#376 - The Ghost of Malabar

by Soumya Ayer and illustrated by Isha Nagar

“The Ghost of Malabar” by Soumya Ayer and illustrated by Isha Nagar. Published by Harper Collins. A delightfully spooky tale of twelve year old Edwin who has a chance encounter with a five hundred year old ghost of a fisherman who had been slaughtered by Kapitan Vasco da Gama.

Edwin feels that everything in his life stinks like rotting fish. There was frustration and anger in him about his drunkard Appan who never kept promises. How he wished that Appan hadn’t been like that! His ammoomma (grandmother) was the one with whom he shared a special bond. But she had passed away leaving him all alone. She had given him a memento which was a family heirloom and made him promise to keep it safe. The memento was an ugly and worn out piece of the colour of tree bark with its lower half wrapped with fishing twine and a slender rope through two holes drilled at the top. It would serve him as a constant reminder that his forefathers were all fishing folk and the sea was in their blood.

When Edwin has a chance encounter with a ghost of a fisherman called Velu  from five hundred years ago, life becomes even more chaotic for him. Velu is quite annoying. He talks non stop. He is ecstatic that Edwin is the only one who can see and hear him. Edwin is flabbergasted. He wants to run away from Velu. He doesn’t want to get into trouble because of Velu. Is it easy to get rid of Velu? Who will believe him if he says that a ghost is with him? He cannot even confess to anyone at home about the ghost. Amma is already burdened with the hardships of running the house and worrying about Appan who is not well. Edwin tries all kinds of silly things to get rid of Velu from his life. Then comes a day when Edwin does end up making Velu go away. In the ensuing days, Edwin realises the ways in which Velu seems to have healed his family and made changes that he could never have imagined to be possible at all. How can he show his gratitude to the ghost now? Can he find Velu again and help the ghost in return? Why has Velu been haunting the place for five hundred years? Read this beautiful and intriguing book to know the story of Velu and how Edwin’s life changes after meeting him.

My 8.5 year old son and I enjoyed reading this fabulously written book. He was amused by Velu and the adventures that he made Edwin go through. He found the incidents at Edwin’s school quite funny. This was his first book talking about Vasco da Gama and his landing at India. Unlike the books at school which talk about just him being an explorer and finding the sea route to India from Europe, this book presented the fact that it was not all hunky dory. There were enough atrocities that the Portuguese committed on the civilians of the places through which their ships passed. The massacre of fishermen and burning of ships that took place for instance. The plot has been woven well with all the characters fitting in beautifully around the historical event. The charming illustrations make the story come alive.

Though the book is from the horror genre, it is not scary. In fact the ghost made us feel empathy for him. Some of the things he says were so thought provoking. Though Edwin finds him annoying, he does get to accept that what Velu advised him was right indeed. We read most of it at bedtime and just couldn’t resist turning the pages to know what would happen next. Overall this was a surprise package of hope, gratitude, giving each other chances, getting rid of prejudices, being inclusive, humour, mystery, adventure and the spookiness of a ghost who is going to be liked by everyone. All of this against the backdrop of a tragic historical event. The author has done a fantastic job of bringing out the story of unheard voices of fishermen like Velu who were killed mercilessly by the Portuguese. I picked this book up on a whim during the BLRLitFest and we ended up loving it. It was a pleasant surprise when I realised upon meeting a friend after a long time that the author is her sister :) Got to know about the kind of research that went in into the making of this book. And it is quite evident in the narrative. Hoping to go to Kochi sooner than later and visiting the museum mentioned in the story :)

The book ends with a question as to how the locals viewed Vasco da Gama and his men? Would they be considered as great explorers or bloodthirsty pirates? Something to mull about. Their point of view depends on how these events impacted them and what they went through. While these men were credited with the achievement of having found the sea route to India and opening up direct spice trade without having to go through Arabian merchants, the unabashed terror that they unleashed cannot be justified in any means. But they ended up changing the course of world history. My son felt that the locals viewed them as both explorers and pirates!

Recommended Age

The book is apt for children aged 9 and above.

Reasons to Read

For an unusual spooky tale laced with generous amount of humour giving a glimpse into a seldom talked about historical event from a different perspective.

Where to buy from?

An independent bookstore, Funky Rainbow, from where I buy many of my books.