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I just returned from a short holiday in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, a picturesque hill station where I’m a member of the well-known Kasauli Club. The place was freezing at 6000 feet. The weather warranted that we wear an ‘Overcoat’ when outdoors almost all the time to be comfortable. Our club premises are adjacent to the languishing bungalow of the noted author late Khushwant Singh. Strangely, the combination of Kasauli and the Overcoat reminded me of two famous short stories that I had read some time ago by two noted authors. One was Ruskin Bond, who was born in Kasauli in 1934 and who wrote a short story titled ‘Overcoat’. The other was the famous Ukrainian-born Russian author, Nikolai Gogol, who too, wrote a short story titled ‘The Overcoat’. Not even for a moment I’m trying to compare the two authors for their literary heft but merely trying to put across the point as to how the girth of an overcoat created two impactful stories.
Though the stories have the same title ‘Overcoat’, their plots are different and they have an eerie connection between them; ending up with a ghost—which is a surprising coincidence. Just as overcoats are worn in cold climates the two short stories were also written in cold weather conditions. One in Ukraine and the other on the hills of present-day Uttaranchal where Ruskin Bond lives. The plots too play out in the cold weather and so do the ghosts.
“The Overcoat” by Nikolai Gogol, was published in the year 1842 and had a great influence on Russian literature. Ruskin Bond on the other hand is one of India’s well-known authors and started writing in the second half of the 20th century.
But why is it that the two authors who were a century apart and a continent away from each other find a common cause in an overcoat and pen a story ending up with a ghost? Gogol brought forward the economic distress in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg. He flags the life-and-death of a titular councillor Akaky Akakievich Basmachkin, an impoverished government clerk. Though dedicated to his job, he is faintly recognised in his department for his hard work. And the younger clerks tease him and attempt to distract him whenever they can. His threadbare overcoat is often the centre of their jokes.
In contrast, Ruskin Bond’s ‘Overcoat’ is set in a hill station. It’s about a merry encounter with a ghost. The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol is a serious read that ends up in a tragedy whereas Ruskin Bond’s Overcoat is a light story that ends up in a vacuum.
When the overcoat of Basmachkin gets beyond repair he is forced to buy a new one. The cost of a new overcoat is beyond Akaky’s meagre salary, so he forces himself to live within a strict budget to save sufficient money to buy a new overcoat. In addition, he gets an unexpected salary bonus and with that he manages to buy a new overcoat. Celebrations follow. His superior decides to host a party in honour of the new overcoat, but Akaky who is habitually solitary feels out of place. After the party, Akaky goes home, far later than he normally would. But en route home, two ruffians short-shrift him, take his coat, kick him down badly, and leave him in the snow to die. Akaky gets no help from the authorities in recovering his lost overcoat.
Finally, on the advice of another clerk in his department, he asks for help from an important person, a Russian general recently promoted to his position. After keeping Akaky waiting, the general queries as to why he had brought such a trivial matter to him, personally, and not presented it to his secretary. Socially inept, Akaky makes an unflattering remark about departmental secretaries, inviting a loud scolding from the general that he nearly faints and has to be led away from the general’s office. Soon after, Akaky falls, seriously ill with a fever. In his last hours, he is delirious, imagining himself again sitting before the general. At first, Akaky pleads for forgiveness, but as his death nears, he curses the general.
Soon, a ghost, identified as Akaky’s ghost, haunts areas of St. Petersburg, snatching overcoats from people. The police are unable to catch him. Finally, Akaky’s ghost catches up with the general, who since Akaky’s death, had begun to feel guilty for having mistreated him. The ghost finally takes the general’s overcoat by frightening him intensely. Satisfied, Akaky is not seen again. The narrator ends his narration with the account of another ghost seen in another part of the city. It is a simple story of a common man and his tribulations, and the final denouement.
