Rajmahal Read Online Free
Author: Kamalini Sengupta
tenants.
The original privacy of the upper floors was violated when the central stairway became public and the building was turned inside out as a block of apartments occupied by unconnected tenants. But by now, most of these tenants knew each otherâs idiosyncrasies by rote, and with their aging faculties didnât feel any more comment was needed. This aging also made their bones creak and lungs whistle as they trudged up the stairs. A querulous rumble could be heard about the need for an elevator. The landlord ignored this, knowing well the aged ones had no choice. In a city where such accommodation was precious, his tenantsâ yokes to these apartments would loosen only with death. The result was some of the tenants were forced into seclusion and gave up the idea of ever stepping out.
The Rajmahal was concerned, first and foremost with Sardar Bahadur Ohriâs family, to whom it had transferred its loyalty from Raja Sheetanath, and secondly with the new landlords. As to the ghosts, these it welcomed and encouraged. But the Rajmahal strictly curtailed their haunting activities, and the ghosts amused themselves by appearing sometimes to the guards in the lobby and frightening the pigeons.
The Rajmahal observed the negotiations with the new landlord warily. A Muslim in that privileged position was a distressing departure from sanity, was its initial reaction. But what choice did it have? The ghosts were getting hysterical as it was. Both the Sikh and Hindu ghosts, earlier busy with their viciousness toward each other, now showed how virulently anti-Muslim they were, an attitude based more on in-built prejudice than any thought of encountering those alien beings. The Rajmahal had to strain itself to the utmost to contain their agitation . And soon, when the second, could it be called defilement, was in progress as major alterations went under way, its confused efforts at resisting got it nowhere. Though it tried in the best way it could, releasing a loose brick here, pushing a pillar out of alignment there, springing a leak in this bathroom and bulging out the plaster in that . . . but with all the building frenzy no one noticed, and the work went on relentlessly, till soon there was a plethora of new families, atmospheres, sights, and sounds, leaving the Rajmahal dazed for a good half year, and silencing the ghosts.
Six families now inhabited the Rajmahal, the remaining Ohris in their ground floor apartment, and the Malliks, the new landlords, at the top.
The four families who rented the split middle floors were a mixed lot, British, Bengali, Anglo-Indian, and lastly Russo-Bengali. At the start of this story, the British couple, the Stracheys were still there, as were Proshanto and Mohini Mojumdar, the Normans with their widowed sister, and the Petrovs. And the abrasive eldest son of the landlord, Junior Mallik, was to take over the running of the Rajmahal in place of his retired father.
After its recovery, the Rajmahal continued its sharp observance of ghosts and goings-on. It had shuddered at its first loss of innocence, when Raja Sheetanath had deserted it to a Sikh family. But it had recovered in that incarnation in spite of the shattering nature of its earlier decrepitude and destruction. And here it was in yet another guise, as a block of apartments with a Muslim master. Fortunately for this third incarnation, the Rajmahal would learn to appreciate the Malliks before long, but it couldnât avoid the inevitable disappearance of its inhabitants one by one, and violence, before its day was done.
2
The Book of Nets
THE STRACHEYS LIVED IN NUMBER 4 RAJMAHAL, A HANDSOMELY SIZED apartment though it occupied only one half of the second floor. The most remarkable set of rooms was the main bedroom, dressing room and bathroom, the Sardar Bahadurâs marital suite. The bedroom was largely occupied by Raja Sheetanathâs double bed, made of carved oak with caryatid pillars and winged cherubs frolicking
The original privacy of the upper floors was violated when the central stairway became public and the building was turned inside out as a block of apartments occupied by unconnected tenants. But by now, most of these tenants knew each otherâs idiosyncrasies by rote, and with their aging faculties didnât feel any more comment was needed. This aging also made their bones creak and lungs whistle as they trudged up the stairs. A querulous rumble could be heard about the need for an elevator. The landlord ignored this, knowing well the aged ones had no choice. In a city where such accommodation was precious, his tenantsâ yokes to these apartments would loosen only with death. The result was some of the tenants were forced into seclusion and gave up the idea of ever stepping out.
The Rajmahal was concerned, first and foremost with Sardar Bahadur Ohriâs family, to whom it had transferred its loyalty from Raja Sheetanath, and secondly with the new landlords. As to the ghosts, these it welcomed and encouraged. But the Rajmahal strictly curtailed their haunting activities, and the ghosts amused themselves by appearing sometimes to the guards in the lobby and frightening the pigeons.
The Rajmahal observed the negotiations with the new landlord warily. A Muslim in that privileged position was a distressing departure from sanity, was its initial reaction. But what choice did it have? The ghosts were getting hysterical as it was. Both the Sikh and Hindu ghosts, earlier busy with their viciousness toward each other, now showed how virulently anti-Muslim they were, an attitude based more on in-built prejudice than any thought of encountering those alien beings. The Rajmahal had to strain itself to the utmost to contain their agitation . And soon, when the second, could it be called defilement, was in progress as major alterations went under way, its confused efforts at resisting got it nowhere. Though it tried in the best way it could, releasing a loose brick here, pushing a pillar out of alignment there, springing a leak in this bathroom and bulging out the plaster in that . . . but with all the building frenzy no one noticed, and the work went on relentlessly, till soon there was a plethora of new families, atmospheres, sights, and sounds, leaving the Rajmahal dazed for a good half year, and silencing the ghosts.
Six families now inhabited the Rajmahal, the remaining Ohris in their ground floor apartment, and the Malliks, the new landlords, at the top.
The four families who rented the split middle floors were a mixed lot, British, Bengali, Anglo-Indian, and lastly Russo-Bengali. At the start of this story, the British couple, the Stracheys were still there, as were Proshanto and Mohini Mojumdar, the Normans with their widowed sister, and the Petrovs. And the abrasive eldest son of the landlord, Junior Mallik, was to take over the running of the Rajmahal in place of his retired father.
After its recovery, the Rajmahal continued its sharp observance of ghosts and goings-on. It had shuddered at its first loss of innocence, when Raja Sheetanath had deserted it to a Sikh family. But it had recovered in that incarnation in spite of the shattering nature of its earlier decrepitude and destruction. And here it was in yet another guise, as a block of apartments with a Muslim master. Fortunately for this third incarnation, the Rajmahal would learn to appreciate the Malliks before long, but it couldnât avoid the inevitable disappearance of its inhabitants one by one, and violence, before its day was done.
2
The Book of Nets
THE STRACHEYS LIVED IN NUMBER 4 RAJMAHAL, A HANDSOMELY SIZED apartment though it occupied only one half of the second floor. The most remarkable set of rooms was the main bedroom, dressing room and bathroom, the Sardar Bahadurâs marital suite. The bedroom was largely occupied by Raja Sheetanathâs double bed, made of carved oak with caryatid pillars and winged cherubs frolicking
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