Beyond the Ordinary

Mr Handoo was one of those people who are not satisfied with the ordinary within life. He thought a lot of money ought to do it, so he became a successful banker.



But he soon figured out that was ordinary too, because there were a lot of people working hard in life for different things and for everything humanly possible there was a world full of people doing it.



That is when Mr Handoo realised that what he was actually looking for was supernatural in nature because that is one place where the human belief was questioned and thus not many people were doing it. It made no sense, but Mr Handoo thought this was where he could find the out of the ordinary.



“Are you out of your mind? What are you going to do? Look for ghosts, aliens or superhuman beings?” asked Mrs Handoo while the couple were enjoying evening tea together at home on a Sunday



“There is a lot that remains unexplained out there,” said Mr Handoo trying to make it sound something very interesting



“I am sure you may find the explanation using AI”



“There is no answer about it, not a clear one”



“Then there is no such thing,” said Mrs Handoo quite worried that Mr Handoo was going in a direction of insanity



But Mr Handoo was not demotivated, although not so vocal about it anymore, he kept on his research for the unanswered questions and most of them were ghostly in nature, after all, ghosts are the most popular ones, look at the number of people making contents of various forms out of them.  



So, Mr Handoo would keep his ears open for a ghost story but he was very disappointed, there was none. Not even the guy running the bank canteen who had come to town from a village had one.



Hence, Mr Handoo decided he needed to make a story of his own, so that people may feel comfortable speaking about the stories they had with him.



“You know Mrs Mahajan?” said Mr Handoo to the shopkeeper near his house



The shopkeeper tried to recall and said, “Maybe, I cannot recall”



“She lives in the society. I heard things are not normal in her house,” said Mr Handoo



“Oh, I hope she gets well soon,” said the shopkeeper



“You don’t understand,” said Mr Handoo, “the other day she saw a door open and close on its own.”



The shopkeeper nodded and said, “It happened to me once, while I was absent mindedly talking on the phone, the door slammed on my arm due to the wind. Had to install a new stopper.”



“Mrs Mahajan thinks it’s a ghost,” said Mr Handoo a little irritated



“A ghost? She must be mistaken. It must be the wind.”



“Then what about lights turning on and off”



“Some problem in the wires or the bulb maybe”



“She talks to her late grandfather”



“Must have been pretty close to him”



“One day when she entered the kitchen, the refrigerator opened and all its content got thrown out on their own,” said Mr Handoo beginning to feel tired and desperate



The shopkeeper looked at another customer who was waiting to get his items billed and he looked quite surprised to hear this. Mr Handoo left the shop feeling defeated. But he did tell a few people this story of an imaginary Mrs Mahajan and never found the response he was looking for and he gave up on this approach.



So, another day, on a public holiday Mr Handoo and his wife were enjoying evening tea and Mrs Handoo spoke.



“Do you know Mrs Mahajan?” asked Mrs Handoo



“No, what about her?” said Mr Handoo, surprised that Mrs Mahajan actually existed and a bit interested that what this was about, did his words conjure a reality of its own?



“She is a sweet old lady living with her son who has recently divorced. Someone from around here has been spreading rumours about her, that her house is haunted and that she speaks to her late grandfather”



“Who would do that? Are you sure the rumour is about her?” asked Mr Handoo



“She is the only Mrs Mahajan in the area. I mean it is such a nuisance with some mentally sick person spreading all these rumours during what her family might be going through,” said Mrs Handoo



That is the moment Mr Handoo remained silent and decided to end his current venture, for now at least.

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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