Investigating The Stories Behind Mumbai’s Ghosts

- Dilip Shenai - Manoj Nagarkar

- Kashmira Khot - Abhishek Satam

OBJECTIVES To document ghost stories and supernatural

happenings in and around Mumbai. To investigate the context of a select set of

cases.

(We have to keep the exact identification of the locations confidential but the following are the broad identifications).

RESEARCH CONTEXT

• An Old Housing Complex In Vashi • A hundred year old building in Cotton

Green • A Dilapidated Walkover Bridge in

Kanjur Marg • A Household in Parel • A Welfare Center of a Hospital in Parel

RESEARCH CONTEXT

• A Village in Khopoli • A Chawl in Mahim Canossa • A Housing Society in Kurla • Midnight Train Travel

GHOST’S DEN

AREA OF FOCUS & PATTERNS

• Despite getting 9 leads we were able to get substantial data from 6 places because of many reasons varying from hostility to redevelopment and lack of human traffic. However in the data collected from these six places we could see 3 patterns emerge

1. Conflict for land 2. No strong reason for conflict3. Absolutely no conflict

CONFLICT FOR LAND• A Household in Parel : The Ghost Story: Parel, a fast developing place,

upwardly mobile, was the first location in our study. A Maharashtrian housewife living in this society used to get this notion that someone was sleeping on her bed when there was no one around and had strange things happening in her house such as things kept over the cupboard would fall of mysteriously. However a lot of Pujas and rituals in her house haven’t freed her from the strange things happening in her house. This lady claims that she has been living in this house for the past 25 years since her marriage and the events have occurred since then. Her stories have become part of the neighborhood’s legends

• The counter point:

Two people living in the same neighborhood have countered these stories of this lady by saying that the lady has a habit of exaggeration and most of the happenings are cooked up by sitting inside the house as this lady doesn’t

socialize much. • The point of conflict: The point of conflict arises from the fact that the landlord

has already sold off the building to a construction company and there might be a possibility that this lady does not want to give up on her house so soon. Hence the circulation of a supernatural happening would be ideal in stalling the redevelopment.

CONFLICT FOR LAND

• A Welfare Center of a Hospital in Parel: The Ghost Story: This happening in a welfare center of a

hospital is strange as people who sleep there tend to hear footsteps in the toilet and in the middle of the night the tap begins to run. However they also say that once a person, high on alcohol, slept alone in this welfare center. The story goes that every night someone used to beat him and he could never see who or what it was. These days however no one sleeps in the welfare center and it is locked.

• The counter point: An elderly person residing in the hospital has commented that most people using the welfare center are high on alcohol and mostly imagine things in their sleep

• The point of conflict:The main reason for such instances being spread among people is mainly to protect the welfare center as with new constructions coming up in the hospital there is a chance that the welfare center might be demolished anytime and a new structure might come up there deriving people of the facilities available in the welfare center.

CONFLICT FOR LAND• A Housing Society in Kurla (West): Ghost Story : This is one location where every place is supposed

to be haunted with people telling us that they can feel someone suffocating them when they sleep in the common passage A housewife told us that she can hear her husband or her children calling out to her even when no one is around. We also came to know that an eighteen year old boy was possessed by a soul of a Hindu boy (the building is predominantly Muslim), when sleeping in the passage. They say that the 2nd floor of the building was supposedly closed for many years and has been opened for residents only in the last two decades while the structure was almost a century old. The residents attribute all these problems happening in the building to the negative forces that existed in the second floor over the years.

• Counter Point: Just one person countered saying there is nothing here and everything is just a hype and a rumour.

• The point of conflict:The housing society in Kurla has

changed owners for 5 times and the owner has a personal benefit if he delays the redevelopment in this structure as it would mean extra profits with the changing rules in time to come.

CONFLICT FOR LAND

• A hundred year old building in Cotton Green Ghost Story: Supposedly an Englishman who lived and

died in this structure is said to haunt this building over the years and doesn’t allow anyone to live here. Whoever resided in this building eventually left the locality due to various reasons such as someone trying to harm him or due to water supply which could never established in this building due to inexplicable reasons.

