Fear of the Dark

"What happens after dark, in the park?"

I am quoting from a poem we studied in school in standard seventh. We were supposed to analyze it and answer questions such as the poet's psyche and the central theme. I distinctly remember the teacher instructing us to ridicule the questions asked in the poem as what happened in the park at night was not a mystery at all. It stood exactly as it did in the daytime.

But to be honest, the dark brings a sense of fear or at least a sense of discomfort in the hearts of many. When the lights go off at night and the room is plunged into darkness, the familiar room suddenly seems to be frightening. If lo behold there is a noise from somewhere like that of things falling and you are as nervy as my Mom, God save you from a night of nervous tension.

Science states many reasons to explain the fear of the dark. The optician's reason - Eyes are accustomed to sunlight or artificial light for the most part of the day. A sudden change in the illumination affects the optic nerves and causes a tension which makes its way through the eyes to the heart. Remember the inertia in Physics? The psychiatrist's reason - It's all in the mind of the individual. The dark makes the surroundings obscure and we tend to imagine things lurking nearby when in reality nothing exists. So on and so forth.

But as movies and books would have us believe, the dark is when beings from the world beyond prefer to roam around in scary attire. Any specific purpose, I often wonder? Considering they are supposedly invisible, they would remain concealed even at daytime. So the security reason (from the ghost's point of view of course) does not hold. One reason that is quite logical is that the unearthly beings crave peace. Nights have people sleeping, the roads are deserted, the daytime noise is absent. And frightening people when their defences are not at their best and the setting is eerie, is definitely much more fun than barging in and making things fall from shelves in broad and friendly sunshine.

Apart from ghosts, the dark is also ideal for criminals of various categories. Thieves, robbers, murderers - you name it. Even if you are brave enough to confront an evil Casper, you may not be up to a knife or a revolver.

Lately, what scares me most about nights is the attack of the Creepy Crawlies. They can be seen all around any source of illuminations be it tube lights or floodlights or even a table lamp. They irritate the skin and the scalp, they fly all over the place and are truly menacing. But all that is evil is destined to end and it gives me great satisfaction to see them all dead in the mornings.

Nights are beautiful though, in their own way. They stand for serenity and peace, the moon and the stars, the hidden and the unspoken. If the dark and his courtiers doesn't scare you, good job. For the rest, no matter what your reason is, be assured that dawn is near. Until dawn, of course, what happens in the park after dark, is a question with many possible answers.