Exposing The “Miracle” Of Blindfolded Sight- The Story of Ranjana Agarwal
This is the story of a little girl of fourteen and the ambitions of her mother whom we met at the studios of Live India TV channel on the evening of 18th June. The story begins on this date, when I received a call from the channel asking if I could visit their studios if I was in Delhi. When the call arrived, Shubrum, Rakshi and I were on our way over to their house, after a very important and successful meeting with the present director of Vigyana Prasar Network, Dr.Anuj Sinha. Since Shubrum had a meeting, Rakshi and I decided to go for the live broadcast to investigate the case of this girl, Ranjana. It was the claim of her family and some others that she had the unique power to see blindfolded. Some of these folks also accompanied her to the studio. It was claimed that she had been given a certificate by the Ministry of Human Resource Development that she had the power of seeing with a cloth tied over her eyes! That was supposed to be in recognition of her ‘unique talents’. It was quite clear that this girl who was from a village near Varanasi wanted to go places!
Ranjana Agarwal with her mother who was manipulating her
On the panel which went on air at 9 pm there was an astrologer, an ophthalmologist, Rakshi and myself. The discussions started with the so called “unique talents” of this girl, with some prerecorded footage of her showing her so called remarkable talents! Then the whole drama started. The opinions of the panel were asked.The ophthalmologist said that the phenomenon needed testing. The astrologer, as to be expected, said that it was a case of supernatural powers. Rakshi said that there was nothing supernatural and I promised that by the end of the program I would prove that she had no supernatural powers.
The tests started with a blindfold being tied round the girl’s eyes and a newspaper shown to her. She brought it down at such a low angle that she could read it through the gap between the blindfold and her nose! When I said this was something that anyone could do, the blind fold was tied around my eyes and I was asked to read something held higher. Obviously I could not do that. That was said to be my defeat in round no.1! The discussions continued and when it was Rakshi’s turn she said it was to be seen as to how this girl was doing it. The anchor kept on harping about the unique talents of this girl and how these were recognised by the govt of India, throughout the program!
Then we took a break and there was an argument between the anchor and Rakshi! When the show was off the air, heated discussions were going on. Though I tended to agree with Rakshi, I am a veteran of many such shows and decided to hold my peace in the larger interests of the movement. This was followed by more heated arguments and Rakshi went off the air. But the panel continued without her and so did the nonsense!
Two pieces of cotton were kept on the girl’s eyes and the blindfold put back on. Again she managed to ‘see’ a paper held before her eyes, through the same gap. When I suggested that I would put the blindfold properly on her the anchor declined and said that I would get my chance later! That was never to come! In the meantime there were many other superfluous things going on, They were showing footage from Mahabharath, the part where Kunti put her unique powers into Duryodhan etc. The astrologer was harping on about the powers of Sanjay in the Mahabharath who could read written words from miles away! So, I pulled out a currency note from my pocket and challenged the girl to read its serial number from ten feet away. The astrologer backed out saying that the events he mentioned had happened in Threthayuga and it was Kaliyuga now!
Then came the denouncement! The next chance to prove the so called miraculous powers of the girl was another test. She was to have dough applied to her eyes and be asked to read the words. I said that I wanted to participate in this and went near her with two pieces of sticking plaster in my hands. I had observed where the gaps were between the blindfold and her cheeks and wanted to apply the dough to that area. When the ophthalmologist got ready with the dough, the girl complained that her eyes were hurting and that she was having problems seeing! I had anticipated this, as I could see the girls mother signaling to her, apparently out of the sight of all the others, that she should say no! The very sympathetic anchor said that she was a small girl and hence should not be subjected to more trauma! He who was keen up to that stage saying that we would conduct more and more tests to demonstrate these unique powers of the child, suddenly turned very sympathetic when the going got really tough.
