First published in 2020 by Hachette India
(Registered name: Hachette Book Publishing India Pvt. Ltd)
An Hachette UK company
www.hachetteindia.com
This ebook published in 2020
(Text) Copyright 2020 Sarbajeet Mohanty and Neil DSilva
Sarbajeet Mohanty and Neil DSilva assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be copied, reproduced, downloaded, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover or digital format other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The views and opinions expressed in this book are the authors own, and the facts are as reported by them and have been verified to the extent possible. The publishers are not in any way liable for the same.
Paperback edition ISBN 978-93-89253-43-6
Ebook edition ISBN 978-93-89253-44-3
Cover design by Neelima P Aryan
Cover photograph iStock
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To all the spirits out there who deemed it fit within their grand universal plan to take time out to talk to me
DO GHOSTS AND SPIRITS really exist or are they a figment of an overactive imagination? If they are indeed actual entities with a life and will of their own, are they to be found wandering around in our world? If so, why do they choose to trespass instead of confining themselves to their own realm? How do they manifest, and can they actually interact with us?
What is the truth behind stories of haunting? Are they simply an attempt at sensationalism taken to its height as a prank or are they an actual takeover by spirits? Is possession the manifestation of human psychological disorders or is it a condition induced in human beings by trapped spirits of the dead desperately seeking release and, in the process, wreaking havoc on the lives of their chosen victims? Are vengeful ghosts malevolent spirits on a destructive spree or are they wronged souls imprisoned in an unfortunate past from which they are unable to escape?
Then there are the elves and the fairies, the creatures and demons of folklore the stories passed down generations. Do they belong solely to the realm of myth and fantasy or have they sprung from deeper truths that speak to those swearing by their existence and phenomenal powers?
It was their individual quests to find answers to such intriguing questions that brought Sarbajeet Mohanty from Bhubaneswar and Pooja Vijay from Mumbai, two young people with a keen interest in parapsychological phenomena, together.
Sarbajeets own story, which features in this book, is an unusual tale of transformation and traces his obsession with the unknown. As a child, growing up in a small town near Bhubaneswar in Odisha, he found himself battling several phobias, the primary one being a morbid fear of the dark. While this is not an uncommon fear in children, in Sarbajeets case it went on to acquire such an alarming magnitude that, at one point, he even fell ill from the stress it was causing him.
A quiet, sensitive child, Sarbajeet could sense the presence of entities in the dark that were invisible to the average adult. It did not take his parents long to realize that he was different from other children, and they set about looking for ways to help normalize their son, in the hope that he would eventually grow out of his fear. Running parallel to these efforts were Sarbajeets own attempts to overcome the crippling effects of his phobia.
With time, he came to recognize that his heightened awareness of phenomena beyond the physical realm was a special gift that needed to be appropriately channelled so that its intended purpose could be fulfilled.
While Sarbajeet was going through his own struggles, Pooja had experienced several unexplained occurrences in her life as well. From early childhood, she had had visions of her past life. There even came a time when she began communicating in a language that was unknown to her family and initially dismissed as gibberish.
Later, as a teenager, she had a dark premonition that her mother would meet with a car accident. When the mishap did take place eleven days later, she was shocked to discover that the details uncannily matched those in her premonition.
Over the years, Pooja developed an uneasy sense of being constantly watched and acknowledges receiving communication from what she now refers to as the other side. Such unexplained phenomena would gradually become commonplace for her. She also realized she could see peoples auras and, with a little effort, even probe their past lives.
Sarbajeet and Pooja eventually met on a social media group for paranormal enthusiasts and discovered, to their mutual surprise, that their thoughts on how they could take their individual abilities forward were startlingly similar. The seed for the idea of setting up a formal society to conduct paranormal research and investigation was thus sown.
Accordingly, on 1 September 2016, the two founded the Parapsychology and Investigations Research Society (PAIRS), registered under its parent organization, the Parapsychology Reformative Social Society (PRSS). In the few short years of its existence, PAIRS has evolved and grown into an organization that is much sought-after by those keen on fathoming the mysteries of the unknown.
The duo devoted the next few years to individually honing their special abilities with the right kind of training. Having already acquired a BTech in electrical engineering from Bhubaneswars SOA University, Sarbajeet went on to become a certified paranormal investigator after completing a course at the Institute of Metaphysical Humanistic Science, Florida. He subsequently trained at Ohios New Life Ministry Church School, where he was also ordained as a reverend of the church, to become a certified demonologist the worlds youngest, at the age of seventeen.
Pooja, in the meantime, had completed her post-graduation in operations management from the University of Mumbai and become a certified metaphysician, acquiring her training and degree from the Institute of Metaphysical Humanistic Sciences in Florida.
Armed with their respective qualifications and experiences, the two paranormal investigators were now ready to put a concrete plan in place for their newly founded paranormal society. Their one-line mission to help souls from both worlds defines the nature of their work today.
PAIRS gained recognition when the team was approached to do a show called, Mana Ki Na Mana on a popular Odia TV channel. Comprising fifty episodes and anchored by Sarbajeet and Pooja, it not only served as the ideal medium for sharing their perspectives on a little-known and generally misunderstood subject with a much wider audience but also helped them acquire significant popularity.
Soon, the PAIRS duo was being approached by many to investigate unexplained phenomena in their homes or workplaces. By this time, PAIRS had gathered together a team of several members with similar interests and inclinations as that of its two founders Sarbajeet and Pooja.
