Ramanisblog

Tag: offbeat

  • Woman Gives Birth to a Mummy?

    A medical Miracle?
    Surprising tht she has been alive with this for such a long period.
    “In 1955 in a small village just outside Casablanca, 26 year old Zahra Aboutalib is pregnant with her first child. She was looking forward to giving birth, but after 48 hours of painful labour, she was rushed to the local hospital. Doctors informed her that she would need a caesarean section. On the ward Zahra saw a woman in terrible pain die in child-birth. She fled the hospital fearing she would meet the same fate if she remained.
    In the days that followed, Zahra continued to suffer excruciating labour pains but the baby remained resolutely in her womb. After a few more days the pains ceased and the baby stopped moving.
    In Moroccan culture, it is believed that a baby can sleep inside the mother to protect her honour. Zahra believed this myth and put the pregnancy out of her mind. She adopted three children and in due course they made her a grandmother.
    Many years later when Zahra was 75 years old, the pains suddenly returned. Her son being concerned for his mother’s well-being wanted her to see a specialist. For this they had to travel to Rabat where they saw Professor Taibi Ouazzani. He suspected the protruding belly was being caused by an ovarian tumour and arranged for her to have an ultra-sound scan. This revealed a large mass that he could not identify.
    He referred Zahra to a specialist radiographer for a second opinion. He could see it was a calcified structure of some sort, but it took a detailed MRI scan to reveal that it was the baby Zahra had conceived 46 years earlier.
    Zahra had an ectopic pregnancy where the egg had implanted in the fallopian tube. The foetus that developed, burst out of the fallopian tube and continued to develop in the abdominal cavity. It survived by attaching it’s placenta to vital organs around her stomach.
    Professor Ouazzania was faced with a difficult decision when deciding if it would be safe to try and remove the foetus. The foetus weighed 7lb and measured 42cm in length.
    Stone Baby
    When they operated they discovered that the foetus had calcified and was a hard, solid lump. It was, essentially, a stone-baby. More concerning was the fact that it had fused with her abdominal wall and vital organs.
    After nearly 4 hours the surgeons manage to remove the calcified foetus from Zahra and the operation is hailed a success.

    Dissected foetus showing internal organs

    In an ectopic pregnancy, if the dead foetus is too large to be re-absorbed by the mother’s body it becomes a foreign body to the mother’s immune system. To protect itself from possible infection the mother’s body will encase the foetus in a calciferous substance as the tissues die and dehydrate.
    As the calciferous wall builds up, the foetus is gradually mummified becoming a lithopedion or stone babay.”

  • 13 month old chews off Snake’s Head!

    Pure reflex , unsullied by Fear!

    ”

    Thirteen-month-old Imad Aleeyan, who has six teeth, was found chewing on the head of the 12 inch snake by his mother, who alerted the neighbourhood with her screams.

    “I was making his milk and I looked over and saw he had a snake in his mouth,” said his mother, Ghadir Aleeyan who lives in the Arab Israelitown of Shefa’Amr, 9 miles east of the port city of Haifa.

    “I started to scream. I couldn’t believe my eyes,” she told AFP. “I nearly died of fright.”

    Her screams brought the rest of the family – and the neighbourhood – running.

    “We rushed in and found the baby with a snake in his mouth, chewing it. It was really scary, just horrible,” the boy’s aunt, Yasmin Shahin, said.

    A neighbour who had rushed to see what was going on yanked the half-dead reptile out of the boys mouth and killed it, she said.

    “When he pulled it out, Imad started crying,” she said, describing the snake’s head as “very badly chewed” when it emerged from the boys mouth.

    They immediately checked the child for any bite marks but found none, with doctors at Rambam hospital in Haifa confirming he was unharmed.

    “Doctors at the hospital told us the snake was really poisonous but that we were very lucky because they release less venom in the winter,” she said.

    Dr Boaz Shacham, an expert on amphibians and reptiles, told AFP that from looking at images of the smashed-up serpent online, it appeared to be a coin-marked snake (hemorrhois nummifer), a non-venomous species which resembles a viper.

    Such snakes grow up to three feet in length, he said suggesting it was a “very young” specimen.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9044599/Toddler-chews-head-off-snake.html

  • Man Marries His Dead Girl Friend! Video.

    Sympathize with him or call him immature?

    “Thailand– In Thailand’s Surin province a man did something that sounds pretty sweet and also a little bit creepy.  Chadil Deffy, also known as Deff Yingyuen, held a wedding ceremony with his dead girlfriend Sarinya “Anne” Kamsook at her funeral service.  The couple had been together for 10 years.

