A peep into the world of ghosts!

Cheeniya · Jul 31, 2013

Dear ootb
What an honour it is to figure in Google Search! Thanks a lot for bringing this to my notice. It is not unusual for any phenomenon that is not quite natural to have the potential to scare us. For example, if you notice green vapours emanating from boiling milk, you are bound to let out a blood-curdling scream! Ram Gopal Varma has very limited repertoire in his bag of scary tricks. It is high time he graduated into more innovative and novel ways of scaring people like Night Syamalan. Talking of MILs, some scare by their silent movements and some through their noisy manoeuvres like mine (aged 96).

Spooky movies are not my cup of tea. Once I went to watch The Exorcist in the Ega Theatre in Chennai at night. I was scared to death by that movie and to overcome my fear, I started laughing loudly in every scary scene as if it was some comedy of Charlie Chaplin much to the irritation of others. Even as I was driving back home, I kept laughing hysterically!
Sri

rajakumaruma · Oct 3, 2013

Dear Cheeniya sir,
This is the highest tribute to ghosts so far in history, I think. 14 pages!
Thank you for enlightening me with the difference between pei and aavi. I thought both are the same. But ghost films spice up our life. Nothing better to watch on a dull day. No surprise that "fear files...." is getting such a good response from viewers.
I think basically it is the negative energy(or lack of positivity) in a house that makes it haunted. I used to read 'dracula' when I was young and get scared. The fact we get scared by watching such movies is because of the sound effects. Imagine such movies sans sound. They will be very funny to watch.
with regards,
uma.

Cheeniya · Oct 4, 2013

Dear Uma
I am indeed happy that you are following up my Ramblings and taking pains to give your FBs too. I am indeed thankful to you.
I am truly puzzled by this overwhelming response to the ghosts in my mind. Members probably thought that it must be about my personal encounter with 'live' ghosts and came in eagerly to read about it! As a young boy, I have heard several of these stories from my aunts and maternal grandma and in most of the stories, they too played as active a role as the peis did. It is like the staring competition of youngsters. Whoever blinks first looses! One particular aunt of mine was a terror for the ghosts visiting our house. The moment they sighted her, they made their exit in a very 'spirited' manner. She was our Jhansi Rani!

These days blatant ghost movies do not scare me any more but the creepy ones do scare me. Night Shyamalan never fails to increase my BP! And the movies in which someone gets a vision of an impending accident and the accident does happen subsequently, I laugh non-stop to keep my rising fear under control!
Sri

satchitananda · Nov 17, 2013

Wow!!! Now that was some interesting topic. I have often been identified (mis-identified) as a pishashu. Especially as an "ardha-ratri pishashu". And seeing there were so many varieties and categories of my "soul mates", I lived up to my reputation and gave a very credible imitation of one myself squealing and hooting with laughter throughout in the middle of the night. Any surprises then that the BH (Bootham's half) has migrated to the front room to sleep on the divan after due attempts to drive the pishashu out and trying to tell me to go to sleep? Anyway, about an hour and a half later, an experienced "exorcist" on IL came and sent a PM: "Go to bed. It is very late ". Now a pishashu can't exactly resist the orders of an exorcist. Note how hopping mad the exorcist was at said pishashu. So Pishashu duly apologizes for not posting reply immediately.

Now here is a tip to all exorcists or spirit releasers as they are called in today's parlance. Spirits are also ex-human beings and need to be treated with as much respect and politeness (if not more) than existent human beings.
Spirit Releasement -- Soul Journey Part 4 of 4 - YouTube

Have I had experiences of ghosts? Came close to it - where else other than in ye olde England? Was staying in the hostel and had to keep struggling to keep my room as the ghost busters in the hostel admin thought I had lived there quite long enough and that it was time for me to move out. So I used to keep sub letting rooms for a while and at one point of time a first year student suddenly decided to be in spirit following a hypo-glycaemic shock. It was certainly extremely sad, but practicalities made me consider asking the admin to give me that room ..... till one night I had nightmares of things flying about my room. That was it. Decided that spirit did not appreciate my taking over his room so soon after he had changed forms.