In contrast, Ruskin Bond has three characters in his story. The story starts with the narrator’s journey through the hills to attend the Kapadia party. As he is walking through the hills, he comes across a girl who also joins him for the party. She calls herself Julie. The narrator doesn’t ask questions from her as he is new in the area. Soon, they arrive at the party. Kapadias think that the girl is the narrator’s relative while the narrator thinks that maybe she’s Kapadia’s relative. After the party ends, the girl returns with the narrator. The author shares the weather in the story as the snow is falling. To protect Julie the narrator provides his overcoat to her to keep her warm. She tells the author that she lives in “Wolfsburg“. The narrator says he’ll come tomorrow and take his coat.
The next day, the narrator goes to the location where Julie lived to get his overcoat. But he is told that no one by the name of Julie lives in the town. Soon, a neighbour “Mrs.Taylor” comes up and says that Julie had died years ago because of tuberculosis. She was the daughter of the Mackinnon family.
This astonishes the narrator and he moves to the nearby graveyard where he finds Julie’s grave and his overcoat lying on it neatly wrapped and the story ends there.
Let’s wait for the third overcoat.
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Written by Kamlesh Tripathi
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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com
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Kamlesh Tripathi’s Publications
GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE
(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 8 prestigious libraries of the US which include Harvard College Library; Harvard University Library; Library of Congress; University of Washington, Seattle; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Yale University, New Haven; University of Chicago; University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill University Libraries. It can also be accessed at MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in libraries and archives of Canada; Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai; Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida, India; Shoolini University, Yogananda Knowledge Center, Himachal Pradesh and Azim Premzi University, Bangalore).
ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY
(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi; It is also available for reading in the Indian National Bibliography, March 2016, in the literature section, in Central Reference Library, Ministry of Culture, India, Belvedere, Kolkata-700022)
AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES
(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity, which is the undying characteristic of Lucknow. The book was launched at the Lucknow International Literary Festival in 2014. It is included for reading in Askews and Holts Library Services, Lancashire, U.K; Herrick District Library, Holland and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, Mecklenburg County in North Carolina, USA; Black Gold Cooperative Library Administration, Arroyo Grande, California; Berkeley Library, University of California).
REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD
(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched at the Lucknow International Literary Festival in 2016).
TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN
(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his way through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February 2018 at Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available on Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)
RHYTHM … in poems
(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day-to-day life. A few poems from the book have been published in Shillong Times, Bandra Times and Bhavan’s Journal. The book is available on Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)
MIRAGE
(Published in February 2020. The book is a collection of eight short stories available on Amazon, Flipkart and Notion Press)
AWADH ASSAM AND DALAI LAMA … The Kalachakra
(The story of the man who received His Holiness The Dalai Lama and his retinue in 1959 as a GOI representative when he fled Tibet in 1959. The book was launched on 21st November 2022 by His Holiness The Dalai Lama at Dharmshala. The title is archived in the library of the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) Government of Tibet, Tibet Policy Institute (TPI) and the personal library of His Holiness The Dalai Lama. The title is also archived in The Ohio Digital Library, USA. It was recently included in the digital library of the world-renowned company APPLE).
