This is about those brave ’souls’ who were very keen to teach us a lesson and then learnt the lesson that they had much more to learn than to teach, and hence chose the easy way out - run away! There are quite a number of people who have taken that path, however I am going to write only about those few that I can recall off hand. There is a lot of publicity being accorded to the one who was threatened by a Tantrik in 2008 on a TV channel. Two years later, it is still being talked about. It brings to my mind an incident that happened about a decade ago in a place called Charvathur, 75 kms south of Mangalore. Read the full story

Last week I had the fortune of being at one of James Randi’s amazing lectures in New York City. Randi, popularly known as the Amazing Randi, is a magician of repute who has dedicated the last few decades to investigating paranormal claims. His organization, the James Randi Educational Fundation is world famous for offering a million dollar prize to anyone who can demonstrate genuine supernatural powers. Randi has been on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson 22 times. At this event that was organized by the NYC Skeptics at the Caspary auditorium in Rockafeller University last Friday, the 80 year old Randi was as insightful as ever, leaving the crowd in laughs and amazement. By the time he was through, it was obvious why he is considered one of the leaders of the skepticism/ rationalism movement in America. After the lecture, I had the wonderful experience of interviewing him for a few minutes, in the lobby of the building.

Me: Mr Randi, are you familiar with India and the problems we have there with con-men and snake-oil salesmen?

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