There was a grave yard round the corner of the road which I had either got to walk through to get back to my hostel or walk around the longer way. Come winter and it would be pitch dark when I got back from the hospital. So obviously I decided to walk through. A friend asked if I was not scared. Then we decided no pei would want to come near this pishashu and would be scared of her instead. So I walked through said graveyard happily ever after. :-D

As a kid, dad convinced me there was no pei and no pishashu (a different matter that mom was convinced that I was the pishashu). I do remember some aunts of mine mention "Chottanikarai" when I was pretty unwell at one point and we had gone to Kerala. Now I know why. Aunts, as they say, aren't gentlemen. They are not ladies either.

Cheeniya · Nov 17, 2013

My dear Satchi
You are being very hard on the ghosts by spelling them with two ‘h’s! People who regularly interact with them have perhaps developed a soft corner for them over the years and call them fondly as ‘pisasu’. I must mention here about a child of my neighbours that is overly fond of pizzas. She must have her daily quota of pizza and if she is denied of that for any reason, she acts like that kid in The Exorcist! Her mum would always tell us rather proudly that her daughter is a ‘pizza pisasu’ but probably because of the difficulty in pronouncing two identical words together, she would add a ‘h’ or two to the pisasu!

In my childhood days, there were two regular visitors to most of the middleclass families. One was the nocturnal alms seekers known as ‘raw pichaikkaran’. The ‘raw’ in it symbolized the time of his visit and not his manners. They would come really late in the night and ask for only food and no money. This breed has vanished completely now and the ladies would set apart all the ‘micham meedhi’ for his consumption before cleaning up the kitchen. The second of course are the friendly ghosts of the neighbouring trees. Once the ghost made its appearance earlier than the nocturnal beggar and mimicked him asking for food. My mum’s close friend walked out and emptied her vessel into the beggar’s container. After about 15 minutes, she heard the same voice again asking for food and went out to investigate only to find the same beggar asking for food. She instantly knew something was amiss. Being an expert in ghost matters, she ordered him to show her his feet. When he obliged, she knew that the earlier one was a naughty ghost. This became the ‘breaking news’ stuff next day with all the ladies discussing the various ramifications of this incident. The eldest of the panelists even expressed relief that the ghost went away with the food without pulling the lady’s hands! (kaiya kiyya pudichu izhukkama poche, saniyan!)

English ghosts are more sophisticated than the American ones which are extremely messy. You certainly don’t feel like interacting with them. I have formed such an opinion of them from how they are depicted on movies. They are not a patch on our lovely mohinis dressed in pure white sarees with their hair flying loose in the wind. Adorable is the only word!
Sri

kelly1966 · Nov 18, 2013

Cheeniya sir..
as usual wandering through IL and I stumbled on your tribute to ghosts..
well to be honest not being very familiar to tamil I've not heard about all those different categories of spirits.. My earliest associations with"ghosts" was through comic strips.."Phantom. the Ghost who walks & Casper the friendly Ghost.. And I simply in all my innocence loved ghosts..
However once my addiction to movies began and which was later enforced by television.. my exposure to the Bollywood filmy ghosts mainly beautiful ladies like madhubala/ waheeda Rehman/ Sadana. who were ethereal in the way the looked and moved... So I grew up thinking ghosts are not so bad and invariably they didn't "really" exist as that was invariably"the End" of the movies
then came my introduction to the Hollywood movies.. omen..exorcist.. friday the 13th.. and also to our local horror movie champions Ramsay Brothers .. and then I was petrified.. Horrified.. absolutely.. "ghost-ified".. I trembled shrieked sceamed through the movies..and had mini passing out spells as an after effect even if a leaf rattled in gentle breeze.. I could see all shadows, feel every moment around me as the entry of the supernatural.. in short I become a scared boobey..
this phase has stayed with me since my teenage and though I do pretend to be brave.. I must confess.. the word "ghosts" makes me run the fastest mile any person has ever run..
Hmmm.. now that may be one of the ways to get me loose weight what say???
Kerman
P.S. the recent movies tend portray ghosts as "good" beings like ghost..bhoothnath.. sixth sense..

