My wanderings - 2

In young age every person has a rebellion tendency. I had also a little share of rebellion in me when I was young. I was trying to be rationale and therefore, never believed in superstitions which were interwoven in the fabric of our society in general. In the course of my wanderings my close neighbor and friend Sh.P.K.Mattoo gave me a book entitled ' Be Gone God Men' written by Dr.Abrahim Kavoor, of Sri Lanka, who was the only doctorate in parapsychology and has devoted his life in erasing the menance of  superstitions in the society. He had written  about  fifty case histories of  patients suffering from psychological disorders and treated them successfully.  By reading these case histories, prima facie, it appears from the behavior of  persons mentioned therein, that they had been haunted by some supernatural powers or ghosts.  Later on reader understands the rationale of their disease which had been  basically psychological in nature.
In one of the cases a housewife found that all the clothes in her wardrobe were cut into pieces,  a pair of shoes lying in her rice cooker and some one had written on the walls of her bedroom that this is a haunted house. She visited many quacks and Charlton's  to free her house from the shadow of ghosts but without any use. Latter on she visited Dr.kavoor on the recommendations of her friend. Dr. Kavoor brought her into subconscious state of mind and she agreed that she was doing it herself  and  she will not do it again. When she came to her conscious state of mind. she was unaware of any thing but she was cured of  the disease. which Doctor Kavoor had diagnosed purely as psychological.
Some God men  do miracles stop their pulse, produce holy ash or watches for their disciples which are simple  tricks manipulated by them.  Dr. Kavoor was knowing all these tricks himself and he challenged to all Godmen  that whosoever does a  miracle in his presence  will be rewarded with rupees one lakh. It was a huge amount in early seventies. No God men accepted his challenge. He once said that I am not a rich man ,if I ever loose the challenge,  I will be reduced to destitutes but I am sure that I will  never loose the challenge. It is necessary to mention here that one eminent  scientist  who was scientific advisor to Govt. of India and disciple of some Guru accepted his challenge but lost the same. Dr.Kavoor had spent many nights in graveyards, crematory grounds and many haunted houses to find the ghosts but he could never locate one. According to him ghosts are created by the weak will of person in the form of hallucinations.
By reading this book I became more confident and  it also strengthened my belief to fight against superstitions. In the mean time I had also the chance of encountering  my pack of superstitions which I want to share with you.
It was when I joined my first job after graduation  at newly built watch factory in Srinagar. It was a tough time and very odd working hours that I  had to face. I used to have weakly night and day shifts which changed alternately. Once while  attending the night shift, I came to know that  one of my colleagues who was on duty last week,  got possessed by  a ghost as he had created a scene when he was working lonely in a big hall. He had rolled on the ground and yelled nonsense dialogs   and in a fit of rage he fell unconscious and was taken to hospital, where he was  recovering then. My boss called  me and  advised   that  we should not believe in superstitions and the scene created by our colleague may lead  even to closure of factory . You should take care while working on his seat and  try to  falsify his drama.   However, we are keeping another person with you in  the hall.I was eagerly looking for such an opportunity and I readily agreed to his proposal with a thrill of adventure.
I started my work on that very allegedly  haunted seat and my colleague was working about thirty feet ahead of me. With the passage of time pitch  darkness of night  engulfed exteriors and the sullen  atmosphere of  hall appeared more gloomy and melancholic despite of enough illumination inside.   My colleague working in the same hall would come to me after a gap of every half an hour,  with fear writ large on his face, to seek my encouragement. Sometimes he would leave the hall to while away the time. Once he left me alone in the hall for two hours and when I tried to look for him, I found him chatting with  security guards in lower floor near the gate which was far away from the hall. Then after completing our shift and with out witnessing any untoward incident, we left for our residences.  Later on as expected, this event did not fetch me any laurels but only strengthened  my belief against superstitions.
Another incident happened after my marriage. I was newly married and invited  by my in-laws to attend the 'Hawan  ceremony'  which they were performing at Mata Khir Bhawani,  temple at Tulamulla. They had also invited a Saintly person who was believed to be predicting everything rightly. I was also seated next to him but some of his unworthy  and cheap actions persuaded me to think otherwise of him . He would place some unknown objects in the hands of people and  tell them to close their fists and eyes. Then these persons would tell that after closing their eyes they have seen heavenly objects. I told him plainly that it is sort of hypnotism that   he was  doing and it has nothing to do with divinity. My statement made him angry and he  began to address me as  an atheist. Then he practiced the same trick  on me. He kept some small object on my right hand and  immediately clenching my fist  advised  me to close my eyes,  to which I meticulously obeyed.  Then after chanting some mantra he asked me to narrate what I was observing.  I could not see anything. He tried very hard but could not get any response from me. Then he threatened me that  as you are going to sleep next to me in the hall, I will show you the consequences of your arrogance in the midnight. As so many people were sleeping in the hall, I had to sleep next to him, but I slept nicely throughout the night without any obstruction.
Then by and by  many persons including my in-laws lost faith on him because of his actions unworthy of saints.