The power of this very short horror story from Ruskin Bond is in the way the events described mirror what one might experience in a nightmare. As an alternative to supernatural forces, Bond cleverly presents a logical explanation for the night’s events: the way faces can appear ghostly by torchlight. Either way, the major theme of the story is fear when confronted with the unknown. A possible moral is that we shouldn’t judge people who look or dress differently due to their race, class, gender identity, religion, etc. Other themes: the supernatural, imagination vs. reality.
If one accepts the “distortion of faces by torchlight” explanation, it is possible that the whole scenario may have been a cruel practical joke. The teacher’s students would no doubt be aware of his habit of taking the short-cut home through the forest, and we are told that the crying boy is one of them ( He took his hands from his face and looked up at his teacher.)
This interpretation also lends a sense of irony to the denouement. The teacher, an educated, supposedly rational Westerner, explains his fear over the ghostly vision to the (stereo-typically) less educated, superstitious Indian watchman. The watchman is clear-minded enough to instantly grasp the true situation, and playfully lifts his lamp to his own face to demonstrate.
Original Text / PDF / Audio (528 words)