Kundapur

Udupi

The family of Govinda, a resident of Vandse intaluk ofdistrict, became scared when they began to hear the sounds of a baby laughing from their coconut tree late every evening. The family approached an astrologer, seeking a remedy from the child’s laughter. They assumed that spirits were haunting them.The astrologer told them that evil spirts were troubling them, and they had to perform a homa. However, despite the pujas, the child continued to laugh from the coconut tree. The family was left clueless.Then coconut climber Seena Poojary came to their house. In the past, Seena Poojary had visited their house to pluck coconuts. On one such visit, this absent- minded tree climber had left his mobile phone in the tree after wrapping it in a plastic bag. It was only later in the evening that he realised that he had lost his mobile. Every day after returning from work, he would call his number from the phones of his family members. And that was the time that Govinda’s family would hear a baby laughing because that was Poojary’s phone’s ringtone.Poojary, who was confident that his phone was not stolen, started visiting houses and searching trees for his phone. It was only when he found his phone on the tree owned by Govinda’s family that they got rid of the spirits.Govinda’s family reportedly went back to the astrologer to tell him that it was not evil spirits but a mobile phone that was haunting them.