Rumours of 'rakhis that kill' mar festival

Editor · Site Admin Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 337 Location: India

Very intresting piece of news, thought its worth to get your opinions on whta you think about the whole scare. It reminds me of Ganesha drinking milk some years back...do you believe in such things??

Rakshabandhan festivities in parts of Gujarat on Tuesday were marred by rumours of deaths due to jinxed rakhis.

People threw their rakhis away and women called their brothers to tell them about the 'curse' after a rumour spread that those with rakhis around their wrists would die at 10 pm.

"The mass hysteria was baffling...even intelligent, educated people fell prey," Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone V, Amit Kumar Vishwakarma said.

"As far as I know, no police complaint has been registered. Scores of people were on the streets, but we did not find it necessary to intensify patrolling as the presence of police might have only added to the panic," he said.

Iqbal Sheikh, a municipal councillor in Gomtipur, said he got a call from his sister around 3 am about the public scare.

"I assured her that my rakhi and I were both safe and told her to be in peace. I also went around the neighbourhood where groups of people were out on the streets and asked them not to fall prey to such rumours," Sheikh told PTI.

Sheikh said he rang up several hospitals to find out if there were any strange accidents or deaths, but was told that the reports were baseless.

Reports from Vadodara said long queues were seen at public call offices as people tried to call their near and dear ones.

garcons · Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 4:22 am Post subject:

Oh My God !!! Its shocking how people fall prey to such rumours. You bet it reminds us of the Ganesha drinking milk thing that happened. I understand when such stuff happens in villages where people are uneducated and not aware, but in cities, where people are educated enough. Seesh!

dsha9 · Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 4:57 am Post subject:

how can any one believe that, bunch coincidences started such sad & stupid rumour how can a educated man fall into it.

Editor · Site Admin Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 337 Location: India

This is the irony of the situation that the educated ones fall to such rumours...I remember when ganesha started drinking milk(or so they said) half of the people who were indeed well educated just wanted to check and then went to offer milk to the statue themselves...

In this case, a rakhi leads to killing is as absurd as the above case. I think that when it comes to your own family, you don't want to get into any trouble and so the rumour spreads, however educated the person might be Cool

anshulseth · Moderator Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 73 Location: Kolkata

Silly!! How can s.one believe such things. Lack of education and superstition r the root causes for it.

garcons · Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 11:42 am Post subject:

Anshul, i believe its very hard to trace the root cause of such instances, so you cant realyl say its because of lack of education, because even educated people get into it.

Just a little curious to know and totally off topic: Are you too much into texting people?

anshulseth · Moderator Joined: 09 Apr 2004 Posts: 73 Location: Kolkata

Others plz ignore this comment.

Hi Ritesh,
I love writing mails , or simply blogging....
I can write pages without ne topic in place.
But, it also depends on the time at my disposal.
Its not evryday tht i get a whale of time to write out.
but wht made u ask this question ??