Last December, Aralakuppe suffered a cruel blow when 32 members of a marriage party were killed when a bus plunged into Undabatti lake on Nanjangud-Mysore Road. The villagers have suffered serious trauma since. They see demons everywhere. Fear has forced them to stay indoors after sunset. Though a few, particularly the men who lost their wives and children, are trying to cope, the women are yet to recover.
Incidentally, the villagers have witnessed several accidents on the outskirts of Aralakuppe, particularly at the spot where the mass funeral was held.
Villagers feel the ghosts haunting them are responsible for the accidents including the death of an autorickshaw driver and a sub-inspector named Rajshekhar near the primary health centre where the bodies were kept
before the mass funeral took place on December 15, 2010.
Initially, the fear was such that children avoided evening tuitions and very few autorickshaw drivers plied at night. Patients avoided the primary health centre where the bodies were kept. Nagaraj, the owner of a liquor store, said business fell by 25 per cent after the funeral. Shops and hotels closed at 8.30 pm
instead of 10.30 pm.
And then there were the stories. Puttaraju, a carpenter, who was carrying a bag of rice on his bicycle, said he was injured when he felt someone pushing him. Since then, on the advice of a priest, he avoids the Aralakuppe-Sriranagapatna road.
These fears and increasing psychological problems are a challenge for the
rationalists and psychiatrists trying to ‘exorcise’ Aralukuppe’s villagers.
Forum president Harave Deve Gowda and others have spent the night at the funeral place to dispel the villagers’ fears. Psychiatrist C R Chandrashekar from NIMHANS and his team are counselling the villagers and have advised medication and regular follow-ups instead of rituals to chase away demons.
Recovery is slow but ZP member, Kempu Gowda, says the children have
resumed evening tuitions and patients are again visiting the PHC. There are more smiling faces, especially among liquor store and restaurant owners. More people from nearby villages are spending time in Aralakuppe now. But they, too, move in groups rather than alone at night. Obviously, there are still some ghosts floating around.
shivakumar@expressbuzz.com