Rushdie8217;s house cries for upkeep

SOLAN, JAN 21: Anees Villa, the ancestral house of India-born controversial British author Salman Rushdie, which brought the name of this...

SOLAN, JAN 21: Anees Villa, the ancestral house of India-born controversial British author Salman Rushdie, which brought the name of this hilly town of Himachal Pradesh on the world map, wears a deserted look and cries for upkeep and care. With the water and power connections cut and telephone link snapped, the bunglow has been reduced to a ghost house. Which it has become if the chowkidar Govind Ram is to be believed.

Located on the outskirts of Solan, Anees Villa which forms part of the 2,439-square-meter landed property, first hogged floodlights of attention when Rushdie filed a writ petition in the HP High Court staking claim to it in 1993. Having remained tied in knots of ownership tangle between Rushdie and the HP Government for almost five years, the villa was finally restored to the author through his counsel Vijay S. T. Shankerdass on November 15, 1997. The bunglow is sans water and power. The connections have been snapped obviously for want of payment. Some electric switches are missing and loose wires dangle dangerously. The tale of neglect does not end here. It is better told by broken window panes, paint coming off its outer walls and some of the tin sheets which have got disjointed from the rafters.The hustle and bustle that ruled the bunglow when it was the official residence of additional district magistrate, Solan, is missing.

Chowkidar Gobind Ram had been appointed immediately after taking possession, but the villa wears a haunted look.

And Govind Ram insists that the villa has become a haunted place. A resident of Farah village of Mandi District, Govind Ram who works in the canteen of a factory, lives in the bunglow along with his wife Vayasa Devi and two little sons.

Narrating his experience, he told The Indian Express, 8220;I often hear sounds of footsteps, especially during the night, but none can be seen in and around the villa. I am convinced that the place has come to be occupied by evil spirits. Sometimes, stones are hurled at the villa but none can be seen doing so. One hears sounds of the knockings at the doors and the doors opening and closing with nobody around. But you can8217;t see anybody,8221; said a scared Govind Ram.

Initially, Govind Ram started living alone in the bunglow. 8220;But within a few days, I was scared out of my wits by all this and I decided to bring my wife from the village to give me company,8221; added Govind Ram. His wife, Vayasa Devi, shares her husband8217;s views. 8220;I have also heard tapping of moving but invisible feet and doors and windows suddenly opening and closing during the night,8221; said Vyasa, her tone having the ring of shrill.

Interestingly, what the couple says is strongly contested by Additional District Magistrate S.C. Kalsotra who lived in the bunglow before it was handed over to Rushdie. 8220;I stayed in the bunglow for eight months but never observed any such phenomenon,8221; he asserted.

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It is also contested by Dashrath Ram, an old water supply employee of the MC. He said that he lived in the Anees Villa for three years but never noticed what Govind says. Hardev Singh, an immediate nieghbourer and a relative of Govind Ram, told ENS that he had been staying there for the last ten years but never observed any movement of evil spirits. He, however, said that eerie sounds heard by Govind Ram and his wife might be due to the 8220;flying foxex.8221;

Govind Ram has never met Rushdie8217;s counsel but he gets his salary of Rs. 1700 every month. He was appointed on the recommendation of the then deputy commissioer B.S.Nainta. He is ignorant about the fame enjoyed by his employer Salman Rushdle. Neither he has heard about any Fatwa8217; passed against him or about his controversial book Satanic Verses.8217; All that he knows is that Rushdie lives somewhere in England.

Anees Villa had been purchased by Mohmad Uldin, grandfather of Salman Rushdie during the early forties. The property, after the Partition, was declared evacuee property and was subseauently transferred in the name of the Revenue Department as it was presumed that Maulvi Anees Ahmad, father of Salman Rushdie, had left for Pakistan and never visited Solan for years.

The Bunglow was used for housing the office of the district education officer for several years and the state education Department on paying rent to Maulvi Anees Ahmad through his counsel and in correspondence with him till his death in November, 1987. The property was gifted to Salman Rushdie by his father in 1969.