This morning India and other parts of Asia had witnessed the longest solar eclipse of this century. Whenever there is a eclipse, there would be a clash between " progressive people" and "geeks" over their facts and beliefs. Immediately, both print media and electronic media would dish out do's and don'ts instructions to "educate" the mass. For instance, As per a belief , it is not advisable to take food before and during the eclipse. But, this belief has no science grounding . Hence, the rationalists would repudiate this claim.
Just 2 weeks back, I was watching a programme on TV about the neurological department of the Government General Hospital, Chennai. In which a senior staff of the dept said " scientifically , I cannot say there is a connection between neurological problem and New Moon day(ammavasai) , Full Moon day (purnima)however, during these periods the patients problems aggravates to a larger extent this is my personal experience ".
Instead of pooh-poohing the beliefs let there be a research in this regard afterall, the science brings out the newer results everytime it undertakes a new study.
