Urban legends and fairy tales had always had a special appeal on the human mind. And we, the residents of the capital city, are no exception. When the country has so many of them like the \u2018Muhnochwa\u2019 of Uttar Pradesh, \u2018Ratha Kaatteri\u2019 of Tamil Nadu, \u2018milk miracle\u2019 and \u2018onion witch\u2019 in Delhi, how can the most literate state be content with the memory of a female ghost using the telephone? That was long back! And so, here we present our Black Man.<\/p>\n
Who is he? Our share to the dark world of scare, the tall mysterious figure in black has been hanging around for quite sometime creating panic. He was last seen in Peroorkada where a youth was reportedly attacked. He has also left a big footprint which adds to the mystery. The police, who rushed in vain to the scenes to capture him, seem to be baffled too.<\/p>\n
So who can it be? Definitely not a phantom! Ideally, the Black Man can either be a psychopath who derives pleasure or a sense of power by scaring people, or he may be a pervert\/ group of perverts who uses scare as a veil to his\/their mischief. The police believe that it is a group of people who uses the \u2018fear factor\u2019 to aid their antisocial activities. So, is \u2018Black Man\u2019 actually \u2018Men in Black\u2019?<\/p>\n
Whoever it is, they have succeeded in making use of the most potent weapon- FEAR. Human mind has the tendency, intentional or not, to include flashes of the \u2018paranormal\u2019 in daily life. A pervert or psychopath on the loose would, in itself, be a matter of scare for any community and if \u2018paranormal\u2019 or \u2018supernatural\u2019 attributes are given to it, the chances of it affecting more people are increased. The fear within us magnifies it to a great extent. So, with the help of the \u2018paranormal\u2019 flavour, the force behind the creation of the so called Black Man has succeeded in spreading panic.<\/p>\n
And let us also consider the \u2018psychological viewpoint\u2019 which is more dangerous. What if a good portion of it is just a creation of our own minds? The vague memory of the so-called \u2018monkey man\u2019 who was quite popular in Delhi more than a decade back comes to mind now. Quoted as an instance of mass hysteria, it also appeared in popular culture as a metaphor of evil. Here, our Black Man has a lot in common to the monkey man.<\/p>\n
Then, the Black Man is present within us. No authority can get hold of him. Until we remove fear from our minds, we are going to have him with us. According to police there is no Black Man in the city and suburbs and these are all scandals.<\/p>\n
Well, it is easy to be rational in broad daylight. I have done my share. Once the dusk falls, every shadow or moving branch has begun to become \u201cBlack Man\u201d for me!<\/p>\n