The older Provinces simply bristle with
haunted houses, and march phantom armies along their main
thoroughfares.
Some of the d?k-bungalows on the Grand Trunk Road have handy
little cemeteries in their compound--witnesses to the "changes and
chances of this mortal life" in the days when men drove from
Calcutta to the Northwest. These bungalows are objectionable
places to put up in. They are generally very old, always dirty,
while the _khansamah_ is as ancient as the bungalow. He either
chatters senilely, or falls into the long trances of age. In both
moods he is useless. If you get angry with him, he refers to some
Sahib dead and buried these thirty years, and says that when he
was in that Sahib's service not a _khansamah_ in the Province could
touch him. Then he jabbers and mows and trembles and fidgets
among the dishes, and you repent of your irritation.
In these d?k-bungalows, ghosts are most likely to be found, and
when found, they should be made a note of. Not long ago it was
my business to live in d?k-bungalows. I never inhabited the same
house for three nights running, and grew to be learned in the breed.
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