Lucknow: The people of almost entire Uttar Pradesh did not sleep a wink on Monday night when a rumour that person who sleeps would turn into a stone and possibility of an earthquake spread like wildfire.
The situation was repeated like two decades back when Lord Ganesha apparently drank milk. Last night rumour caught the cities in the state and gave some anxious moments to the people. In the state capital, people were forced to come out of their homes after phone calls were received that whoever sleeps tonight, will turn into a stone. Phones began to ring across the city and people were woken up by their well wishers.
As people reeled under this unprecedented rumour, another rumour spread like wild fire.
This time it was warning of an earthquake.
Woken up at the middle of the night, residents of Lucknow and other places rang up news’ offices to ascertain whether the news they were getting was authentic.
The rumour spread to the social networking sites like Facebook as several of its users posted updates about this. While some called upon their friends to keep awake, others rubbished the claims and asked people to be calm as this appeared to be a rumour.
Police control room also received several phone calls with people asking about the rumour.
Reports from Rae Bareli, Allahabad, Varanasi and other places also said people came out of their houses in the night after they came to know about the rumours.
In Rae Bareli, Police and district officials had to intervene and convince people to go inside their houses. (UNI)