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BOOK CORNER: THE TELL-TALE HEART by Edgar Allan Poe

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Khidki (Window)

–Read India Initiative—

This is only an attempt to create interest in reading. We may not get the time to read all the books in our lifetime. But such reviews, talk and synopsis will at least convey what the book is all about.

THE TELL-TALE HEART

By Edgar Allan Poe

    The Tell-Tale Heart is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. It was first published in 1843 and is relayed by an unnamed narrator who endeavours to convince the reader of his sanity while simultaneously describing a murder he committed. You could call it self-confession. Since then, some movies have also been made on this particular theme.

    There are only five characters in the story. The narrator, the old man and the three policemen. To me the story appears to be a horror. The entire narration is in first person. Where, the narrator stays with the old man in the same house and is apparently quite fond of him and that also makes him quite friendly. But then an eye of the old man keeps irritating and scaring the narrator who feels it is a ‘devil’s eye’ each time he sees it. He feels the eye has a yellow film because of which it looks like an ‘evil’s eye’ or one could say a ‘vulture’s eye.’

    Even when the narrator is quite friendly with the old man, but whenever he sees that ‘evil eye’ something happens to him. One could call it ‘over acuteness of the senses.’ Upon seeing the eye, he becomes very aggressive and loses his cool. So, one day he decides to murder the old man just to get rid of the ‘evil eye’—you can call it a Nazi’s solution. During Hitler’s time. Nazi’s pursued this methodology of liquidating anything they didn’t like. And that reminds me of the many Jews they had liquidated.

    The narrator soon starts planning for the murder. Consequent to which he enters the chamber of the old man on seven nights. But on seeing the him fast asleep with his eyes closed he goes back. Because he reacts only when he sees the ‘vulture eye.’ The narrator each day carries a lantern along with him. The lantern is covered with a black paper all around. Except for a slit that is kept open and from that, a ray of light almost like a torch beam falls on the face of the old man.

    On the eight night when he enters the old man’s room. He finally finds the evil eye of the old man open. This is when he loses his temper and shrieks out of anger. He then pulls the old man down and overturns the bed on to him and suffocates him to death. But before the death when the narrator enters the room his lantern slips out of his hand and makes a sound and with that the old man gets up.  He looks around for the noise but is unable to find it. And because of the minor mishap the narrator stands still in a corner, so that he doesn’t get noticed. And while standing there in that pin drop silence he listens to the heartbeat of the old man. After, sometime, when the old man decides to go back to sleep he goes close to him when he finds the old man lying maybe half asleep with his evil eye open and this is when he gets enraged and he attacks. After killing him. He dismembers his body and buries it beneath the floorboards of the chamber.

    Upon hearing the narrators scream the cops are informed perhaps by some neighbour. At 4 am in the morning three policemen enter the house to investigate. But by now the narrator has done away with the body. After which he places all the furniture on top of the floor planks so that no one suspects the location where the body is buried.

    The police come and start their interrogation. The narrator very smartly answers all the questions. He feels he is successful in befooling the policemen. And the policemen too, don’t suspect him. He tells them that he has not seen the old man for a couple of days now. Perhaps, he had gone out shopping or even to his village.

    But then things suddenly change when the narrator gets to hear the heart beat of the old man. Initially the beat is low but gradually it starts getting louder. Slowly, he begins to feel scared. Thinking that even the cops are hearing it. But in reality it is the ticking of his conscience that is making the sound and not the heartbeat of the dead old man. So the cops can’t hear it.

    And finally, when he is unable to take it anymore and is overwhelmed with the feeling that the cops are also hearing the heartbeat he screams and confesses. Yes, he has murdered the old man and hid the body below the floorboards.

    This is when he is arrested for the crime.

    Moral of the story: It is hard to carry the baggage of crime solo. Sooner or later, one needs to confess it.   

    I would give the story nine out of ten.

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Synopsis by Kamlesh Tripathi

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KULDHARA—JAISALMER: THE HAUNT REMAINS EVEN AFTER CENTURIES

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By Kamlesh Tripathi

    Rajasthan lies on the spread of the Thar Desert. It has some ghost villages that remain almost unpeopled for various reasons.  But only a few have got as much publicity as Bhangarh located in the Alwar district of Rajasthan and Kuldhara located near Jaisalmer. The unique publicity is because of the myths attached to them. So while we were in Jaisalmer it was only natural for us to undertake the sightseeing of Kuldhara.

