The story centers on a man named Mahendra, a junior supervisor in a firm that offered rental services to various types of industrial concerns. His job required him to constantly move from place to place—from a coal mining area to a railway bridge construction site. Mahendra was a simple man who could adjust himself to all sorts of odd conditions.
However, Mahendra had an asset that made his life comfortable wherever he went: his cook, Iswaran. Iswaran was devoted to Mahendra, following him without complaint and not only cooking delicious meals but also washing his clothes and chatting with his master at night.
Iswaran had an extraordinary talent: he was a master storyteller. He would read popular Tamil thrillers and his own narratives would be heavily influenced by the genre. He would narrate even the smallest incident, like uprooting a wild plant, with dramatic suspense and surprising flair.
One morning, when Mahendra was having breakfast, Iswaran recounted an anecdote about an elephant. He started the story by describing a huge beast that had escaped from the timber yard. To draw Mahendra into the story, Iswaran would pause, chew slowly, and then resume, building up the tension. He described how the mad elephant reached the town, smashing stalls and breaking through hedges. People ran in panic.
Iswaran then described how the elephant entered a school ground. He, a boy at the time, was watching from the rooftop. He decided to take on the mammoth creature. He grabbed a cane from one of the teachers and, gathering all his courage, approached the elephant. He claimed he hit the elephant's third toenail, and the beast, to his amazement, shuddered and collapsed. He'd then casually add that he had taken a veterinarian to revive the elephant.
Mahendra would listen patiently, enjoying the simple-hearted cook's company, even though he knew the stories were highly improbable.
The Ghost Story
One day, Iswaran began to talk about a nearby cremation ground and transitioned smoothly into a ghostly tale. He mentioned that the place they were currently living in was once a burial site.
"I am not easily frightened," he declared, "but once I saw a horrible, scary ghost of a woman in the middle of the night."
He described the ghost as an ugly creature, matted hair, a shriveled face, and holding a foetus in her arms. Mahendra grew nervous and irritated. He reprimanded Iswaran, calling his stories baseless superstitions. He told him to stop scaring people and concentrate on cooking.
Mahendra tried to rationalize the fear away, but Iswaran's detailed narration planted a seed of doubt.
A few nights later, Mahendra woke up to a low moan near his window. He first dismissed it as the sound of a cat. But the sound grew louder, resembling a woman's wailing. Curiously, he lowered himself to the windowsill.
He saw a dark, cloudy mass, no clear shape, holding a bundle. The image of the female ghost with a foetus that Iswaran had described flashed in his mind. Mahendra broke into a cold sweat and collapsed back onto his pillow, trembling.
The next morning, Iswaran cheerfully asked Mahendra about the noise. "Didn't you hear a sound last night, sir? I was also disturbed because of a wailing sound coming from a woman carrying a foetus," he said, proving he had been there.
Mahendra was so terrified by the confirmation that he couldn't face the place anymore. The fear was too much to bear.
The very next day, Mahendra abruptly resigned from his job and decided to leave the haunted place immediately, choosing reality over his cook's vivid, but terrifying, imagination.