As the sun slowly dips below the horizon, dotted by small houses, trees and the Ayodhya Hills, 55-year-old AMELIA RATTAN MAHATO adjusts his torch while chatting with friend Sripati MAHATO, 80. The two are sitting on the stairs of the ticket counter at the Begun Kodak railway station in Perugia. Soon, it will be pitch dark, and his old shawl, monkey cap, and ‘Made in China’ torch would be AMELIA MAH ATO only defense at this cold, power-less, and, as some claim, sole ‘haunted railway station’ in West Bengal.
Set up in 1960, the railway station shut down seven years later due to “ghost stories”. It could start re-functioning only in 2007, after local villagers wrote to then railway minister Mamata Banerjee and CPM leader Basque CHARY, who belongs to PERUGIA and who as MP headed the parliamentary standing committee on Railways at the time. But the haunted tag remains.
The station doesn’t have any station master since it reopened. Amelia brother Dole Maya ta is the registered private booking agent for tickets since eight years, and the two — belonging to adjacent workup village — alternatively man the ticket counter. Sanjay Gosh, Chief PRO, South Eastern Railways, says, “Halt stations where no mail or express trains stop are off the computerized system. At some halt stations where there are very few passengers, such as begun Kodak, we don’t have any railway employees either; only such ticket booking agents.”
Amelia and his brother make Rs 1.25 per ticket sold, with 175-200 tickets sold in a day. This may go up to over 700 tickets during tribal festivals such as Tush u. The tribal flock to the Ayodhya Hills, which take their name from a myth associated with the Ramayana, for hunting on Tush u.
Still giving company to Amelia, Sripati, who, back in the ’70s, was the first teacher at the Government Primary School in nearby Bimini, says he comes to the station every day. “There are so many stories surrounding it, but I have never seen anything even remotely like a ghost,” the 80-year-old says, breaking into a toothless grin.
Acknowledging that the station had become a destination for “paranormal lovers”, South Eastern Railways official Gosh says, “If the villagers want upgradation, we will think about it. As far as ghost stories are concerned, there is no truth to them.” Around 10.30 pm, the Board Burden train finally trundles in. As the halt is of four-odd minutes and there is no platform, people jump off in haste, and rush away. Within minutes, all that is left at the Begun Kodak railway station are the wind and shadows.
Climbing onto a motorcycle with his brother, Virender Kumar, 29, a part-time teacher at a school in Highly district, who takes the 9 pm train home every week, says he has seen people fall while getting off, due to the height of the train and the dark. Giving one last look back, he says, “Just develop this station, provide the basics, and you will see all the ghosts vanish.”
Recounting how the stories originated, Sripati adds, “At first, this was a proper station, with quarters for people. The station master was a musician and very friendly. But then, some goons misbehaved with his daughter. He left, telling the Railways the station was haunted. In 1967, it shut down.”
Another story, says Sripati, talks of “a woman who walks on the rail tracks at night”. “Stories of women who committed suicide years ago roaming around in white after dark, of strange noises being heard, including cries of women, are quite popular.” Pointing to the desolation around, the 80-year-old adds, “The empty fields, the tall trees, all add to the atmosphere. Even if a snake moves or an insect makes a noise, it instills fear. Not all people are educated here.”
In August 2016, two solar-powered lights were put up at the station, but they were vandalized the same night, leaving it again without any light. Around the same time, the Begun Kodak ghost stories started doing the rounds on social media, bringing in paranormal researchers, college students and people interested in ghost tourism.
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