Rumors that became legends

I was in Grade 3 win this incident took place. I had just returned from the school. It was 12:30 in the afternoon. Me and my mother were at home when the phone rang. The call was from Mrs Joshi, our next door neighbour. She had called to tell my mother that she heard that the idols of Ganpati Bappa are drinking milk. She did not provide any further details and quickly hung up because she was in the office. My mother and I, both of us where surprised to hear that. But being religious and devotees of Lord Ganesh we placed a bowl of milk in front of the idol in our home.

Later a neighbour also came to our home. She told us the same thing. However there was one difference. She had instructed us to take the milk in a teaspoon and hold the spoon at the trunk of Ganpati Bappa. Then Bappa will drink milk. We tried that but we did not succeed.

By the mid afternoon the news had gone viral. Every temple had long queue of devotees who wanted to offer milk to Ganpati Bappa. With every passing hour we were getting news from various people that the idols in their home were drinking milk. There was a family in my society complex. We heard that at their home the idol of Ganpati Bappa is drinking milk. Me and my mother hurriedly went to their place. The aunty told me to offer milk to Ganpati Bappa saying that Bappa is accepting milk from children in large quantity as compared with the adults. She insisted that it is because children are innocent and hence gods always prefer the offerings from children. As per her suggestion I offered milk to Bappa however I was not sure whether it was consumed. This went on for the entire day. At least I know that every person in Mumbai was trying their luck with multiple idols of Bappa so that they can feed milk to their favourite god.

This was such a widespread phenomenon that the news companies had also been covering the events. Reporters from various news companies were stationed at the major and prominent temples of Mumbai. They had been reporting live from outside of the temples. They were talking with the devotees and were asking about their experience in the temple. News channels had also arranged group discussions and debates on this topic. The panelist were mainly the self proclaimed godmen and people representing science. The discussion went on for the entire day.

Somehow the events, occurrence, and discussions frazzled with the end of the day. The next day became just like any other day in the city of Mumbai. There was little discussion here and there but the phenomenon had diminished within 24 hours itself.

When I was studying science in the college I realised that the phenomenon of Lord Ganesh drinking milk was nothing but a capillary effect. It happened back then and it would happen even today. There was nothing special about that day and it was just a result of a very established scientific phenomenon.

Irrespective of how we see this today I can say one thing for sure. It became a sensation even without internet or social media. It became "viral" when the term "viral" was not even used in practice. It definitely was a rumor that became a legend.