Corona strikes, superstitions emerge in UP

Lucknow, March 24 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh, which is under a lockdown now, has been witnessing a spate of rumours since the past two days.

In Aligarh, Agra, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar, people have not slept since the past two days after rumours floated that anyone who slept would turn to stone.

People have been sitting in groups outside their houses, chatting up all night. People have made palm prints of turmeric outside their houses to ward off the corona evil.

In Baghpat, rumours went around asking people to offer water at Devi temples and light up as many ‘diyas’ as the number of children in a household to prevent oneself from turning into stones. Announcements to this effect are being made form the loudspeakers in temples.

In some other districts, including Agra, people believed the rumours that hair strands are coming out of the ‘Bal-kand’ chapter of Ram Charitra Manas. It is said that the hair strand should be boiled in water and the water should be consumed to cure coronavirus.

Surprisingly, a number of people claim to have found hair strands in the ‘Bal-kand’ chapter of Ram Charitra Manas.

Meanwhile, SP (west) Agra, Ravi Kumar said on Tuesday that efforts were on to trace the source of these rumours and warned that strict action would be taken against those who floated these rumours.

–IANS

amita/rt