How A Pop Song Miraculously Got Rid of My Fear of the Supernatural

Winter mornings are darker, and I usually scampered quickly down the short path towards the church to offer assistance during the early morning mass as an altar boy. But there were two small cemeteries on either side of the path and it could be quite scary for a young boy especially if there was no on else around.

Now if I had recited the religious chants of the Warrens in the Conjuring 2 or the rosary or even the wonderful Hanuman Chalisa may be there would have been nothing to fear. But my thoughts were extremely secular even then and I chose to recite the words of a popular pop song that alleviated all my fears and kept me cool and composed even though I was but a child.

My miraculous song was the catchy theme song of the first Ghostbusters movie sung by Ray Parker Jr. I still love the lyrics and I feel that if any of you want to truly overcome your fear of the supernatural, just recite these words:

If there's something strange
In you neighborhood
Who you gonna call
Ghostbusters
If there's something weird
And it don't look good
Who you gonna call
Ghostbusters

I ain't afraid of no ghost
I ain't afraid of no ghost

A few years later, I had to go for a 3-day retreat at Lonavala, but could only make it in the morning of the second day. We were amused to find that only the two of us would be sleeping in the entire second floor while the rest, about 40 young men, about 20 years of age, were occupying the first floor below us. We soon found out that the previous night there was a spooky story telling session that scared the living daylights out of our buddies. I slept soundly for the next 3 nights although I was alone in a room in a long empty corridor  far away from home. That was the amazing power of this song!

And now there's a controversy that some male chauvinists have a problem with ladies playing the lead role in the latest Ghostbusters Movie. I strongly feel that people should be always judged by their performance and not by their religion, caste, race, gender or socio-economic class!