I had got ready with the plaster, but there was no question of applying it now as the girl was shedding copious quantities of tears. The whole drama had been planned and carried out in such a way that the girl would be let off when it came to the crunch. She was to be ready to cheat when the criteria were not rigorous, and when really tough tests were to be applied such a drama would be enacted to get her off the hook! But, I was not willing to be a party to this. I was very vehement that the whole thing was a drama and asked why the rigorous criteria of applying dough to her eyes was not done in the first trial. I also wanted to know why I was not allowed to access the girl the first time! There was no need to go on for an hour when the so called miraculous powers could have been exposed in a few minutes.
The whole thing is about TRPs. They wanted to sacrifice a child at the altar just to improve their viewership. It was obvious that the driving force behind the whole farce was her mother who wanted to bask in the glory of her daughter’s unique “talents”. The whole exercise was fueled by the ambitions of the TV channels to improve their ratings. In fact before it went on air I was requested to wait for some time before I expose this girl, as the whole show was to go on for an hour or so.
Those in on this plan wanted the so called special powers of this girl to be certified by us, which is why I had been invited. This invitation led to their exposure and downfall. In the process, the child was hurt and had to undergo humiliation in public. But the very relevant issue here is that the child was put up to this sort of exploitation. The anchor had been talking all that time about a ‘testimonial’ awarded by the Ministry of HRD, govt. of India. I was wondering, on what grounds did the government issue this “testimonial”? How could have this department verified that this girl had the ability to ‘see’ with her eyes blindfolded, before issuing the testimonial? The anchor was also bragging about the ‘certificates’ issued by some local govt. medical officers. Who had given them the authority to certify this so called miraculous power?
Edit: On further checking this certification has been verified to be genuine. The target now includes the ministry of HRD, the government of India, which has so carelessly declared that this girl has the ability to see blindfolded.
While the child’s alleged miraculous powers were exposed on the show, what was the gullibility level of those who certified her? Did none of them have any sense as to see how she was reading blindfolded? My conclusion was that Rakshi had been right from the beginning. It was not about the exposure of so called ‘miraculous’ power, but about a greater exposure of how a publicity-hungry parent, TRP-crazy media and gullible public joined to make a celebrity out of an ordinary myopic girl who was peeking at things held under her nose through the gap between the blindfold and her cheeks. The case needs a more thorough investigation by some agency looking out for children’s welfare, because Ranjana Agarwal is only fourteen years old and legally still a child.
Professor Narendra Nayak is the President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA). He regularly tours the country, giving demonstrations and holding workshops to develop scientific temper.
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Here’s James Randi debunking that exact claim (Russian girl):
www(dot)randi.org/jr/022202.html
Great work though, Narendra!
I do agree that this is not a miracle but you cannot say this is completely fake. It is our duty to explain the phenomena how she does. With blind folded and even at low angle, it is very tough to read. What is her eye power ? If she is doing this, it is not just peeping through the gap, there is more in this, that needs to be explained !
it might be her talent but not a supernatural power..there is vast difference between supernatural power and talent
I think this girl is amazing…
One need imagination to believe use logic to kill the magic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3SX_1HEGnw
It was Gandhari not Kunti who put her powers into Duryodhana.
+1
hi nice article … i came across this fake girl on sony.
I could clearly see that everything was just a part of drama and nothing else and even the judges being a part of it.The same act was performed by another girl and was declared as cheating.
But, I think she got an edge cause of the certificate she is carrying with her and as rightly pointed the mistake lies with the HRD ministry.
An Indonesian article exposing the trick: http://www.faktailmiah.com/2010/09/08/aktivasi-otak-tengah.html
As Randi says, in all cultures you see the same old tricks being rehashed and given a new form.
Logically even if we believe in the girl’s ability to see the things after blindfold it can be explained through Science (still a hypothesis though). Consider how we see things, the light scatterred through the object reaches eyes and form image on retina.The retina have special cells to detect colours. Certain animals like bees can see the ultraviolet rays, so they have broader vision. When light strikes a object, three things happens:
1) It may get absorbed.
