Knocking on a door three times at night is believed to be the act of an evil spirit; only the fourth knock is considered safe

[Scene: 10:30 PM, Amit’s flat in Chennai. Ravi and Amit are lounging on the balcony, sipping tea. Crickets chirp in the distance.]

Ravi: (nervously glancing at the door)
Bro, remind me again — you didn’t hear three knocks just now, right? Only two?

Amit: (raising an eyebrow)
What are you talking about? I heard the delivery guy knock once. Maybe twice. Why?

Ravi: (whispering)
Because three knocks at night is a sign of an evil spirit! Didn’t your grandmother ever tell you that?

Amit: (laughs)
You mean the “only the fourth knock is safe” thing? Come on, Ravi. That’s not a security system. That’s superstition on steroids.

Ravi:
Say what you want, but it’s been said for generations. My Chitti in Madurai swears it happened to her. One night at 1 AM—three knocks. No one was there. Next morning, her favorite cow Lakshmi just… vanished.

Amit:
Wait. A cow disappearing is not proof of a ghost. Did she check the gates? Maybe Lakshmi just went for a midnight stroll?

Ravi:
I knew you’d say that! But listen — same thing happened in 2004 to our neighbor. Three knocks, and the very next day, he fell into an open manhole. Coincidence?

Amit: (smirking)
Or maybe that’s just poor civic planning. If three knocks could summon accidents, Amazon delivery guys would be the agents of doom.

Ravi:
You mock, but you don’t know what we’ve seen. My cousin, in Trichy, heard three knocks and smelled jasmine in the air—at midnight! There were no flowers nearby. My uncle says that’s a sure sign of a ghost.

Amit: (leaning in playfully)
Or maybe your neighbor just sprayed “Mogra Fresh” room freshener. Ravi, our brains are pattern-finding machines. We link unrelated events to make sense of the world. It’s a survival trait, but it can go a bit… overboard.

Ravi:
But what about traditions? They exist for a reason, da. Not everything can be explained by science.

Amit:
True. Traditions often start from some practical reason. Like not cutting nails at night — probably because power was low in old times and people might cut themselves. But this “knock” thing? Where’s the logic?

Ravi: (earnestly)
Maybe the fourth knock is like… a reset. Like pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del on the spirit world?

Amit: (chuckles, sips tea)
If ghosts can be reset like Windows XP, then I’m less scared already.

Ravi: (laughs too)
Okay, okay. But still… humor me. What would you do if you heard three knocks at 2 AM?

Amit:
I’d check the doorbell cam, probably see a cat smacking the door, and go back to sleep. If I heard four knocks, though… I might worry someone is trying too hard to avoid suspicion!

Ravi: (grinning)
That’s it. I’m never knocking more than twice at your house. You’ll report me to ghostbusters.

Amit:
Deal. And I promise not to call Lakshmi’s ghost either.

[Both laugh. The atmosphere is light, but there’s mutual respect in their banter.]

Ravi: (smiling)
Okay, maybe I’ll do some reading… just to prove you wrong.

Amit:
That’s the spirit! And not the midnight-knocking kind.

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[Curtain closes with the sound of a single knock in the distance. Ravi freezes. Amit slowly raises an eyebrow.]

Amit:
Was that one or two?

Ravi:
…Let’s just sleep with the lights on.