Cheeniya · Nov 18, 2013

My dear Kerman
The code of conduct of ghosts has never changed from the dawn of time. The increasing atrocities that are being committed by the living people make the ghosts appear better in comparison. Yesterday, a newly married couple visited a beauty parlour in Chennai the owner of which was their close friend. They sought a loan from the owner to meet some business commitments and when the owner did not oblige, they just slit her throat and took away all the jewels she was wearing. This is the reported news in today's papers. But in the occult world, there is a strong speculation that the ghosts of the area might have got scared by this ruthless killing and shifted to another area!

I don't like Ramsay. He is only keen on taking advantage of the ghosts. For all the money that he makes from his ghost movies, should he not portray them in their true perspective? He just showed them as gory and ruthless. Very biased I should say. Madhubala visits me frequently even today. In my dreams! And I never mind if she comes as a ghost or in flesh and blood. I always tell my friends that God who has given us the power to dream should have also given us the power to decide on who to dream about. It would be Madhubala everyday in my case!
Sri

mahaluckganesh · Nov 21, 2013

Dear cheeniya sir,

This topic of yours is surely debatable. Till about last year I too had the same opinion as yours that there are no spirits and would have just laughed it away. but now some how things are different. My brother aged 52 passed away very suddenly this February.Me and my family are still in a state of shock. In fact today, exactly 9 months have passed but sir I must confess that I feel he is just there with me and with maybe my family members too. I would like to state an experience which I had last week. I was in deep sleep in the wee hours of the morning and i felt this slight knock( the 'kuttu') on my head with the knuckles of a hand and I immediately woke up and it was 4.42am. It was very light but strong enough to wake me up. And again this week on tue at around the same time when I turned onto one side of my pillow I felt as though the pillow was slightly being lifted on the other side twice and I woke up to find nothing at all. But the sensation was very real and I know I was not imagining it because I woke up from deep slumber both the times. I looked up the net and read that spirits of near and dear ones who have gone away from us very suddenly try and contact us in their own way.
Sir, so now I am in a great dilemma. I really don't know whether to believe it or just to brush it aside. but it is troubling at times when I think of it.

Cheeniya · Nov 21, 2013

Dear maha
I wrote this thread in pure jest and it was not meant for serious deliberation. I can't say with certainty that I believe in spirits and their ability to survive without a body. But a lot of people believe in them and various explanations are given by psychologists for this belief in spirits.

My elder(only) brother lost his wife in 1978 when he was just 42 and my manni was 36. They were an extremely devoted couple and though she suffered from cancer for four years, her death shattered my brother though he knew that it was a great relief for her. For almost three years after her death, he was hallucinating that she was communicating with him and he even sought the help of 'mediums' to make his interactions with her a regular affair. Over a period of time, as the impact of her death slowly faded, his hallucinations started declining. He knew that her visits were not real but merely an extension of his thoughts. He never remarried preferring to remain wedded to her thoughts.

Maybe you are passing through such a stage because of your closeness to your brother.
Sri

mahaluckganesh · Nov 22, 2013

yes sir, I too feel the same way and as u say it maybe that I am passing thru such a stage. thanks for reading my reply. But surely I am enlightened because i never really sat down to think why there are so many terms for ghosts specially in tamil. I said about the different terms used to my husband and he was also in wonder.....
My brother who passed away had a great sense of humor and had the special quality to laugh at himself. till such time that he was alive he was the life in the parties, when we all family members got together he was full of high "spirits"......
and he never believed in ghosts and the likes.....