If this sounds like the title of a B-grade Hindi movie, I crave your indulgence. It was all of a sudden that B. Premanand decided to pay a visit to Mangalore to see some of his old friends and acquaintances for what he feels is his last visit. Though we are not inclined to agree with him about that, it is certainly a miracle he is alive as of today. He was written off when diagnosed with cancer in November 2006. An eminent specialist to whom he was taken soon after informed his relatives that it would be better to leave him alone, as the large lump in his stomach could not be operated upon. In fact, it was said that if he was operated upon, he would die on the table. But a cancer surgeon was ready to operate, and Premanand, with his usual candor, said better die on the table than have a lingering death.

However, the operation was successful, but the postoperative complications would have finished him off. But he successfully fought them like he has taken on miracle men for most of his life. He was so emaciated postoperatively that we felt malnutrition would get the better of him. He overcame that with success and within a few months attended the general body meeting of FIRA held at Pune. At that time, he had no secondaries, and we were worried about when they would appear. Appear they did in July 2008. Chemotherapy was tried, but it did not work. So, again, he was written off. But the strong fighter that he is went on to finish the work of the Method of Science exhibition, which was his life’s ambition. That being successfully done and the exhibition thrown open to the public in March 2009, he has gone on with the second part—that is, the first floor of the same building, in which he wants to lodge his collection of books and miracles that he has exposed in his long stint as a guru busters. The work is now going on, and we are sure he will accomplish that too!

During his visit, we felt that we could have some interactions with the citizens of Mangalore and the activists of the movement who wanted to speak to him. Such an interaction was held at Canara College, Mangalore, on the 26th of July. About 40 attended this meeting, which was held despite the threats of certain groups that it would not be allowed. The jurisdictional police station was informed that there would be disturbances, and even the head of the institution was warned about the same. However, our movement, always under threat from a variety of such reactionary groups, went ahead with the meeting, which went off very peacefully.

This gave an opportunity to ask him about his work and his views on a number of subjects. Though he appeared very tired physically, he was mentally alert, replied to queries, and took active part in the discussions. Some of the issues raised and discussions that followed are reported here.

The first question was by Vasudeva Uchil of Samudaya, a progressive-minded cultural organization, who queried him as to whether he saw any change in the attitude of society towards the rationalist movement in the last four decades. He replied that he could see a change—that when he started his work, people were not prepared even to listen to him. If children wanted to hear him, the mothers would pull them away. Now, he said, at least they are prepared to hear us. But he regretted that the media has now started the spread of new superstitions and felt that there was a great need to counter them. The next question was about what is the attitude of rationalists to God. His reply was that we are not bothered about God. It does not matter whether one exists or not. But we are really worried about what happens in the name of God, the persons who claim that they are God, the agents of God, and the exploitation that goes on in the name of God.

He was asked about the efficiency of yoga as an exercise, and he replied that he was one of the five top disciples of Swami Narayananda. The others were B.K.S. Iyengar, Swami Rama, Swami Gitananda, and one more whose name he said had slipped from his memory. He also said that he ran away from the ashram when he saw this swami, who claimed to be a celibate, having sex with a woman who had come to learn yoga from him. He said that among the yogic postures, only Surya Namaskara could be categorized as an exercise because it involved movement and bending. When queried about rebirth, he gave examples of how people had been fooled in the name of such, and a case of a lady who claimed to be reborn in Nagpur. It was just a case of a jilted lover seeking to reclaim the heart of her lover! He gave many other examples. He also narrated instances when he was in New York and Washington and had invited Stevenson, a top proponent of rebirth cases, to a debate and how he had not turned up. The discussions went on for nearly three hours, and despite the threat of the saffronites, none of their goons turned up to either join the proceedings or the discussions. The proceedings were reported in some newspapers of the area.

On the 27th of July, a local organization of science activists had a drama performance at the Town Hall to collect funds for their activities, mainly for those of the Democratic Youth Federation of India. When they came to know that Premanand would be in town that day, they invited him to come over and wanted to honor him. He was invited onto the stage, and a well-known activist of the Konkani culture movement, Eric Ozario, was asked to present him a shawl and a garland. When he touched his feet, Premanand told him that it was not correct and spoke to the audience for a few minutes. He told them that though he was 80 years of age, he continued to be an atheist and did not believe in any supernatural forces or powers.

He returned to Podanur on the 28th, and when going, informed us that after finishing his work of building a museum of so-called miracles, he would go to Bangalore to spend the rest of his life. As a parting shot, he told me that for a man who was written off by astrologers when he was a baby, keeping himself alive for eight decades was an achievement by itself. He keeps reminding us that when he was born, his father wanted his horoscope to be cast. No astrologer was willing to do it, as they all declared that this baby would not live for more than a few days! The very fact that he is alive, he says, is proof that astrology is bunkum.