1. FREE FALL
Skylab I falling in India
Aportion of the satellite may fall on the earth with a high impact speed (India Today, September 1978). Since it was speculated that the Skylab may fall in south India, it was not uncommon to see people wearing special helmets to protect themselves from the 2,310-kg airlock shroud. In the end, the spacecraft chose to crash into the Indian Ocean near Australia.
2. DARK TALE
Wolves of Pavagada
The year 1983 saw a mystery that has remained unsolved till date. Girl children sleeping next to their parents began disappearing in Pavagada in Karnataka. It was alleged that man-eating wolves were behind it all. There were rumours of these being due to ritualistic sacrifices by a tantrik (India Today, August 1983).
3. FALSE AID
Magic cure for AIDS
Self-styled ayurvedic doctor T.A. Majeed shot into prominence when he claimed to have cured HIV-positive Chitra Soman and her daughter.
He alleged that his findings were being suppressed for ulterior motives (India Today, August 1993).
Soman later died due to full-blown TB as a result of AIDS, and Majeed was never heard of.
4. DIVINE PLOT
The Hindu milk miracle
Much of an entire nation found a common bond, (India Today, October 1995) when Ganesha began drinking milk, followed by the entire pantheon of Hindu Gods.
Dairy outlets in the country ran out of stock.Scientists tried to offer capillary action and surface tension as explanations, but no one was interested. At the end of the day,statues in public places had their mouths tied with cloth to prevent a lactose overdose.
5. GUNNING FOR TROUBLE
Arms dropping in Purulia
On December 17,1995, a treasure trove fit for a modern army (India Today, January 1996) was dropped by a Latvian plane over Purulia in West Bengal.
It was later said that the arms were meant for the Ananda Marg.
Even though the case has been considered a serious breach of Indian national security, our investigative agencies have not yet found answers to questions such as where the dropped arms disappeared, why the Ananda Marg needed ammunition or how a plane entered Indian airspace, dropped weapons and disappeared, undetected.
6. PHANTOM MENACE
Naale Ba ghost
In 1995, Bangaloreans saw the peace of the nights being shattered by a ghost which used to call out to people in their mother's voice and then kill them. Named Koogumaari, legend has it that it killed three brothers in Guttehalli in Kolar. People came up with a solution: writing Naale Ba at their entrances, which means come tomorrow . This was supposed to confuse it into coming again and returning after reading the message. This fever of a literate ghost with amnesia took nearly a year to subside. Perhaps, the exhaustion of returning again and again proved too much for the poor ghost.
7. CEREMONIAL LOVE
Temple for Khushboo
Building temples for film stars is a national occupation in India. So even the southern sex goddess Khushboo came to acquire one in Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu in the mid-1990s. It was demolished when allegations of her affair with the married actor Prabhu surfaced. Once the relationship ended, she became respectable again and the demolished temple was rebuilt. It survived for nearly a decade, till the time Khushboo aired her views on pre-marital sex. The fact is that such a temple has never existed. So much for myths.
8. SMOKED OUT
Herbal fuel
The year 1996 saw one Ramar Pillai claiming that he had discovered herbs that could turn water into gasoline.
His discovery earned him many admirers worldwide.
There was much embarrassment in 2000 when he confessed to the fraud and was jailed.
9. BEAST'S DAY OUT
Monkey man
A half-simian, halfhuman entity which moved stealthily through the dark attacking the innocent (India Today, May 2001) created havoc in Delhi. Theories on the Monkey Man being an avatar of Hanuman were squashed after the creature hurt several people said to be devotees of Lord Ram. Desperate people started beating up anyone resembling the description put out by the police. The creature soon tired of its antics and disappeared from public view, until a Russian website reported in June that it was last seen aboard a flight to Moscow.
10. TRIBAL INSTINCTS
Siddi olympian venture
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) came up with a brainwave to improve the nation's performance in sports train the Siddis, a poverty-ridden African tribe in India, for such events because they thought Africans were natural athletes.The project, spanning nearly 16 years, saw not a single Siddi making a mark in any sport. SAI finally realised that a proper environment was equally important.
