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Seeing and Believing
By AMY WALDMAN
Copyright 2002 The New
York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.
Excerpts from article ...
full text available from the New York Times on the newsstand.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/25/weekinreview/25WALD.html
August 25, 2002
Seeing and Believing
NEW DELHI
They call it muchnowa - the "face scratcher." In the eastern part of the
north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, a mysterious flying object has
supposedly attacked more than 100 sleeping villagers. They see a flashing
light, feel an electric shock and a hard object, and emerge with scratched
faces and limbs.
At least seven unexplained deaths have been attributed to the muchnowa,
and the result has been mass hysteria - a panic that has yielded more
deaths. The police killed one man when a mob stormed the station demanding
protection. Another man killed his mother - ostensibly accidentally -
while shooting at the mysterious light.
Theories about the cause abound, and the news media has reported each new
one with delight. It may be an extraterrestrial being, or simply
disoriented migratory birds or bats. Some blame genetically engineered
insects from Pakistan; others, laser-equipped terrorists.
The Indian
Institute of Technology tried injecting science into the
less-than-reasoned debate, saying the phenomenon is a rare form of
lightning, but to little avail.
This is not the first such mass delusion to seize India. Last year, a
"monkey man" - reputed to be half man, half monkey - terrorized Delhi
residents. Six years ago, Uttar Pradesh was gripped by fear of the manai,
or man-creature, which was said to be stealing babies. In the resulting
hysteria, 40 people were lynched. The manai, upon investigation, turned
out to be a pack of wolves dislodged from their habitat by deforestation.
Uttar Pradesh is one of India's poorest, least developed states. Perhaps
rumors spread more quickly among the uneducated; perhaps the muchnowa
furor is simply displaced anxiety about the state's failure to protect the
welfare of its citizens.
Whatever it is, it has left its mark.
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