ANOTHER SPIRITED EXPERIENCE

1997 - CHIDAMBARAM - The first encounter

One day at the KRMH Hostel, Chidambaram, curiosity got the better of me. I found myself sufficiently intrigued to partake in a seance. You see, for the past week, rumours had been floating around about a room where spirits were being called on an Ouija board. The medium was a junior of mine and possessed the necessary skills needed to interact with the spiritus invisibilus. At the appointed hour, I entered a brightly lit room with about a dozen future dentists lounging about in different poses, some with cigarettes, some with beer but all dressed casually, one might say leisurely. I took my place opposite the medium, who by then had asked me who I wanted to call while proceeding to light a small candle in the middle of the Ouija board. Thereafter, he placed a steel tumbler over it and both of us placed one finger each on the tumbler. The calling began and within seconds the tumbler started to vibrate with an eerie energy. I was asked to communicate with the spirit and I did so, gingerly, my voice trying its best to sound unperturbed. Although the spirit was verified and supposedly bonafide, being still a tad skeptical, I asked it a series of questions from its past. Ten correct answers later and just when I was feeling a sense of awe I started noticing inconsistencies. Then came a string of wrong answers after which I lost interest. I had had my fill of the supernatural and closed the session after thanking the spirit. I left the room with my horizon expanded and a realisation that preternatural beings, manifesting as floating bundles of energy, could always be around us, sharing our living space. 

2007 - KUWAIT - The Phantom of the Yamaha

Ten years later, when I was living in a one bedroom apartment in Kuwait, I started noticing a rather peculiar phenomenon. Each time I sat to record some music, I would hear the FM radio play through the speakers of my keyboard. I dismissed it the first time as a freak cross connection of electromagnetic waves but when it kept happening with alarming regularity, I began to suspect the involvement of a spectral hand. I called the ghost Mozart because it would make its presence felt only when I dabbled with music, choosing at other times, to haunt quietly. I would talk to it, in jest, cajoling it to leave me alone as I endeavoured to compose the framework of what was to become a viral YouTube hit. Once, I recollect, Mozart was probably peeved at my insistence for quiet and so, after leaving me alone for about fifteen minutes, proceeded to dislodge the metal pots and pans in my kitchen and fling them to the floor. After that day, I showed Mozart more respect and it, in turn, left me alone for the better part of most of my subsequent recordings.

2019 - CHENNAI - PRESENT DAY - Mozart returns

I've just had another encounter with my friendly musical spirit...and my hair is on end! I am sitting in my bedroom and the speaker in my living room has randomly sputtered alive. It starts playing songs after independently connecting with the internet and when I check the music app on my phone I see that the speaker isn’t connected and yet the music plays on. It’s a song from an album I was listening to yesterday and it plays for about 45 sec while I sit rooted, not knowing whether to say something or just shut up with a confused look on my face. And then, just as abruptly as it started, the music stops, leaving me glued to the chair, wondering if I should get up and check the speaker or not. In my moments of half decisions the speaker suddenly starts blurting out half a second sound blips. I can't move! Seriously, scary stuff!

                It’s silent once again and I decide to get going and check on the creature ... Crap ! Just as I think of the word 'creature' it plays something ... and now my legs slowly turn to jelly. Just then our house help comes up and the music stops. It goes quiet for a while and as soon as she leaves the blips start again. Mozart is back !

                 I am still sitting in my bedroom because frankly, now I am scared to get up. There is an eerie silence permeating like an octopus spreading its tentacles and in the quiet, I choose to make my way out of the house ... I’ve got the pink panther tune playing in my head with each tentative step until my exit as quiet returns to the ghoulish village.