Belief in ghosts, poltergeists, spirits and all kinds of paranormal activities is a sign of irrationalism. Generally most people fear the invisible and the unknown. There is no scientific basis for such rubbish. This was recently proved by an amusing incident in Hyderabad.
There was a widespread rumour among the staff and students of a Government School that the class room of V std. was haunted by ghosts. The management kept the room locked permanently and provided an alternative room for V std. but the students of almost all the classes complained that they frequently heard strange noises from the locked room. They were scared of the insidious evil forces.
A young teacher Ravindar had joined the School some time back. He is a rationalist and also the General Secretary of a forum of Rationalists called quite aptly – “Jana Vigyana Vedika” (People’s Forum for Scientific Temper). He tried to convince the students that the room was not haunted and that it was all merely a
hallucination but the scared students went on insisting on paranormal forces.
In order to prove that the fear of the haunted room was just a myth, Ravindar took it as a challenge and announced that he would spend one full night sleeping in the room concerned. Some superstitious students urged him to do it on a new moon (Amavasya) day, since evil forces become much more violent on that particular day.
Ravindar agreed and slept alone in that room, on the night of July 5th, which was a new moon day. He had a peaceful sleep without any disturbance. Next morning, the students were convinced that their fear was ludicrous. We need people like Ravindar to make rationalism flourish all over the world.
