I have had many unusual experiences in my life. The incident of the Blue Light is one such. Rather than call it an amazing experience, I should describe it as a bubble of mystery, which I have tried to prick with the pin of scientific enquiry, but have not been able to. Maybe you can even analyse and explain it.

I refer to it as an amazing experience because... well, what else can I call it?

This is what happened.

The exact date is of no consequence really. It was the time when I was house hunting every other day, because I never seemed to find a room or house I really liked. The place I was living in had so many faults, but who could I complain to? “Don’t like it? Then leave it!” is what I’d probably be told. Leave and go where? So I stayed, unwillingly, reluctantly, till it became unbearable. Then the search would begin once more. I was fed up. How many houses, how many rooms, had I lived in, and hated. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. I didn’t like the place, so I moved out. Someone else who liked it, moved in. That’s the way it is, I suppose, with all rented houses. But these days, houses to let are in short supply. And the rents! What you could have got for ten is not available for even sixty today. Anyway...

I was wandering around on my quest for a dwelling when suddenly, there it was — a house, with an ancient signboard saying, HOUSE TO LET. It was an old house, rather dilapidated and neglected. I didn’t care. It was good enough to live in. Two rooms and a portico above, four rooms below, bathroom and a kitchen, water connections, but no electricity. Just outside the kitchen was an old well with a stone parapet around it. The toilet stood in one corner of the compound. There were lots of trees. A compound wall enclosed the whole place. Fortunately there were no other buildings nearby.

I wondered why no one had grabbed it yet. It was like a beautiful woman, I thought, one you would want to shield from public view or hide behind a purdah. I was excited, and also afraid I might lose it. So I ran around trying to collect money for the advance. I borrowed enough to pay two months’ rent, took the keys and quickly moved in, occupying the upper floor. The same day, I bought a hurricane lantern and some kerosene oil.

A great deal of garbage had accumulated all over the house. I cleaned the whole place myself, sweeping and mopping the rooms upstairs, the ones on the ground floor, the kitchen, the bathroom. What a lot of dust and rubbish! I went over it all a second time, thoroughly scrubbing the floor. That done, I had a bath. I felt very pleased. In this state of mind, I went and sat on the parapet of the old well. How delightful this place was! Here I could sit and dream. Or run about the compound. I would plant a garden in front, roses mostly, and some jasmine. Should I hire a cook? No, that would be a headache. I could go out after a bath for my morning tea and bring some back in my thermos flask. Lunch would be at a restaurant. Perhaps they would agree to send my dinner home. I also had to meet the postman, tell him my new address and warn him not to give it to anyone. I could look forward to some lovely nights of solitude. Days too. I could write and write and write.

To be continued

Excerpted from Ghost Stories
Publisher: Katha