Arjun: You’re coming for coffee?
Meera: After the funeral? No way. I need to go home first.
Arjun: Why? You just said the café is five minutes away.
Meera: Exactly. Five minutes away from the funeral hall. I’m not bringing anything home with me.
Arjun: Your umbrella?
Meera: Spirits, Arjun. Spirits.
Arjun: Ah. I was worried you meant the umbrella.
Meera: Laugh all you want. My grandmother always said you should never go straight home after a funeral. You stop somewhere, wash your hands and feet, or sprinkle water before entering the house. Otherwise, you might bring a spirit back with you.
Arjun: So your grandmother invented Singapore’s original contact-tracing system for ghosts?
Meera: Very funny. But think about it. People have followed this for generations.
Arjun: People have also followed plenty of traditions for generations without knowing whether they actually work.
Meera: That doesn’t mean this one is wrong.
Arjun: True. But if the claim is that a spirit can follow you home, we need some evidence that spirits exist and that water prevents them from following you.
Meera: You don’t see everything that exists.
Arjun: Of course not. But if something can follow me from a funeral, enter my house, and affect my family, that’s a pretty substantial claim. I’d expect at least some evidence.
Meera: My aunt didn’t follow the tradition once. She went straight home after a funeral. That night, her son had a terrible fever.
Arjun: And that’s why the belief feels convincing. But a fever occurring after a funeral doesn’t show that a spirit caused it.
Meera: Convenient explanation.
Arjun: Not convenient. Just basic causation. If I wear red socks and it rains, I can’t conclude my socks caused the rain.
Meera: Unless they’re very powerful socks.
Arjun: Finally, we’re getting somewhere scientifically.
Meera: But why do so many families do the water thing?
Arjun: There are probably several reasons. Water can symbolically mark the transition from a funeral back to ordinary life. Washing also makes practical sense after being around crowds, dust, bodily fluids, or other contaminants. Over time, the practical habit can become attached to a supernatural explanation.
Meera: So you’re saying my grandmother was secretly doing infection control?
Arjun: Possibly. She just didn’t have a microbiology textbook.
Meera: But there’s something comforting about following the tradition. After a funeral, you don’t exactly feel normal. Washing before going home feels like you’re leaving the whole experience behind.
Arjun: I actually agree with that part.
Meera: You agree?
Arjun: Yes. Rituals can have psychological and social value even when the supernatural explanation isn’t supported. If washing helps someone feel they’ve mentally closed that chapter, there’s nothing irrational about doing it.
Meera: Then what’s your problem with my rule?
Arjun: The rule isn’t the problem. The claim that spirits will otherwise follow you is the part that lacks evidence.
Meera: Hmm. So if I stop at the MRT station, wash my hands and then go home, you’re happy?
Arjun: Completely.
Meera: And if I sprinkle water outside the house?
Arjun: Also fine.
Meera: And if I tell you the water keeps spirits away?
Arjun: That’s where I’ll ask you to show me the data.
Meera: You really want a controlled trial for ghosts?
Arjun: Absolutely. Randomised, double-blind, preferably with a large sample size.
Meera: How exactly do you blind the ghosts?
Arjun: Excellent question. We clearly need a ghost expert on the ethics committee.
Meera: You’re impossible.
Arjun: Maybe. But here’s the compromise: keep the ritual if it gives you comfort. Just don’t confuse comfort with evidence.
Meera: Fine. And you keep your scientific reasoning.
Arjun: Deal.
Meera: But I’m still washing before I go home.
Arjun: Fair.
Meera: And you’re coming with me.
Arjun: Wait. Why?
Meera: Because if there is a ghost, I’m not going home alone.
Arjun: I thought you said the water keeps them away.
Meera: It does.
Arjun: Then why do you need me?
Meera: Emotional support.
Arjun: Ah. The one variable science has never managed to eliminate.
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