River Town Chronicles by Leighton Hazlehurst

Author:Leighton Hazlehurst [Hazlehurst, Leighton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-906018-48-1
Publisher: Original Writing

EVIL SPIRITS

THE WINTER MONTHS brought on a flood of illnesses. Ram Swarup was complaining of ulcers and his teenage daughter, Saroj, complained of a buzzing noise and pain in her ears. She was nearly hysterical, covering her ears and running around the courtyard moaning. I asked Ram Swarup what was wrong with Saroj. He assured me nothing was wrong, but a real concern was reflected in his eyes. Saroj got worse that afternoon and lay on a charpoi moaning and crying out loud. I couldn’t stand seeing her suffer like this, and again approached Ram Swarup with the offer to take her to the hospital for treatment. “It wouldn’t do any good,” Ram Swarup answered. “This is just something that happens to young girls her age.” And then he added, “she has been visited by a bhut (an evil spirit).” I had recently heard about a girl in the merchant neighborhood who had died from the malevolent action of a bhut. “Let me take her to the doctor and get some medicine,” I said. “Maybe this will scare the bhut away.” Ram Swarup was not moved by my pleading, but bhabhi gave in to my insistence that Saroj see the doctor at the hospital where Pat had been treated. I hailed a rickshaw from the bazaar and Saroj and I made the trip to the hospital. The doctor looked in her ears and without hesitation confirmed that she had a bad ear infection. He gave me a prescription to get filled and said she should be fine in a few days. Saroj and I made our way back into town and I went to the chemist’s shop in the bazaar to get the prescription filled. I told Ram Swarup that Saroj would need to take the medicine every day for ten days. He looked at the bottle suspiciously and nodded his head. I imagine he was wondering how the contents of this small bottle could drive away a powerful bhut, but, as if to please me, he administered the first dose of the medicine, and I watched to make sure he gave her the full dose.

The next day, Saroj seemed to be feeling a little better. She was more like her old self, shouting instruction to her sisters in a loud voice and demanding that they do things for her. Later that week, Ram Swarup handed me the bottle of medicine, with several days supply still in the bottle. “No need for this angrezii diwaii (English medicine),” he said. “The bhut decided to leave on its own.” I was worried that Saroj would suffer a relapse, but fortunately she recovered fully after a few more days. The infection in her ears had run its course. The bhut had fled the scene and the medicine had worked its magic.

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