SONGSOPTOK: It seems that fear is the most important primal instinct in the animal
world. The two main manifestations of fear in the human society is centered
around two entities: God(s) and Demons. We somehow learn to fear ghosts and
spirits at a very early age and remain marked by that fear later in life. What
is your personal experience? When did you start fearing ghosts and for what
reasons?
HASIDA: I
first experienced when I was in 9th grade, I was studying alone at
my place; all of sudden I saw a man standing on our front yard who looked
exactly like Jesus Christ! He was staring at me for a while, I thought he was a
beggar, so I went up to him and handed him some money. But he asked for a pen
and a paper from me, after that he wrote something in the paper and asked me to
wear it as a pendant for the next 41 days. However, when I turned back to keep
the pendant in my room, that man wasn’t there. Surprisingly, I lost my pendant
after exact 41 days! I still remember that day till now.
SONGSOPTOK: Very often adults try to
control the tantrums of children by threatening them with ghosts and spirits.
Do you remember any such incident when you were very young? In your opinion, do
such methods have a permanently negative effect on children? In what way?
HASIDA: No,
I never had any incident like that. Yes, I think this kind of methods have
negative effects on children; if adults try to threaten their children while
they are growing up then it might hamper their personality and they might get
terrified by listening to paranormal stories. Although, the children can
develop themselves by studying about all these, as they grow up they get more
educated. And will get more sensible about these things. However, some are not
that strong and it might permanently effect them. So, in my opinion I think
adults shouldn’t threaten their children like this, it is not a proper way to
control their behavior; there are other ways to do that.
SONGSOPTOK: Not only do we frighten
children with ghosts, we often entertain them with ghost stories. When children
learn to read, grown-ups often try to incite them to get into the habit of
reading by buying ghost stories. What do you think of this practice?
HASIDA: Yes,
I think it is okay. Children should take it as fairytale stories, and it is a
good hobby to pass their time. But they shouldn’t take it seriously.
SONGSOPTOK: Adolescence is normally
the period when we start asking questions about different things. Did you start
asking questions about the existence of ghosts? Will you share the details with
us?
HASIDA: Yes,
I tried to search about the existence of ghosts. I read some paranormal books;
I also read Bible and Quran and found out few things about spirits and all.
SONGSOPTOK: A lot of people claim to
have direct experience of ghosts or other inexplicable phenomena. Do you have
any such experience to share with us? Or experiences of people you know?
HASIDA: Yes,
I have direct experience of ghosts. Once I was staying at my mother’s place, it
was around 11pm, after having dinner I was standing at the balcony; suddenly I
saw bare feet coming inside our house but the strange thing was that the feet
didn’t have any body. I screamed and
called my parents, I told them about the bare feet but they told me maybe I was
hallucinating. Next morning I went for morning walk with my younger brother and
saw a man hung himself on a tree at the community park; polices were there and
it was very crowdy. The doctor there informed us that the man hung himself
around 11pm-12am, I was astonished by hearing that because I saw the bare feet
around 11pm! So it wasn’t a hallucination, I actually experienced the
inexplicable phenomena.
SONGSOPTOK: It is true that most of us
like reading or watching films about ghosts, spirits or mysterious phenomena.
Do you enjoy these things too? Can you think of a specific story or a film that
really thrilled you? Do you have any favorite writers of this genre?
HASIDA: I
have read a lot of books on supernatural activities, and watched several horror
movies too. However, I don’t really have any favourite book/movie.
SONGSOPTOK: Many of us think that
science still has to go a long way to explain everything that we experience on
earth. Science has enlightened us about a lot of things, but there are certain
areas that can be considered as the twilight zone – the breeding place for the
uncanny and the preternatural. What are your thoughts about this?
HASIDA: I believe, science couldn’t reach to that
point where it can agree that supernatural things exist. Obviously there will
be always things among us, which will be out of our boundary; we can’t really
clarify those experience properly as science is still disagreeing, these are
beyond our thinking capacity. Although science might reach to that area
someday.
SONGSOPTOK: We find it difficult to
accept that nothing remains after death, which often leads us to imagine the
supernatural. We are naturally attracted to what lies beyond the known everyday
world. What is your opinion about this? Do you think that everything ends with
death? Or is it because since we don’t really know that we oscillate between
belief and doubt?
HASIDA: No, I don’t think everything ends with death.
We have come in this world from a source, maybe we go back to that source after
death. I don’t believe in ending.
SONGSOPTOK: Almost all societies
believe that the entities that exists in the realms that are beyond our
understanding and our sensory perceptions possess an immense amount of power.
But the capacity of humans is limited. So why does humans believe that the
souls of the dead are immensely powerful? What, according to you, is the reason
for this?
HASIDA: Sorry,
I don’t think the souls of the dead are powerful. If they were that powerful
then they could have the ability to connect with us, but they usually can’t.
SONGSOPTOK: As we grow more and more
dependent on science and
technology, it is possible that our belief in the
supernatural will grow weaker with time. In that sense ghosts and other
entities are likely to have a very dark future indeed. But wouldn’t that
deprive us of a whole range of feelings and emotions? Wouldn’t we become poorer
in our sensations? What is your opinion?
HASIDA: Yes, I think our sensations will
become poorer. The children of the new generation won’t get the opportunity to
feel the thrill, their sensitivity will get reduced day by day. For example,
when my son was 3 years old he used to
say “ mummy! it’s dark! come with me, i am scared”. Kids of next generation
won’t have this fear inside them. Even now my daughter comes running in my
bedroom at midnight when she gets scared by watching horror movies; i enjoy it
at times, i feel like a shelter for her. However, kids of the upcoming
generations might not act like this; they won’t have this kind of feelings and
emotions.
Hasida Yasmin
Moon: A housewife and author. Studied Clinical Psychology (M.sc) in Dhaka
University. She has three kids and lives with her husband in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
We sincerely
thank you for your time and hope we shall have your continued support.
Aparajita
Sen
(EDITOR)
Songsoptok
0 Comments
