NEW DELHI: When laying hands on a book penned by a recently retired IPS officer, you would normally expect tales of gallantry, security strategy insights and, even better, some inside and juicy details of investigations into high-profile cases that can possibly generate enough media interest to get the memoirs flying off the shelves.
But M A Ganapathy — who hung up his boots earlier this year after discharging key roles as DG, NSG and Uttarakhand DGP as well as earlier stints in the CBI, Union home ministry and Central police organisations — in his debut novel ‘Whispers in the Shadows’, a collection of short stories, has chosen to go with the paranormal rather than normal. With the government of India having tightened rules to rein in bureaucrats’ post-retirement “kiss and tell” memoirs, Ganapathy has steered clear of making his literary foray with a first-person account in James Bond-style and dabbled instead in Ruskin Bond’s much-loved art of narrating ‘spooky events and paranormal encounters’ set in the woods and qiaint Indian towns.
Taking a cue from the Uttarakhand-based celebrity author, Ganapathy in ‘Whispers in the Shadows’ (mind you, not ‘Whispers in the Corridors’, which would anyday be a more awaited offering from an ex-bureaucrat), puts together hair-raising and captivating tales set in UP/Uttarakhand, Ganapathy a.k.a. Avinash’s cadre state; his native home in the coffee haven of Coorg set in the Western Ghats; his alma mater JNU (not named in the book) and even his Central postings in CISF and as head of Bureau of Civil Aviation and Security (BCAS).
It could thus not be more apt that ‘the’ Ruskin Bond himself introduces ‘Whispers in the Shadows’ on the cover as “compelling, intriguing and genuine”.
Ganpathy stars in and as Avinash, a protagonist he has cleverly created to narrate his rather frequent brushes with the supernatural. There are enough giveaways: Avinash, like Ganapathy, is a native of Coorg, or Kodagu. The stories ‘Shriek in the Woods’ and ‘Babu’s Hurricane Lamp’ may remind you or your own childhood — the fear of Maths, walks from the school through the haunted woods and spooky stories fed to wide-eyed children by the househelps — and have a flash of R K Narayan’s ‘Swami’ from Malgudi Days.
Each of the tales has Avinash narrating his weird, ghostly, time-travel and post-death experiences in a lucid but captivating, edge-of-the-seat style. The book is a window to the life of a senior police officer who is trained to be fearless and rely on scientific evidence but who is also human enough to marvel at and embrace the unexplained, supernatural experiences along the way. So much so, Ganapathy made it a point to chronicle these chilling life incidents and produce a novel soon after he retired.
The stories may be intriguing, sometimes rather incredible (particularly The Curious Case of Class of 1986, which sees Avinash travel through different realms of time), but they also carry a message. The ghosts and supernatural entities, including dead dogs, seem to help in solving knotty murder cases (The Uncanny Experience in Behta Village and Little Khairi Still Roams the Wilds), save lives (Do Miracles Really Happen Anymore and The Small Boy Who Loved Airports) and ensure that the forests and wildlife are protected (Bote Aiyappa of the Sacred Grove).