This is the story of a little girl of fourteen and the ambitions of her mother, whom Rakshi and I met at the studios of the Live India TV channel on the evening of the 18th of June. On this date, I got a call from the studio of Live India asking if I could come to their studio if I were in Delhi. Shubrum, Rakshi, and I were together and going to their house after a very important and successful meeting with the present director of Vigyan 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 them 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!

In the panel which went on air at 9:00 PM, there were an astrologer, an ophthalmologist, Rakshi, and I. The discussions started with the so-called unique talents of this girl and 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 it was something to be tested. The astrologer, as was 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 her 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 that was something which anyone could do, the blindfold was tied around my eyes and I was asked to read something held higher, and 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 remained to be seen 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 Government of India throughout the program! Then came the break and the fight between the anchor and Rakshi! When the show was off the air, heated discussions were going on about what was happening; there were arguments between them, and she used an expletive which caused the anchor to blow his top. Though I tended to agree with Rakshi, I am a veteran of many such shows and held my peace in the larger interests of the movement. That was followed by more heated arguments, and Rakshi had to go off the air.

But the panel continued without her, and so did the nonsense! Two pieces of cotton were kept on her eyes and the blindfold put back. Again, she managed to “see” a paper held before her eyes from the usual 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, as things came to pass later! In the proposal’s midst, there were many other superfluous things, like some footage from the Mahabharata in which Kunti put her unique powers into Duryodhana, etc. The astrologer was harping upon the powers of Sanjaya of the Mahabharata, who could read something 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 that happened in Dvapara Yuga and it was Kali Yuga now!

Then came the denouement! The next chance of proving her so-called miraculous powers was through another test. She was going to have dough applied to her eyes and then be asked to read things. I said I too wanted to participate in that 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 them to that place. When the ophthalmologist got ready with the dough, the girl complained that her eyes were paining and that she was having problems seeing! That was to be expected, as I could see the girl’s mother signalling to her—apparently out of the sight of all—that she should say no! The ever-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.

Though I had gotten ready with sticking plaster, there was no question of applying that as the girl was shedding copious tears. The whole drama was manipulated in such a way that the girl would be let off when it came to the crunch. She was ready for all the manipulations where 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 that. I was very vehement that the whole thing was a drama and asked why the rigorous criteria of applying dough to her eyes were not done in the first trial itself. I also wanted to know why I was not allowed to access the girl the first time itself! There was no need to go on for an hour when the whole so-called miraculous power could have been exposed in a few minutes. The whole issue was that of TRPs. They wanted to sacrifice a child at the altar of improving 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 exposed this girl, as the whole show was to go on for an hour or so.

In this process, they wanted the so-called special powers of this girl to be certified by us, and hence I was invited. The problem was that this invitation caused the whole exposure and the downfall. In the whole process, the child was hurt and had to undergo public humiliation. But the very relevant issues here are: how was a child put to this sort of exploitation? The anchor had been talking all the time about the “testimonial” awarded by the Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India. I was wondering all the time what was the cause to issue this? How can that department certify that this girl had the ability to “see” with her eyes blindfolded? The anchor was also bragging about the “certificates” issued by some local government medical officers. Who had given them the authority to certify this so-called miraculous power?

While the child’s so-called special ability, claimed to be a miraculous power, got exposed, what was the gullibility level of those who certified this? Did none of them have any sense to see how she was reading blindfolded? My conclusion was that it was not just one person who deserved that expletive used by Rakshi, but many more. More than the exposure of the so-called “miraculous” power, it was a greater exposure of how a publicity-hungry parent, TRP-crazy media, and gullible public joined to make a celebrity of an ordinary myopic girl who was peeking at things held under her nose through the gap between her eyes and cheek. The case needs a more thorough investigation by some agency looking after child welfare, as Ranjana Agarwal is only fourteen years old and legally a child.