Ghost of Nalini

Madam Patricia Rim

had once an alarming dream

and gave a frightening scream.

She shouted, “Pani ! Pani ! Pani !”

Running upstairs came 

her oversmart granny.

Rim had seen 

the ghost of Nalini

coming out of her 

neighbour’s chimney.

Nalinin was a cross-grained nun

who had lived

her short life all alone.

Though young, she was called

"The Solitary Crone.”

In life, she had a temper;

in death, she became a real terror;

first, her spirit killed 

her ex-lover’s heartless father;

next she bayed for the blood 

of her former lover.

Nalini had seriously loved John

who thought love was mere fun

and possessed not a heart

but a block of stone.

Yet, it was a matter of surprise,

as John had made 

a sacred promise,

innocent Nalini considered him 

kind and wise,

and clung to him 

after her old aunt’s demise.

John’s religious father Peter was old;

but he had unlimited greed 

for gold;

so he had Nalini’s marriage

to his son John forestalled.

Nalini sought the help of the law;

she found an old lawyer 

with a strong square jaw.

Herein was a fatal flaw,

For the old gentleman

was inexperienced and raw.

Patricia never failed

to win a legal battle;

and had sent many

an innocent man to jail

and had hundreds of rogues

released on bail.

Her talent had earned 

her enormous wealth;

in her capacity people 

had deep faith

as a legal expert 

of startling depth.

She frightened her 

rivals to death.

However, Patricia lived 

a lonely existence.

Wrinkles had covered her face;

she was a creature 

of anger and impatience

and to make money 

was her only obsession,

although she had 

neither a daughter nor a son.

She had an adopted brother, 

a Chinese underworld don,

who was a childhood friend of John.

Her adopted brother David Lang

was the leader of a notorious gang,

hailing from a Chinese village

called Wang.

Lang had introduced John 

to the peerless lawyer,

With a promise to pay 

more and more to her

if she made John the winner

of the legal battle 

between Nalini and her 

ungrateful lover.

Hard-hearted John won the case;

Nalini, the broken-hearted nun, 

went out of existence;

her suicide note 

appeared in the press;

“My soul is starved and bitter,

my spirit will first strangle Peter

and the turns of John, 

Lang and Patricia thereafter;

they will suffer the effects 

of my destructive anger.”

Once John came to Patricia, 

fuming and fretting,

and said, “Nalini will kill me, 

and maybe Kate, my young darling.”

Surely, danger was in the offing.

“How selfish of you John!

What about me and my brother,

David the don?

Don’t you think our 

race is also run ?

Peter’s death is 

an awful proof;

it is wise if we unite 

in a group.

No need to cringe and stoop.

Let us go 

to the god-man Gagan Kurup.”

John went back to his house

trembling like a mouse,

fearing any moment upon him 

Nalini may pounce.

John shook with fear and fright.

At the approach 

of the dark night

atop John’s house 

perched a grey kite;

somebody called it 

an unnatural sight.

John looked at Kate and wept,

Kate had no faith in fate

nor could she think Nalini

had spread a net

to take the life of her mate.

John drank hard 

and fell asleep;

He saw Nalini 

in his slumber deep.

She said, “John your promise

you did not keep,

The fruit you must now reap.

I want you to be mine;

No longer any waste

of cake and wine.

Tonight together we’ll dine,

and I bet you 

can't cross twenty and nine.”

John woke up 

and was delirious;

but Kate was not at all serious;

she asked him 

not to make a fuss.

John telephoned 

his true friend David;

who told him not to 

behave like a child

and said wine 

had made him wild,

not knowing his own fate

too was sealed.

David said, “My dear John, 

you really need some fun;

Next morning let us make

a visit to Nandankanan,

and then watch a movie 

starred by Amitabh Bachhan.”

David heard sharp knocks 

on his door,

when he was just 

beginning to snore.

“David, I am scared,

so I came here,”

came John’s panicked 

voice from near.

As the door opened, 

John and Kate got in,

David greeted them with a grin,

and enquired if they would

have some British gin.

Kate went mad with mysterious laughter;

The two men turned dumb 

with horror.

She pulled out a revolver

and said, “Now go to hell forever!

Ha, ha, I am dead Nalini’s spirit!

I will not change my verdict;

I will not allow you 

to see tomorrow’s morning light.”

Kate shot John and David dead;

unaware of the role 

she had played,

she laughed, shouted and cried

until she shot at her own head.

Patricia prayed to Jesus 

and repented a lot;

she did not go to court;

gave all her wealth

to the downtrodden sort,

and lived in an old little hut.

She became a devout nun

to escape the fate of John.

Now Jesus was her 

only destination.

The ghost of Nalini cried 

for the pious nun’s blood;

but she could never wrest her 

from the Lord;

The ex-lawyer had her sin pardoned

and lived in the Abode of God.

— O —