    Yingyuen and Anne had been discussing marriage for sometime before Anne died, but Yingyuen wanted to concentrate on getting his degree first while Anne wanted to concentrate on her career, the Thai-Asean News (TAN) Network reported.

    Unfortunately, Anne was involved in a major car accident which took her life earlier this week.

    According to the Pattaya Daily News, the couple met at Thailand’s Eastern Asia University more than 10 years ago and immediately fell in love.  They had been planning to marry for many years before the tragedy.  Wreaths were put up all over the school in remembrance of Anne.

     http://w.po.st/share/entry/redir?publisherKey=Inquisitr.com-607&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inquisitr.com%2F185642%2Fthai-man-marries-his-dead-girlfriend-at-her-funeral%2F&title=Thai%20Man%20Marries%20His%20Dead%20Girlfriend%20At%20Her%20Funeral%20%5BVideo%5D&sharer=copypaste

  • Haunted Campus Buildings.My experience with the Paranormal.

    One can not dismiss these things totally untrue.

    I have two experiences .

    It was in 1968 -69 in Chennai,India where I completed my Graduation and i was a hostel student.

    One of my friends, who had a house near by vacated his house and joined the hostel.

    On being asked why he replied that his house was haunted and that his parents have shifted to Bangalore and   to continue his studies he had joined the hostel.

    About four of us went to the said House along with the one who said his house was haunted after watching a late night movie.

    Around 1 am, (Ido not recollect the exact time), we had all the glass panes of the windows closed and had the doors of the house locked( we were in the first floor room of the house).

    After about 15-30 minutes Jasmine Scent wafted through the air.

    It was followed by the figure of a lady floating through the glass pane.

    Needless to say we ran to the hostel for cover and one my friends had an attack of Fever for several days.

    Another instance.

    I went to Sabarimala,Kerala, as a Pilgrimage.

    This place is revered to be Abode of Lord Ayyappa and one has to undergo strict  Discipline( non-Hindus also visit the place) before embarking on the pilgrimage.(1970)

    We stayed in a place ,Pampa.After morning rituals we noticed that an elderly man of about Eighty  in a small temporary shelter( every one has to make one) ,sitting in front of the photo of Lord Ayyappa,exhorting and crying that he be allowed to visit the sanctum sanctorum(which is about 2 km up the hill) for he was informed in the dream that he need not come to the sanctum sanctorum.

    After about 15 – 20 minutes, a man from the people around us stood up and stood in front of the crying man and informed him “I shall give my Vision here for you’

    The crying man asked him as to who he was and what authority he had to speak to him thus.

    The man straightened and said”if it is true I am God ,I shall show my Vision in my true form here this evening at 6-40( the time the Vision in the form of a Light appears every year).

    Then he started running through the river up-stream towards the sanctum.

    We were instructed by our Guru to chase him.

    Five or  six of us(those who followed him were by no means ardently devout or deeply religious and are practical men from fields like marketing,Accountancy),chased him and found it difficult to catch up with the man who was around fifty years and we  were in the age group of 20 -30.

    Eventually we caught up with him, caught his hands and asked him to come with us to meet our Guru.

    He straightened and said ‘Who can call Me?”-

    Next ,

    Our hands were clutching thin air and the man simply vanished.

    I am qualified in Philosophy and Psychology and a hard-core Management Professional with a Skeptic outlook on Spirituality.(only of late I have become an Advaitin by conviction)

    Till date I am unable to comprehend what took place around 40 years ago with all my Analytical Skills and logic)

    Story:

    Plenty of college campuses have creepy spots. Desolate library stacks, bathrooms that no one uses, and dark pathways have been giving college kids the willies for years. But there are some spots that are bona fide haunted, with a history to prove it. Read on to learn about 10 campus buildings that are more than just a little creepy.

