Undeniably, the following events indicate the presence of a spirit. The most reliable occurrence was a spirit manifesting himself to a clairvoyant. He had come to offer spiritual advice to his ageing nephew. The latter had recently lost almost everything and everyone of value to him.
Then, there was the unsighted spirit who had pulled off a small mirror from a wall and placed it safely on a nearby bench; a photo was pulled off another wall some weeks later and placed between the slats of a vertical blind minutes after the blind had been dusted. This photo had been taken in the company of a close friend who had died recently; the spirit of this person was telling her Earth-bound friend where she is now.
There was also an apparent beetle (not visible but very audible) which seemed to have come out from the ceiling in one room, flown past the observer, and then disappeared into the ceiling of another room. Such an occurrence has been written about as evidence of a spirit passing through. Its significance is clearly unknowable.
It is surely significant that the first two interventions above were intended to be beneficial. It is also unexceptional for the spirit of an uncle to offer guidance to his favourite nephew – especially when the latter was very much on his own, and in a nation lacking the ethos of communalism. In this essentially white outpost set in coloured seas, the extended family lacks the cohesive characteristics evident in Asian cultures.
Yet, was there any indication, in any earlier time, of an interest or involvement by someone in the spirit realm in the life of one who was destined to repeatedly ease his way in an initially unwelcoming land, to be subsequently isolated from kith and kin and, throughout his life, falling into holes which were definitely not there – even as he acquired valuable knowledge, and made significant contributions to his various communities.
Most surprisingly, there were 2 indications, almost half a century apart.
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 