BHAVANS JOURNAL
Short stories, Book reviews and Articles published in Bhavan’s Journal: 1. Reality and Perception, 15.10.19; 2. Sending the Wrong Message, 31.5.20; 3. Eagle versus Scholars June, 15 & 20, 2020; 4. Indica, 15.8.20; 5. The Story of King Chitraketu, August 31 2020; 6. Breaking Through the Chakravyuh, September 30 2020. 7. The Questioning Spouse, October 31, 2020; 8. Happy Days, November 15, 2020; 9. The Karma Cycle of Paddy and Wheat, December 15, 2020; 10. Power Vs Influence, January 31, 2021; 11. Three Refugees, March 15, 2021; 12. Rise and Fall of Ajatashatru, March 31, 2021; 13. Reformed Ruler, May 15, 2021; 14. A Lasting Name, May 31, 2021; 15. Are Animals Better Teachers? June 16, 2021; 16. Book Review: The Gram Swaraj, 1.7.21; 17. Right Age for Achievements, 15.7.21; 18. Big Things Have Small Beginnings, 15.8.21; 19. Where is Gangaridai?, 15.9.21; 20. Confront the Donkey Within You 30.9.21; 21. Know Your Strengths 15.10.21; 22. Poverty 15.11.21; 23. Top View 30.11.21; 24. The Bansuriwala 15.1.22; 25. Sale of Alaska 15.2.22; 26. The Dimasa Kingdom 28.2.22; 27. Buried Treasure 15.4.22; 28. The Kingdom of Pragjyotisha 30.4.22; 29. Who is more useful? 15.5.22; 30. The White Swan from Lake Mansarovar 30.6.22; 31. Bhool Bhulayya 15.9.22; 32. Good Karma 30.9.22; 33. Good Name vs Bad Name 15.10.22; 34. Uttarapath—The Grand Trunk Road 1.12.22; 35. When Gods Get Angry 1.1.23; 36. Holinshed’s Chronicles 15.1.23; 37. Theogony 15.2.23; 38. Poem: Mother 14.5.23; 39. THE NAG MANDIR 30.6.23; 40. The Story of Garuda 30.7.23; 41. Janmabhoomi vs Karmabhoomi 31.8.23; 42. The Ghost Town of Kuldhara 15.9.23; 43. The Tale of Genji 15.10.23; 44. The Soul Connection 1.12.23;
THE SHILLONG TIMES—SUNDAY EDITION
ARTICLES & POEMS: 1. POEM: HAPPY NEW YEAR 8.1.23; 2. POEM: SPRING 12.3.23; 3. POEM: RIGHT AND WRONG 20.3.23; 4. THE GUSH OF EMOTION—WRITING, 26.3.23; 5. THE NAG MANDIR, 7.5.23; 6. POEM: MOTHER 7.5.23; 7. POEM: RAIN RAIN 9.7.23; 8. POEM: YOU COME ALONE YOU GO ALONE 6.8.23; 9. RAIN RAIN (SECOND TIME) 10.8.23; 10. POEM: GURU TEACHER 10.8.23; 11. POEM: AUTUMN … THE INTERIM HEAVEN 15.10.23; 12. POEM: HAPPY DIWALI 12.11.23; 13. OVERCOMING BLINDNESS: LEARN IT THE JOHN MILTON WAY 10.12.23; 14. THE HAPPY PRINCE AND THE HAPPY MAN’S SHIRT 31.12.23; 15. ANNUS MIRABILIS 2024 7.1.24; 16. GANDHI TO MAHATMA GANDHI- Incidents that Shaped Gandhi in South Africa 28.1.24; 17. POEM: TOGETHER BUT NOT MADE FOR EACH OTHER, 11.2.24; 18. THE BIRDS BEES AND THE SPIDERS OF NICHOLAS GUILDFORD AND JONATHAN SWIFT;
THE ASSAM TRIBUNE
ARTICLE: 1. THE MAGIC OF READING 11.12.23; 2. GANDHI TO MAHATMA 29.1.24
BANDRA TIMES, MUMBAI
ARTICLES & POEMS: 1. POEM: SPRING, 1.4.23; 2. POEM: MOTHER, 1.6.23; 3. POEM: RAIN RAIN, 1.8.23;
ARTICLES IN THE DIGITAL MAGAZINE ESAMSKRITI
29.12.2020: INDICA BY MEGASTHENES; 14.3.22: ABOUT THE DIMASA KINGDOM ASSAM; 10.12.22: GRAND TRUNK ROAD-UTTARAPATH; 5.10.23: THE GHOST TOWN OF KULDHARA NEAR JAISALMER;
(ALL THE ABOVE BOOK TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE ON AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)
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