    1. Jennings Hall, Bennington College: This building now houses the music department of Bennington college, and students have often witnessed paranormal activity. It was the inspiration for The Haunting of Hill House, a Shirley Jackson novel. Strange voices, footsteps, and instruments that play themselves have been heard. The area Bennington College is located in is known as “Bennington Triangle” where many people went missing between 1920 and 1950.
      1. Strayer College: The Strayer College building in Bensalem, Pennsylvania is the former site of Eastern State School and Hospital. The building is rumored to be haunted by patients who were killed or treated unfairly. Figures follow people, doors slam shut to trap people inside, and the former morgue is cold and breezy even without windows. The 4th floor is believed to be especially treacherous, so much so that it’s life threatening.
      2. Pemberton Hall, Eastern Illinois University: At Pemberton Hall, a girl was brutally murdered and raped by a psychotic janitor. The hall is now haunted, with doors mysteriously locking after young girls enter, bloody footprints, and clocks that turn back in time. Music plays from the piano the victim played on, even though the entire floor is boarded up.
      3. Alpha Theta House, Dartmouth College: The Alpha Theta fraternity house experienced a boiler explosion and fire, killing fraternity brothers and their female companions. These spirits are said to haunt the house, particularly in the house basement, which is the remaining original structure.
      4. Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority House, Ohio University: This sorority house was once a private residence and a stop on the Underground Railroad. It was stormed when locals found out that the owner was harboring fugitive slaves, and a slave named Nicodemus was shot there. He has since haunted the house, which has passed hands among several Greek groups in the university, presumably due to the disturbances.
      5. Sage College of Albany Fine Arts/Graphic Design Building: Sage College of Albany’s Graphic Design building is located in a former children’s orphanage, and has ghosts from the children who died in a fire set by the caretaker. Numerous ghosts can still be heard in the building.
      6. Baylor University Library: Baylor University’s library has some original works from Elizabeth Barrett Browning, with a statue in her likeness in front of the building. The statue’s arms are said to move, and she has been seen peering inside the top floor window. She may also be seen walking the halls at night in a white gown holding a candle.
      7. Graceland House, Davis & Elkins College: In the Graceland House, a slave was beaten to death and buried in the dirt floor basement, and may still be there. This house has noises and feelings of being watched or followed, so badly that a prom held there had to be shut down.
      8. Shelton Hall, Boston University: This dorm was once a Sheraton Hotel overlooking the Charles River and Fenway Park. Before it became a dorm, playwright Eugene O’Neill lived and subsequently died in room 401. He now haunts that floor, which the school reserves for writing students.
      9. Texas Tech University Water Tower: On the coldest night of the year in Lubbock, 5-6 young men can be seen on the top catwalk going around the water tank. They will stay up all night as if spending the night. This sighting has happened each year from around 1949 on.

                  http://www.matchacollege.com/blog/2011/10-campus-buildings-that-are-totally-haunted/


  • Makara Jyothi Sabarimalai Man made? NO.

    Updated 23 February 2014.

    I received information from a Reader through Facebook that Indian Express Newspaper Reporter has clicked a Photo of people lighting the Makara Jothi.Unfortunately he has not been able to get it from the IE archives.

    Instead he forwarded me a Link which I am providing below..

    ”

    The Media and individuals who are sceptical of the Makarajyothi have disputed it. According to them the light is an artificial fire clandestinely lit by the officials of Sabarimala temple, the Travancore Devaswom Board and Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in connivance with some of the forest and police officials. It is created by burning a large quantity of camphor cubes kept in a silver platter. Several correspondents have visited the hill station where the camphor-fire is lit is claimed to be in the control of the forest department of the Government of Kerala.

     Sceptics’ explanation

    A number of attempts have been made by rationalists, other individuals, and Media to find out the truth behind this miracle and to give a natural explanation to it.

    In 1973 about 24 persons from the Kollam district of Kerala reached Ponnambalamedu hills where the light appreared and bursted fire crackers. They were later taken into custody by the police after a complaint (“defiling the sanctity of Ponnambalamedu”) was lodged by B. Madhavan Nair, the then chairman of Travancore Devaswam Board. Since they did not commit any crime under the Indian Penal Code, they were to be released unconditionally.[citation needed] In 1980, a group of rationalists from Trichur also visited Ponnambalamedu and reported about it.”

    Link to the above information does not seem to work.

    Even in this article there is NO evidence that the Makara Jothi is Man Made.

    Please read below towards the closing of the post on Makara Jothi and Makara Vilakku.

    Makara Jothi is an unexplained Phenomenon while Makara Vilakku is lit on the Ponnambla Medu by the Devaswam Board .

    I have visited Sabarimalai about 15 times and had Darshan of the Jyoti in 1971.

    The light could have been due to Astronomical phenomena at the time of Sun changing Signs.

    I have ascertained through extensive study that no Astronomical/Star/Electrical/Magnetic activity is associated with the appearance of the Jyothi at the latitude/longitude at the site.

    The other reason is people light camphor or other materials.

