A woman vanishes into thin air with a man who does not exist, a dreary village visited by a police party disappears the next day, a burly man suspected of murdering his wife dies mysteriously, and the police officer who witnesses this all is transported 30 years back to his class of 1986 as he steps inside the old building of his alma mater.
These are some of the stories in retired IPS officer and ex-chief of the National Security Guard (NSG) M.A. Ganapathy’s debut book Whispers in the Shadows: Paranormal Encounters of a Policeman. The book is unusual in more ways than one. Unlike most ex-cops who would write of tales of bravery, achievements, administrative ills, or insider info, Ganapathy detours towards a path less taken and fictionalises a policeman’s life and gives it a paranormal twist, as if to make sense of many puzzling events he must have witnessed in his long and illustrious career.
This is an interesting choice given his writing about his work at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Ministry of Home Affairs, Central Industrial Security Force, and as the DGP of Uttarakhand before hanging his boots as the chief of the NSG earlier this year, could have made for a juicy read.
However, the ex-cop takes the Ruskin Bond route of paranormal tales, who also serves as an inspiration. “Ruskin Bond’s stories in this genre became my staple at one point, which I read several times over,” Ganapathy writes about the much-loved writer, who, in turn, reviews the book as “compelling, intriguing and genuine”.
“My interest in the paranormal was fuelled in no small measure by the stories of certain odd events narrated by my grandfather, a retired forester, who had served in remote corners of South India,” the author writes in the introduction, and it shows. While every short story in this quick-to-read book spanning just over 100 pages is engrossing, the tales where he absolutely shines are those set against forests with spirits and wildlife appearing periodically to seek redemption for the victims through a paranormal route.
The stories are told through the eyes of Avinash, a diligent and low-profile cop. The first book of any writer is an autobiography of sorts, they say, and it’s evident in Ganapathy’s work as he takes the readers through India’s varied landscapes where he grew up and worked, from his native home in the Western Ghats and alma mater in Delhi to Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and the Naxal-hit regions of central India.
Unlike how policemen are generally showcased in popular culture as either god-sent or pure evil, Ganapathy doesn’t portray them as either but rather shines the light on the victims. And in the process, he also humanises his lot by focusing on what they experience on the field and their relationship with their work, colleagues, families, teachers, alma mater, and even the victims and the offenders. “Why do human beings inflict such unspeakable atrocities on other human beings, that too for an outdated ideology, he (Avinash) wondered,” he writes, giving a peak into a policeman’s psyche.
Whispers in the Shadow isn’t your typical horror read. In fact, it doesn’t even use horror to spook the reader but to make sense of the difficult-to-comprehend events and offer closure where none exists. From spooky forest spirits to post-death experiences and time travel, Ganapathy employs just enough elements to make his debut book an interesting and captivating read.
Whispers in the Shadows: Paranormal Encounters of a Policeman
Author: M.A. Ganapathy
Publisher: Srishti Publishers and Distributors
Pages: 120
Price: Rs 299
