At the very outset let me make it clear that I am a Zoroastrian and a scientist and do not believe in magic, voodoo, witchcraft, mysticism or superstitions. However, I have come across cases which are apparently beyond the realm of science.
In one case, a child had typhoid fever. In those days there were not very effective drugs and it took a long time for the patient to recover. Neighbors advised the family to try out a local tribal ritual of offering a coconut to the sea on a no moon midnight. A trusted servant and a strong fisherman accustomed to fishing at night were engaged to carry out the task. Precisely on the stroke of midnight they started on the mission but soon returned to share their strange experience. As they were nearing the sea they experienced a strong gust of wind and an unknown force snatched the coconut from their hands. An early morning search failed to reveal any coconut on the shore. One may dismiss this story as a figment of the servant’s imagination, but from that day onward the child began showing signs of recovery. Perhaps a mere coincidence, but stranger still is the following case.
A young lady had come to a small town to spend a month with her aunt. Within a few days the town woke up alarmed at the news that she was being harassed by a mystic force. Any movement she made was followed by some object or the other flying and falling at her feet without injuring her. Thinking this to be a cock and bull story, eminent citizens visited her place only to confirm what they had heard. On one occasion when she walked she attracted a kitchen knife while on another an areca nut (sopari) and then a tile from the roof fell at her feet. Decades later I came across scientific reports of some people becoming magnetized and attracting metallic objects. This explains the knife and the tile made of laterite soil which would have contained some iron particles, but what can explain the organic areca nut, a plant product? On the advice of elders, the lady returned to her own home, but a mystic footnote was added when she was asked to regularly attend to the grave of a saint in her village.
In yet another matter, a lady had high fever and in her delirium started speaking in a strange language that sounded like fluent French. Incidentally, she did not even know a word of English. Could this have had any connection with her previous life?
I narrate these incidents in the hope that if readers have any explanation to account for these curious events, I would greatly appreciate knowing the same.
Dr V. M. MEHER-HOMJI
berzis1@gmail.com