    If you look at the jyothi,it appears thrice in immediate succession, with not enough time in between to light by man thrice.

    The jyothi’s shape is some thing that does not indicate man made fire.

    It bobs ans skims in the sky;this again is not possible if the jyothi is man made.

    “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
    Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

    WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V abt. 1601

    Story:

    Every year, lakhs of pilgrims – mostly from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka — throng to the hill temple to witness the divine light that pops up three times soon after the deeparadhana (the ceremony of showing lighted camphor to the idol of Ayyappa) at around 7 pm.

    This year too, the transition of the rashi from Dhanu to the auspicious Makara (the Malayalam month of Makara) took place at 6.44 pm Friday and this was followed by the deeparadhana at 6.50 pm.

    At 7.07 pm, the first blob of light popped up on Ponnabalamedu as lakhs of pilgrims chanted the Ayyappa Sharanam mantra. Within minutes, two more episodes of the `divine’ light appeared against the backdrop of a pitch dark winter sky.

    Critics, including a few Ayyappa devotees, have of late questioned the appearance of the divine light. A few, who had studied the `phenomenon’ and got `evidence’, had come to the conclusion that there was nothing divine or mysterious about the light. The Ponnambalamedu is a thick forested area and is closely guarded by the State Forest Department and the Electricity Board. Nobody is allowed to go to the area.

    Sources say that atop the Ponnambalamedu there was a small temple that was once the centre of worship of a few tribes who prayed and paid their respects to Ayyappa once a year by lighting camphor and wood.

    After the tribes vanished and were `consumed’ by modernisation, officials of the electricity board continued lighting huge amounts of camphor on Makara 1 or January 14 every year.

    Now, sources say, the tribal temple has vanished and a huge concrete platform has been constructed. Huge heaps of camphor are put into large bowls and lighted. Soon, the flames are extinguished using large wet sacks. After a few minutes, it is lit again and the process goes on for two more times.

    Recently, the Kerala government and the temple authorities admitted for the first time the Jyothi was not a celestial occurrence but a fire lighted by men.

    Devaswom Minister G Sudhakaran openly said: “I was present on the Makaravillukku day at the Sabarimala last season. I saw the celestial star and it is at that very time that Makaravilakku is lighted. There is no doubt about it that it is lighted by the men.”

    Rahul Easwar, grandson of Sabarimala chief priest, later said: “It’s a misunderstanding in the mind of misinformed people not informed devotees. Makarajyothi is different and Makaravillkku is different that’s why there are two names. Makarajyothi is a celestial star while Makaravillakku is symbolic lighting of lamp in place called Ponambalamedu, where there was a temple earlier.”

    An embarrassed Devaswom Board, which administers the temple and earns crores during the Jyothi season, said it had absolutely no role in lighting Makaravillaku as it happens in a jungle, which is not under the Board’s control.

    Ponnambalamedu is about 4 Km away from the Sabarimala temple and very close to Kochupamba Power Substation which supplies power to Sabarimala. It is under the control of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB).

    There is just one rough road that leads to Ponnambalamedu and this is closely guarded by the Forest Department officials. Ponnambalamedu is at an elevation of 1170m above MSL and Sabarimala is just 544m – making the view of the Jyothi very clear.

    While the Jyothi may be man-made, the appearance of `Garuda’ — an eagle – is still a mystery. The eagle escorts the Thiruvaabharanam (the box that carries the ornaments for Ayyappa) from the royal palace in Pandalam and then vanishes. It comes back then the ornaments are taken from Sabarimala to Pandalam.

    So why are the authorities keeping silent on the divine light. It is pure commerce. The State earns crores during the Sabarimala Jyothi pilgrimage season. According to the figures provided by the Devasom, collections at the temple had crossed Rs.131 crore as of Thursday, while last season it was Rs.120 crore during the same period. All this may go up in flames if there is an official denial.

    While the Dewasom earns in crores, the devotees are put to hardships. The authorities charge Rs 350 for rooms with the promise of cots and beds. But in reality, there are no cots, the toilets are dirty and the authorities collect Rs 600 to 900 unofficially.

    The money for annadhanam is not properly accounted; those who pay in thousands get priority for darshan and there is large scale pilferage and kickbacks in construction projects.

    Will the stampede open the proverbial can of worms?

    http://news.in.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4805771&page=4

    This article does not advance arguments or proof that the Light is man-made.

    Why the provocative title?

    Please read my blog on makara jothi 2011for unbiased writing.

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