I was staring out of the window looking at the street dogs when the auto rickshaw stopped at Krithi’s house. Krithi was the “leader” of the auto – she always led us. She told us whom to give place to, which girl was good, which person we should talk to, whom to “join in our group.”

That day Krithi had news. She summoned our attention by, “You know what I heard yesterday?” We all made positive noises, like “what? Tell us.”
She said, "Naale Baa has come to Bangalore."
Now that didn’t make any sense.
Naale baa actually means: “come tomorrow.” Now, how could that have come to Bangalore? My little bored brain was beyond any confusion as to what to do. I was, as usual, in deep slumber as usual till we reached school. When I woke up they were still discussing Naale Baa. I, however, had other things to worry about. We had craft in the first hour and I had not got my needle. I was scared more of the teacher than the ghost.
In class, believe it or not, the atmosphere was tense. Apparently my friends were also discussing the sensational person who had come to Bangalore. My friend was very worried and pretty excited, and she said to me, “Naale Baa will come to your house in the night when you are asleep and kill you. But if you write Naale baa on your door – she will read it and go away. But if you don’t…..” and she looked at me with a grave expression that would have straightaway sent me to hell. I was mildly at discomfort after hearing about this nocturnal ghost…it was not a nice thought that somebody would kill you in the night when you are asleep. I remember Gayathri Shenoy – a girl who always wore a red or maroon muffler come and mutter to me, “you know about Naale baa?” and I nodded. And she worriedly asked me, almost in tears, “what to do?” I remember playing the big girl and telling her with confidence, “Lock your door very well” and she thought it was really good advice and agreed to do so.
I heard other stories about Naale Baa. It seems she had come in the night dressed up as an old woman begging for some water. And when the uncle in the next street opened the door…she killed him and laughed. My friend swore she heard the laughter ring out in the night. Now there was a clearly manipulative ghost for you. My heart was beating rapidly and the brain conjuring up disturbing images of an old woman knocking at doors in the night.
Unfortunately for me, my craft teacher didn't share my superstitions. I was punished for not bringing the needle so I had to sit separately and do stitching which I never ever knew how to do. My grandmother always did my craft for me. I still can do the “running stitch” – but, only that. The teacher was very good at that, and also had a short memory. My punishment ended soon when all my classmates made a beeline to show the teacher what they had accomplished in one class.
Everybody was serious. The teacher asked us, “what’s the matter? Didn’t any of you eat this morning?” and we said, “Miss, Naale Baa has come to Bangalore!” She asked us who she was. I remember we told her about 20 incidents and swore it was all true – in which Naale Baa in some disguise or the other killed people. She smiled at us mildly, I remember, trying to stop herself from bursting with laughter. She told us, “all those are lies. There is no such thing!”
But, we were not in the mood to listen. Naale Baa had already killed so many people – how could the miss tell us that she didn’t exist?
When the teacher called out our names to mark our attendance in class in the next period, some girl was absent. And all of us exchanged surprised looks. Could it be that…? Really? Would Naale baa kill little kids? We were really very frightened. One girl who stayed near the absentee’s house took charge and said she would find out why the girl had not come to school today. Some how the rest of the day went by and we were thrilled to bits, excited and yet scared about this new mystery in Bangalore.
We stood at our usual place near the slope waiting for the auto rickshaw. And Krithi knew the situation, which, in her opinion was very serious. She chalked out a plan to combat Naale Baa if any of us should really come face to face with her. She told us to hit the hag on the head and to run inside the house before she could catch us. And she asked us to always carry a torchlight. Ghosts, she said, would not be visible if there was light. Divya, my elder sister came by the same vehicle, but in the second trip. I would have not been that scared if she was here with me.

But I tried to be brave and said, “My teacher told us that there was no such thing.”
All the others began to laughed derisively.
They convinced me of the existence of Naale Baa – citing the example of a night watchman (Gurkha) who was killed the night before by the ghost.
It was about to be eight o clock in the night.
Divya kept telling me, “There is no such thing. You all are stupid.” It was dark. Obviously nights are dark. That night I was not very fond of darkness. My mother told me to come with her to the terrace and lend a hand with the clothes, as she had forgotten to bring the dry clothes from there earlier on. I was petrified. I screamed and shouted, “No!”
My mother was, I think, mildly amused with the situation. When she tried to go to the terrace I stood at the door pulled her with full force – propelling her backwards. Then I clutched at her dress. My mom finally gave up all hopes of fetching the clothes and sat down on the couch.
I listened to my grandfather’s stories as usual. And then I told him about this new creature – Naale Baa. He was one person I soulfully confided in, and still do. He said, “that cannot be true.” But I insisted that it was the truth and told him all the examples I had heard.

He calmly told me, “Lord Rama is there everywhere. You just go think of Him and go to sleep. He will kill the demons.” I was thrilled beyond words. I could combat Naale Baa. I visualized a man dressed in an orange garb, with bows and arrows (as it was in the cartoon book) coming and saving me from Naale Baa.
But my younger sister Radha was terrified. She advised us that we should write Naale Baa on our gate. When the ghost arrived, it would read the sign on the board, which meant “come tomorrow” and then go away. I went to bed at around ten, but could not sleep at all. Disturbing images flooded my imagination. I kept telling my mother that Naale Baa would come soon. My mother found my grandfather’s advice effective and told me to repeat the name of God. But dash it all – it wasn’t enough. My mom slept, dad fell asleep and so was everybody apart from Radha, Divya and me. We were waiting for Naale Baa to come armed with our defense weapon – a wooden ruler and a torchlight. Soon Divya too fell asleep – when we heard the sound of doors being knocked. We got up with a start and began to shudder. I woke my mother up and said, “Naale Baa has come! Look, she is knocking at the doors.” My mother told me that it was the Gurkha and he did that daily. Ah, but then did my mother know that Naale Baa could dress herself as anybody she pleased? I was shocked and thoroughly agitated. So – the tension in me kept building up and finally I threw up! My parents got up with a start and propelled me to the wash basin.

I felt lots better after throwing up. I was tired and finally went to sleep.
Divya heard about what had occurred in the night the next morning. And I told her about the night watchman story and the tapping of doors. She decided to take things into her hands. She told me with confidence, “I will take care of this.”
When I got ready to go to school and I opened the gate, I found the following inscribed in chalk on it. It was written in clear and neat handwriting, Naale Baa. Today I laugh when I remember those days, but that day, I thanked my Kannada teacher profusely for making us literates in that language.