Puri: A radio without any electricity or batteries is functioning seamlessly and to see this wonder radio for themselves, residents nearby are visiting the house at Matiapada Radhakrushna lane in this town where Umakanta Rath, the radio owner, lives.
According to Umakanta, people of Puri had been in panic after the Indian Meteorological Department’s warning on the severe cyclone ‘Fani’ May 3.
Sensing that the television set would not work as the electricity would surely get disconnected and that radio would be the best medium to keep them informed, Umakanta had fallen back on the old radio.
He inserted three batteries into it to test whether it was working or not and the radio was working fine.
Gale and rain triggered by the cyclone caused widespread devastation in Puri town, May 3. A gust of wind had thrown the radio off the rack. It got damaged and its batteries came out.
But then, a family member had noticed a strange thing. With no battery in it, the radio was still playing.
Out of curiosity, the family member had turned off the radio and when again turned on, voices were coming out of it, leaving the panicked family members dumbfounded.
Meanwhile, 23 days have elapsed but the radio is still working fine without electricity and batteries.
Umakanta remembers he had bought this radio for Rs 350 in 1998. “I had put the radio on the shelf as a show piece after bringing a television set home. For 7 to 8 years we never felt the necessity of it,” he said adding the same radio has now become the talk of the town.
“On hearing this unusual incident, an elderly radio mechanic recently visited our house and examined the radio only to be left stupefied,” he added.
PNN