2) It may get reflected.
3) It may get transmitted.
In fact all three happens for various colours in varying proportions for any object. That’s why glass with smooth surface seems transparent as it has high transmission coefficient for visible spectrum of light.
Now consider that certain materials (like blindfold used) have high transmission coefficient for some specific electromagnetic radiation (not in the visible range of spectrum), then anyone can see through that material (blindfold) if the eyes have special cells to detect that electromagnetic radiation. It still might be a difficult process since the blindfold used might not have smooth surface, so it requires more concentration or may be pain by the eyes to read the text. It just seems like classical analogue of quantum barrier tunneling phenomena otherwise.
This is an explanation which require more scientific investigation on the girl in question.
You made an assumption that the girl can actually see through the blindfold and not by using some trick as others here have pointed out. Only after ruling out that the girl isn’t cheating, can you make your assumption. It is funny that you had to propose new hypotheses (special eye cells, quantum tunneling on a blindfold scale) based on an untested premise.
How silly of us to believe without analysing the things before. I would say in addition to Dr.Nayak’s analysis just observe her head posture. While talking to the anchor she looks down and while she is asked to identify people she walks close to them with a raised head. With this posture anyone can make out the gender by getting to see the footwear (male/female), pant and the lowest part of the upper dress peeking in between her cheek and the blindfold. Did anyone notice her gesturing to the anchor not to tighten the blindfold much? Did anyone test by making the people wear the footwear of the opposite sex?
what ever its is, sure a fake show.
I saw the show yesterday and I felt that if I have to rate the people who were acting stupid and were insensitive, then
1. Mother of Ranjana
2. TV Anchor
3. Astrologer
I cant imagine that her mother is trying people to believe that there is a supernatural power. There is NOT! They are lying. All she can do is.. she can manage to see or peep through even after the blindfold. Now we can call this a skill , but certainly not some super power. And I think the certificate is saying the same that she can see after blindfolded.. it no where says that she has super natural powers.
So, I think the mother is trying to take this to one level above and trying to prove her as someone born with supernatural power.
The TV anchor was trying to make sure the program runs for complete one hour so he kept talking of three step process… and finally did not do the third step… it was not bad till step2 and it became bade in step3 ? Why.. was is not agreed by all the participants at the start of the show ? He is a joker…
The astrologer acted like how you would expect him to.. as if he was told that he has to support and he was paid to do that. He kept harping about Mahabharata incidences… and was telling she has got some “daivik shakti”. Come on…! He is the one who ashames India… when water of sea becomes sweet and then makes all devotees drink that water and again when Ganesha drinks Milk… has no willingness to understand the situation and simply relates everything with god and goddess.
I appreciate the lady, psychologist who left, because we were humiliating a child who is 14 yr in front of the camera. If such a thing has to be proved, it can be very well proved in a scientific lab or at a doctors clinic. This does not have to be proved in front of the camera.
To Ranjana.. “just claim what you do and you will still get lot of pat on back for that, you are able to see through the blindfold and see from the bottom of the blindfold”. There is no harm in claiming this… magicians claim only this.. they are no god, they say its a trick.
I see there are reasons which supports this skill
1. Her face structure… ie, the lift of the nose, the cheek bone etc.. is such that she finds space to see through a blindfold.
2. She has ability to read at those angles which most of us dont try.
3. For myopic people often seeing through some thin vent works similar to how I see through glass. I used to do this in childhood. My eye power being -4.5, I can not read or see things beyond say 1 meter.But if I created a pin hole then I could see the same very clearly… so I think this has to do with optics, light transmission etc. So this helps her see when the opening is as small as a pinhole.
Pradeep
Good analysis, Pradeep!
I am told that the same mother-daughter duo went for an audition for some TV show to demonstrate their extraordinary so called talent and were thrown out in 30 seconds flat!