Rohinton Mistry - Tales From Firozsha Baag

Then she said, Jaakaylee, you were telling the truth and I was angry with you. I will tell everyone in B Block you were right, there really is a bhoot .

I said bai , let it be now, everyone has forgotten about it, and no one will believe anyway. But she said, when I tell them, they will believe.

And after that many people in Firozsha Baag started to believe in the ghost. One was dustoorji in A Block. He came one day and taught bai a prayer, saykasté saykasté sataan , to say it every time she was on the stairs. He told her, because you have seen a bhoot on the balcony by the stairs, it is better to have a special Parsi prayer ceremony there so he does not come again and cause any trouble. He said, many years ago, near Marine Lines where Hindus have their funerals and burn bodies, a bhoot walked at midnight in the middle of the road, scaring motorists and causing many accidents. Hindu priests said prayers to make him stop. But no use. Bhoot kept walking at midnight, motorists kept having accidents. So Hindu priests called me to do a jashan , they knew Parsi priest has most powerful prayers of all. And after I did a jashan right in the middle of the road, everything was all right.

Bai listened to all this talk of dustoorji from A Block, then said she would check with seth and let him know if they wanted a balcony jashan . Now seth says yes to everything, so he told her, sure sure, let dustoorji do it. It will be fun to see the exkoriseesum, he said, some big English word like that.

Dustoorji was pleased, and he checked his Parsi calendar for a good day. On that morning I had to wash whole balcony floor specially, then dustoorji came, spread a white sheet, and put all prayer items on it, a silver thing in which he made fire with sandalwood and loban , a big silver dish, a loata full of water, flowers, and some fruit.

When it was time to start saying prayers dustoorji told me to go inside. Later, bai told me that was because Parsi prayers are so powerful, only a Parsi can listen to them. Everyone else can be badly damaged inside their soul if they listen.

So jashan was done and dustoorji went home with all his prayer things. But when people in Firozsha Baag who did not believe in the ghost heard about prayer ceremony, they began talking and mocking.

Some said Jaakaylee’s bai has gone crazy, first the ayah was seeing things, and now she has made her bai go mad. Bai will not talk to those people in the Baag. She is really angry, says she does not want friends who think she is crazy. She hopes jashan was not very powerful, so the ghost can come again. She wants everyone to see him and know the truth like her.

Busy eating , bai-seth are. Curry is hot, they are blowing whoosh-whoosh on their tongues but still eating, they love it hot. Secret of good curry is not only what spices to put, but also what goes in first, what goes in second, and third, and so on. And never cook curry with lid on pot, always leave it open, stir it often, stir it to urge the flavour to come out .

So bat is hoping the ghost will come again. She keeps asking me about ghosts, what they do, why they come. She thinks because I saw the ghost first in Firozsha Baag, it must be my speciality or something. Especially since I am from village — she says village people know more about such things than city people. So I tell her about the bhoot we used to see in the small field, and what my father said when he saw the bhoot near the well. Bai enjoys it, even asks me to sit with her at table, bring my separate mug, and pours a cup for me, listening to my ghost-talk. She does not treat me like servant all the time.

One night she came to my passage when I was saying my rosary and sat down with me on the bedding. I could not believe it, I stopped my rosary. She said, Jaakaylee, what is it Catholics say when they touch their head and stomach and both sides of chest? So I told her, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Right right! she said, I remember it now, when I went to St. Anne’s High School there were many Catholic girls and they used to say it always before and after class prayer, yes, Holy Ghost. Jaakaylee, you don’t think this is that Holy Ghost you pray to, do you? And I said, no bai , that Holy Ghost has a different meaning, it is not like the bhoot you and I saw.

Yesterday she said, Jaakaylee, will you help me with something? All morning she was looking restless, so I said, yes bai . She left the table and came back with her big scissors and the flat cane soopra I use for winnowing rice and wheat. She said, my granny showed me a little magic once, she told me to keep it for important things only. The bhoot is, so I am going to use it. If you help me. It needs two Parsis, but I’ll do it with you.

I just sat quietly, a little worried, wondering what she was up to now. First, she covered her head with a white mathoobanoo , and gave me one for mine, she said to put it over my head like a scarf. Then, the two points of scissors she poked through one side of soopra , really tight, so it could hang from the scissors. On two chairs we sat face to face. She made me balance one ring of scissors on my finger, and she balanced the other ring on hers. And we sat like that, with soopra hanging from scissors between us, our heads covered with white cloth. Believe or don’t believe, it looked funny and scary at the same time. When soopra became still and stopped swinging around she said, now close your eyes and don’t think of anything, just keep your hand steady. So I closed my eyes, wondering if seth knew what was going on.

Then she started to speak, in a voice I had never heard before. It seemed to come from very far away, very soft, all scary. My hair was standing, I felt chilly, as if a bhoot was about to come. This is what she said: if the ghost is going to appear again, then soopra must turn.

Nothing happened. But I’m telling you, I was so afraid I just kept my eyes shut tight, like she told me to do. I wanted to see nothing which I was not supposed to see. All this was something completely new for me. Even in my village, where everyone knew so much about ghosts, magic with soopra and scissors was unknown.

Then bai spoke once more, in that same scary voice: if the ghost is going to appear again, upstairs or downstairs, on balcony or inside the house, this year or next year, in daylight or in darkness, for good purpose or for bad purpose, then soopra must surely turn.

Believe or don’t believe, this time it started to turn, I could feel the ring of the scissors moving on my finger. I screamed and pulled away my hand, there was a loud crash, and bai also screamed.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. Everything was on the floor, scissors were broken, and I said to bai , I’m very sorry I was so frightened, bau and for breaking your big scissors, you can take it from my pay.

She said, you scared me with your scream, Jaakaylee, but it is all right now, nothing to be scared about, I’m here with you. All the worry was gone from her face. She took off her mathoobanoo and patted my shoulder, picked up the broken scissors and soopra , and took it back to kitchen.

Bai was looking very pleased. She came back and said to me, don’t worry about broken scissors, come, bring your mug, I’m making tea for both of us, forget about soopra and ghost for now. So I removed my mathoobanoo and went with her.