I came to stay in this house after my marriage in 2009. The house is a spacious four bedroom flat, located in central Mumbai. The house, building and plot of land was owned by my in-laws and plot was purchased by my husband's grandma in 40's and had built a small bungalow on it.
In her old age she took up a project to demolish the bungalow and erect building on it to provide better accommodations for her growing family. However, the project ran into trouble and it took about 15 years to complete the building instead of 5. Grandma had to face a lot of problems with the builder and contractor and continued to resolve the issues until her last breath. The family faced a lot of trouble in this period and, as luck might have been, my husband's father expired within a month of shifting in the new house due to sudden and brief illness. The family was shattered due to the sudden death. In few years Grandma also passed away due to old age.
In 2009 when I came to reside in the house, we were five members in the family, my mother-in-law Asha, my brother-in-law, Sachin, his wife Vinita, my husband Sameer and myself, and Vinita was pregnant with her first child. On warm Friday night we all were having coffee in our living room and just chit-chatting about the house and its problems, etc when we suddenly heard a sound from the kitchen which was similar to placing cup on the kitchen platform. We were really stunned as none of us were near the kitchen and were still holding cups in hand; also all the kitchen windows were shut and it was a breezeless night. Also all our cups were in a wooden cupboard which was shut and locked. Although we doubted that something was amiss, we dismissed it as figment of our imagination.
I am required to pass through living room to use washroom at night and many a times I felt presence of an old lady sitting on chair in living room and staring at me. This really scared me and I used to run back to safety of my bedroom after completing business. My co-sister Vinita used to occupy room earlier being used by Grandma and she also used to feel presence of an old lady standing near her bed while she slept. Surprisingly none of the other members of the family ever felt these presences and blamed these incidences as figment of our imagination. Both of us agreed that we were feeling presence of Grandma's spirit, who had passed away before our marriage.
Once late in night while passing living room on my way to my bedroom, I accidentally got entangled in curtain separating these two rooms and I felt as if I had stumbled on a male person (resembling my late father-in-law in physique), who was equally stunned and annoyed by my presence. Since this incident I am scared to touch the curtain especially at night, out of fear of finding/feeling someone there.
These incidences had become like a part of our life and we had accepted it as routine; unable to justify them. In early 2011, Vinita, her 2 year old son Rahul, and I were alone in house on a Sunday evening as other family member had gone to attend funeral of a relative (in fact Grandma's brother). We were in kitchen and Vinita and Rahul were sitting on the floor facing hallway which leads to the living room. Our mood was grim and disturbed due to death in family and we were eagerly waiting for return of others when sudden Vinita spotted a figure of old lady passing the hallway and entering the living room and vanishing near dining area. She was too shocked to utter a word but Rahul immediately said that one grandma (generic term for old lady) had come in the house and was now in living area and traced the route she had taken, but there was not one in living room. This confirmed our fears about Grandma's spirit; however, rest of the family did not believe us and we stopped sharing our future experiences with them.
Vinita shifted her bedroom and Grandma's room was now next to her new bedroom and at night she sometimes heard clear noise of walking stick and once even heard a stick been thrown at something. However, she never stepped out of her bedroom to confirm the source of noise. In 2011, I was pregnant with my first child and during first few months of pregnancy I always felt as if some person (old lady) was standing next to me and watching me. This happened so frequently that I changed the side of the bed on which I slept, but the presence continued.
Surprisingly, after the birth of my daughter in 2012 these incidences have suddenly stopped. Many people feel that my daughter resembles Grandma (in her walking, speaking style etc) and she, on other hand, is very comfortable in Grandma's room (enters the room at night in darkness), calls our old servants by their old nicknames etc.
So is this rebirth of Grandma?
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