    Ghostly villages and vicinities often attain our attention. Concurrently, they also unleash our wild imagination to some hair-raising and eerie trepidation. But their character remains subdued when compared to the overwhelming ruins of the arrogant castles and Qilas like the ruins of the Bundi Palace in Rajasthan, or the mighty Roman ruins to name a few. Kuldhara is located in the deep-seated desert region of western Rajasthan. While standing there under the hot blistering sun you might not get to see a single human form till the horizon. In all earnestness, such unspeaking and phantom villages and towns may not utter a complaining word but then they relentlessly semaphore about the enduring trauma that their inhabitants might have undergone and that gives us a chance to peep into their distressing lives.

    Kuldhara simmers in the deep desolate wilderness, about 18 km, southwest of Jaisalmer. And it certainly has a cruel story to narrate. In Kuldhara we came across a young man by the name of Bhairo Sharma. He narrated the aghast happening in an emotional tone and tenor. This was when I reflected after years that there was someone doing justice to the forgotten art of storytelling.

    The story dates back some three hundred years ago. Kuldhara then was a prosperous and well-doing village under the state of Jaisalmer. The inhabitants were a congregation of Paliwal Brahmins. The legend throws up a spine-chilling event. It starts when the devilish eyes of Salim Singh, the all-powerful oppressive and pervert Chief Minister of the state of Jaisalmer fall on the lovely daughter of the village Pradhan and he wishes to marry her by force. He also threatens the entire village with grave consequences, if they do not acquiesce to his wishes.

    The entire clan of Paliwals lived in those 85 villages there. They forthwith held a meeting. In the meeting, it was decided that instead of acceding to the demands of the depraved Chief Minister Salim Singh, the Paliwals would instead abandon their village and homeland. This will save the honour and purity of their daughter from the devilish eyes of the monster. And soon, they all left for good. But before departing they put a powerful curse on Kuldhara that after they leave no one else shall ever be able to settle and prosper in the village. And from that day onwards the village remains unoccupied, barren and totally deserted. The place gives an isolated and godforsaken look. Perhaps, it is similar to the unseen yet imagined faces of the residents of those times, and that too, centuries ago. It is also believed that the people who have attempted to stay there overnight have been haunted by some strange and abnormal occurrences.

   The parallel story that runs and appears to be as plausible as the first one is that Salim Singh, upon, not being obliged by the Paliwals jacked up the taxes to such an extent that it became practically unbearable for the local community to survive in the village.  They, therefore, decided to move to fresh fields. But people are more inclined to believe the first story that has a tinge of both bedevilled lasciviousness and wickedness in it.

    There are also murmurs that the village was abandoned in the early 19th century for reasons such as dwindling water supply and earthquake but the story of Salim Singh holds more credence.

    The dilapidated and tale-telling houses and monuments are now maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). One can enter the village only after purchasing a ticket. Thereafter, you drive along the prime street which appears to be the main boulevard of the erstwhile settlement. There, even now, after centuries one feels gloomy and sad for there are mud houses in a row with fallen roofs. And the ruined walls give you a sense of a melancholic past. The entire landscape is dry, dusty and sun stricken. It conveys a blaring message of atrocious human upheavals, even when, the era denoted happiness through righteousness.

    We halted at a location that appeared to be the hub of the ghost village. Close by, there was a house in good upkeep. We entered to see the rooms. They were all well-maintained. Following the path we went upstairs and up to the terrace. From there, the entire hamlet was in sight. I couldn’t feel any supernatural presence there but the chill of sombreness struck me while I was moving around. One could say the animation was missing. The ladies in the group could not withstand the countenance of destruction so they slowly moved away. I could sight an unvisited and left-alone temple nearby. Gradually, we cruised past the pitiable ruins standing there in the form of crumbling walls. For a moment, it conveyed the story of the lives that lived there, centuries ago. There was definitely something spine-chilling even when everything around was so calm and unmoved. Perhaps, the collective curse, of the helpless citizens was still pulsating there. Everything around was looking so recent. And, it felt, as if someone was whispering at you from those dilapidated houses behind.

    Kuldhara remains a sorrowful place with deserted looks. Curses don’t die so soon, they say. The ambience brings a kind of seeping dejection in you. Especially, when, one thinks of those disgraced citizens, who were forced to flee from the land of their ancestors. The place doesn’t appear to be ghostly for any other reason barring the wicked crime spelt in the story.

    Even when the ASI has taken over the settlement, it remains to be seen if this village will ever flourish. By flourish, I mean– will the lineage of the people, who left generations ago, ever return, or come together to salvage the village? And last but not least was this the quintessential example of migration that moved a civilized settlement? My answer would be no. It was time to move on.

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