As I child, I was the opposite of ‘early to bed’ and had to be forced to rise early. I would need to be fed stories- more selectively horror stories to sleep.
My grandpa was the resident storyteller. He would tell us stories big and small, suspense, mystery or thriller -depending on his mood and the weather. In winters, the air would crackle with his chilling tales of horror.
One of the most haunting stories he shared was about a spirit known as Nishir Daak (the Call of the Night). This tale warned that if you wake in the dead of night to the sound of someone softly calling your name—be it a familiar voice or a stranger’s—you must resist the temptation to respond. To do so would invite doom, whisking you away to a cold, dark realm, the lair of the evil spirit, which inevitably led to a brutal end.
What sets Nishir Daak apart from an ordinary human caller is the frequency of the summons
If it’s Nishi-it would only call you thrice ( some argue it is twice but I believe Nishi has to be more patient as premeditated murders require a lot of planning), any more calls and it is actually a hapless human who is calling you because they need something in the middle of the night- they may be visiting and you forgot to hand them a bottle of water, a bath towel etc – in which case you have terrible manners and Nishi should definitely visit you to teach you to be a good host.
According to lore, Nishis are the spirits of those who could not transition to the netherworld—be it Heaven or Hell—often trapped due to unfinished business or untimely deaths. They seek to block out the memories of their own demise by preying upon their loved ones, a motive that resonates with the grief and loss that permeate our existence.
At least, that’s the only motive that made sense to me.
Of course, it could be that such stories were woven by crafty mothers wanting to keep their children from wandering into the night or something to do with the uncertainties wrought by colonialism.
The researcher in me wanted to explore any possible link between this entity and the Bengal famines of 1773 and 1943.
For the uninitiated, the British administrative policies of inflation, denial and resource mobilization for its army contributed to two of the worst famines in India. The Great Bengal Famine saw close to ten million people dead while the Bengal Famine of 1942-44 caused the death of four million people, mostly from rural Bengal. People died of hunger and malnutrition- the loss of loved ones left the living without much life too, everyone had been touched by death.
A customary online search left me with only a few options- a video about the phenomenon that briefly touches upon the socio-political context of pre-independence Bengal and a Facebook entry that looks promising but doesn’t yield much upon visiting.
Even my primary research, which constituted of questioning my parents about Nishir Daak, didn’t reveal much. They merely wondered why their thirty something, childless daughter had suddenly developed an interest in Nishi.
So as of now, my hypothesis stays untested- I will continue my research and attempt a follow-up post as and when when I have more answers..
Until then, please help me with getting to the bottom of this and stay safe from mysterious familiar voices calling out to you in the middle of the night…
Fingers in symphony 