Don't let the (para)normalities get you down

When Harry Potter wondered why the muggles don't see the knight bus, he was told by Stanley Shunpike: "Them! They don' listen properly. Do they? Don' look properly either. Never notice nuffink, they don'."

Similarly, when Mumbai-based Pooja Vijay, a psychic and certified metaphysician, and Sarbajeet Mohanty, a certified paranormal investigator and demonologist, founded India's only registered parapsychology organisation, The Parapsychology and Investigations Research Society, in 2016, a lot of people raised their eyebrows.

While explaining what it does, Mohanty tells us: "We have been carrying out research and investigation on the paranormal world for more than five years. We give people a chance to question anything and everything they see, hear or experience that is considered paranormal - from a black cat crossing your path being a bad omen to why one shouldn't clip nails once the sun is down."

Participants discuss the subject of paranormality

Having travelled across rural India to several haunted houses and spooky private properties to conduct research in this field, they are now holding their headlining event, Paranormal Meet Up, in Mumbai, for the first time. Reflecting on their experiences, they tell us that their events are attended by all sorts of people - believers, non-believers and people who claim to have experienced paranormality, first-hand. Their motive is not to change people's opinions. Rather, they intend to engage them in conversations about the paranormal world, given that it is a taboo topic, to encourage them to question, before jumping to conclusions - do ghosts look the way they're portrayed in movies? Why do witches always wear white sarees? Do spirits kill people? Why do they only appear at night?

The meet-up will entail playing and understanding the mechanism of the infamous ouija board; discussions around ghosts, spirits, demons, exorcism and everything in between; and live demonstrations of paranormal gadgets. "Our only request to the attendees is to keep an open mind," Mohanty insists, before signing off.

On: August 4, 4 pm to 7 pm
At: Zostel, DP Road, Marol, Andheri East.
Call: 9619303334
Log on to: insider.in
Cost: Rs 350

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