Do spirits exist? Well, ask Gaurav Tiwari, and he will offer a scientific approach towards paranormal phenomenon.

The founder of the Indian Paranormal Society, was in the city along with his team on Sunday with the intention to erase inner fears by imparting knowledge and creating awareness about paranormal activities.

The team conducted a workshop at Brigade Road on Sunday from morning 9 to 8 pm which was divided into two modules, namely 'Paranormal Investigation and Research' and 'Psychics and Psychic Development'.

The society is keen on kick-starting its paranormal investigation on places where some cases have been allegedly reported, but they are yet to get the permission. They have also received possession cases, residents haunting and also psychological cases from Bangalore.

The ghost research and investigators of the team is focused on studying and analysing the paranormal, scientifically.

Speaking to City Express, Gaurav said, "We have been receiving a lot of calls from Bangalore on their encounters with paranormal activity and we are here to make the city fearless. We try to resolve the problem of paranormal activity from a very scientific and logical approach. We do have our techniques and gadgets for the very purpose."

And what have they found in most places - ghosts or myths?

Susmita Chanda, director of the society says, "In three out of 10 cases, we have found real causes of paranormal activity. Remaining are associated with psychological reasons or myths which we eventually clear and make the victims aware of the reasons."

So, we ask Gaurav if he would tell people to believe in the existence of spirits and ghosts and he replies, "We do not preach belief in spirits or demons. Once we get a call about a place being haunted, our researchers investigate it with a scientific approach. In the process, sometimes we find out something that is unexplainable by science like an existence of different kind of energy or abrupt change in temperature."

The anti-superstition lobby works hard to enlighten people. On apprehension of such workshops deepening superstition, Susmita says, "The aim of our society is to quell any superstition involved, produce scientific reasons and break the myths that one carries. The jurisdiction of paranormal is wide and it is not limited to spirits but also includes study on black magic, demons and more."

The paranormal society makes use of hypnosis, gadgets like infrared thermometer, electronic voice phenomena device, electromagnetic field meter and a different kind of coaching to resolve problems associated with a haunted place. In fact, the society manufactures its own gadgets and also sells to others. Susmita adds, "Initially when we started out, we had to get them from US or China."

Gaurav says, "We consider both the aspects, paranormal and the human aspect. We provide coaching to eliminate fear. It is mandatory to be fear free as the fear factor aggravates the issue. Once we find out the root cause of the problem and understand the subject, we make use of hypnosis as well. We connect with them on a metaphysical level."

The Indian Paranormal Society has its local investigators in many places in the country.

Gaurav says, "If we have our local investigators in the city, we do not charge anything. However, if we have to send our investigators to a place, we will charge the travelling expenses."

Currently they are planning to establish a team of local investigators in Bangalore as well. He adds, "Three years ago, we had a team called the Spirit Seekers Army who had done considerable amount of work in the city. Now, we will have a new team in Bangalore as this city has a history of paranormal activities and who can ignore instances like the bungalow on St Marks Road."

Many of them are full-time members while others have day jobs. Since this is a free service by the society, we wonder how they meet their regular financial ends.

To this Susmita replies, "We get sanctions from organisations, both private and public. We also conduct seminars and workshops which one has to pay for. This is how the full-time members earns their bread and butter."

For details, http://www.indianparanormalsociety.com/