• Counter Point: Three persons have said that there is nothing supernatural there and these stories have been spread so that drug addicts can thrive there

• The point of conflict:People last came to reside here in the 1960s and since no has ever resided after that this place as started become a den for drug addicts who would prefer such stories being circulated as it would help them thrive there and go unnoticed from the hands of the law.

NO STRONG RESON FOR CONFLICT

• A Housing society in Dombivili. Ghost Story:The Dombivili housing society was

established in 1992. Its residents say that they can experience stones being pelted in their houses with no one in the vicinity and there is constant banging on the doors. Also they claim that they tried to capture whatever was happening on a camera and view it on their television sets. They claim that when they tried to view what was happening on the television via the close-circuit camera the television set came crashing down from the closet in two separate instants.

• Counter Point: The husband of the lady who’s television set was damaged claims that his wife is hysteric and cooks up stories over freak incidents

• The point of conflict: These people say that they have

installed camera to check on the supernatural happenings but crime statistics say there is a increasing rate of thefts and robberies in thane district so we can possibly say that having a ghost in the building can actually help avoid robbers and thieves

ABSOLUTELY NO CONFLICT

• A Village in Khopoli: Ghost Story: In this incident we heard of a man’s soul

troubling 3 villages in and around Khopoli. They say that a man named Devram Patil was killed by his colleague’s brother –in-law for allegedly having an affair with her (the colleague). The myth goes that he was actually butchered then and as a result he never attained salvation and keeps troubling the villagers passing by the zone in which he was killed. The villagers have tried many rituals but nothing has been of help as yet.

• Reduced from a group of 12 to 4 was never a hindrance as it only encouraged to pursue our research on the supernatural happenings in Mumbai with greater enthusiasm. When we started off we were more collection and narration of ghost stories but soon we realized that all this would is create a big buzz among the people which would fizzle out as quickly as well. There was an immediate need to widen aims and do something. Soon we started meeting people at some of the debated places and realized that there could be something more than just story meaning no a real ghost but some murky facts helping some and disheartening many.

THE JOURNEY

METHODOLOGY.

1. Interviews of local residents and inhabitants.2. Recording statements of people involved in

events and happenings.3. Investigating the history of the locations through

archival research.

PROCESS

• We recorded the history and the socio-economic context of the locations.

• Recorded the number of owners that have changed over the period of time

• Observed the current physical condition of the place.

• Interviewed the present residents and recorded the

time period for which they have been residing there.

MAIN OBSERVATIONS 1. We found that all the locations had some element of

conflict with regard to the use of the space.b. In the housing society in Parel the possible reason for

conflict would be the increasing demand for land there and as well for better gains in the near future.

c. The main reason for such instances being spread among people is mainly to protect the welfare center as with new constructions coming up in the hospital there is a chance that the welfare center might be demolished anytime and a new structure might come up there deriving people of the facilities available in the welfare center.

d. The housing society in Kurla has changed owners for 5 times and the owner has a personal benefit if he delays the redevelopment in this structure as it would mean extra profits with the changing rules in time to come.

a. People last came to reside here in the 1960s and since no has ever resided after that this place as started become a den for drug addicts who would prefer such stories being circulated as it would help them thrive there and go unnoticed from the hands of the law.

b. These people say that they have installed camera to check on the supernatural happenings but crime statistics say there is a increasing rate of thefts and robberies in thane district so we can possibly say that having a ghost in the building can actually help avoid robbers and theives

1) In all cases there was a deadlock or strong disagreement with regard to use of those locations giving rise to uncertainty and dilemmas among the parties involved. Ghost stories emerge when there is a conflict over use of land and all the people and parties involved, want to freeze status quo. The spread of the ghost stories is not only a not a boon for the land user but also a good pass time for idle minds and they tend to spread these stories faster than fire.

THANK YOU

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