Aruna Chakravarti anthology explores occult in 13 stories

Aruna Chakravarti's new anthology "Creeping Shadows" features 13 stories delving into ghosts, possession, demonic forces, clairvoyance, and other supernatural phenomena. The author, who has written extensively on historical fiction, said she wanted a break from that genre to write stories based purely on imagination rather than research.

Chakravarti draws on Bangla ghost fiction and colonial English ghost story conventions but crafts original narratives. The stories are set across diverse socio-historical contexts, from 19th-century Calcutta to contemporary Delhi, and a tea house in 1820s China. They begin with familiar tropes before plunging readers into inexplicable forces and disorienting endings.

The collection includes a feminist slant, notably in "Grandmother's Bundle," where female ghosts are portrayed not as harmful but as victims of societal neglect. Another story, "One Winter Night" set in 1957 Purnea, turns from a harvest festival celebration into a chilling encounter with ghosts of ati shudras attacking a doctor.