our home, always uttering the same sentence “I 
am from Kumbakonam.” 

“What is Kumbakonam? Asked Juggernaut. 

“It is a town somewhere in south.” 

“Was she alone?” 

“Always alone and walking slowly,” his uncle tiptoes on the floor to
show how she walked. 

“How you know she was a ghost? 

“Well, I once watched her feet carefully and her feet were turned
backwards.” 

“You mean he toes points backwards and the heel forwards?” 

“Yes, it was strange, only ghosts are known to walk with feet
backwards.” 

“Were you not scared to see a ghost walking on the street?” 

“Yes or no, I was in my home looking out, so I know I was safe but again
I was looking at an old woman ghost walking slowly saying the same 


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