Skylab I falling in India
Aportion of the satellite may fall on the earth with a high impact speed (India Today, September 1978). Since it was speculated that the Skylab may fall in south India, it was not uncommon to see people wearing special helmets to protect themselves from the 2,310-kg airlock shroud. In the end, the spacecraft chose to crash into the Indian Ocean near Australia.
2. DARK TALE
Wolves of Pavagada
The year 1983 saw a mystery that has remained unsolved till date. Girl children sleeping next to their parents began disappearing in Pavagada in Karnataka. It was alleged that man-eating wolves were behind it all. There were rumours of these being due to ritualistic sacrifices by a tantrik (India Today, August 1983).
3. FALSE AID
Magic cure for AIDS
Self-styled ayurvedic doctor T.A. Majeed shot into prominence when he claimed to have cured HIV-positive Chitra Soman and her daughter.
He alleged that his findings were being suppressed for ulterior motives (India Today, August 1993).
Soman later died due to full-blown TB as a result of AIDS, and Majeed was never heard of.
4. DIVINE PLOT
The Hindu milk miracle
Much of an entire nation found a common bond, (India Today, October 1995) when Ganesha began drinking milk, followed by the entire pantheon of Hindu Gods.
Dairy outlets in the country ran out of stock.Scientists tried to offer capillary action and surface tension as explanations, but no one was interested. At the end of the day,statues in public places had their mouths tied with cloth to prevent a lactose overdose.
5. GUNNING FOR TROUBLE
Arms dropping in Purulia
On December 17,1995, a treasure trove fit for a modern army (India Today, January 1996) was dropped by a Latvian plane over Purulia in West Bengal.
It was later said that the arms were meant for the Ananda Marg.
Even though the case has been considered a serious breach of Indian national security, our investigative agencies have not yet found answers to questions such as where the dropped arms disappeared, why the Ananda Marg needed ammunition or how a plane entered Indian airspace, dropped weapons and disappeared, undetected.
6. PHANTOM MENACE
Naale Ba ghost
In 1995, Bangaloreans saw the peace of the nights being shattered by a ghost which used to call out to people in their mother's voice and then kill them. Named Koogumaari, legend has it that it killed three brothers in Guttehalli in Kolar. People came up with a solution: writing Naale Ba at their entrances, which means come tomorrow . This was supposed to confuse it into coming again and returning after reading the message. This fever of a literate ghost with amnesia took nearly a year to subside. Perhaps, the exhaustion of returning again and again proved too much for the poor ghost.
7. CEREMONIAL LOVE
Temple for Khushboo
Building temples for film stars is a national occupation in India. So even the southern sex goddess Khushboo came to acquire one in Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu in the mid-1990s. It was demolished when allegations of her affair with the married actor Prabhu surfaced. Once the relationship ended, she became respectable again and the demolished temple was rebuilt. It survived for nearly a decade, till the time Khushboo aired her views on pre-marital sex. The fact is that such a temple has never existed. So much for myths.
8. SMOKED OUT
Herbal fuel
The year 1996 saw one Ramar Pillai claiming that he had discovered herbs that could turn water into gasoline.
His discovery earned him many admirers worldwide.
There was much embarrassment in 2000 when he confessed to the fraud and was jailed.
9. BEAST'S DAY OUT
Monkey man
A half-simian, halfhuman entity which moved stealthily through the dark attacking the innocent (India Today, May 2001) created havoc in Delhi. Theories on the Monkey Man being an avatar of Hanuman were squashed after the creature hurt several people said to be devotees of Lord Ram. Desperate people started beating up anyone resembling the description put out by the police. The creature soon tired of its antics and disappeared from public view, until a Russian website reported in June that it was last seen aboard a flight to Moscow.
10. TRIBAL INSTINCTS
Siddi olympian venture
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) came up with a brainwave to improve the nation's performance in sports train the Siddis, a poverty-ridden African tribe in India, for such events because they thought Africans were natural athletes.The project, spanning nearly 16 years, saw not a single Siddi making a mark in any sport. SAI finally realised that a proper environment was equally important.
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