For many, the rare perfect palindrome, 11-11-11, was much more than a coincidence or inevitability. Many, all over the world and in Lahore associated good luck, hopes of spiritual rejuvenation and some hidden code hinting to the end of times to the number sequence.
ALL OVER THE WORLD: People took the day as an occasion to get married and to give birth. Over a 1,000 Chinese couples got married in Malaysia while in Shanghai, a special “1111” train started at 11:11 am on the No 11 line. Not only considered a good omen, some attributed the number 11 to paranormal powers that provide a channel of communication with the subconscious, others see a mystical connection between the number and disasters, like the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Egypt’s antiquities authority closed the largest of the Great Pyramid of Giza, Khufu, also know as Cheops, following rumors that groups would try to hold spiritual ceremonies on the site at 11:11. The closure followed a string of unconfirmed reports in local media that unknown groups would try to hold “Jewish” or “Masonic” rites on the site. New Age adherents have predicted everything from end-of-world scenarios to the ushering in of a new spiritual era.
COMMERCIAL CASHING IN: Even moviemakers cashed in on the action, with a horror/thriller movie titled “11-11-11” set for release on the date. The plot of the movie centers on a scary, mysterious force that will enter the Earthly realm at 11:11 on 11/11/11.
AT HOME: Numerologists in Lahore added a lot of significance to the numbers. According to Numerology number 11 represents rare and exceptional energy originating from outside the mundane reality. It also represents impractical idealism, being visionary, intuitive, artistic and inventive genius. An astrologist Saamia said 2012 would bring a massive political change in Pakistan and 2013 would be the best year for the country. Another astrologist Yaseen Wattoo also predicted a bright future of Pakistan from now onwards.
FACEBOOK: Several pages devoted to the date have appeared on social networking website Facebook. People also kept updating their status messages about the historic date which will now be witnessed after a 100 years. A Facebook user, Ahsan Saeed said, “Hey Today a moment will come when Date: 11.11.11 Time: 11.11.11 am”. People also said that they would be witnessing this date last time in their life, an engineering student Ahmad Farooq said that “11.11.11=TIME and 11.11.11=DATE 🙂 Zindagi milay gi na dobara”.
A BRAIN GAME? Psychologists call the temptation to find patterns in random data ‘pareidolia’. This phenomenon is also responsible for visions of people in toast or other objects. They said once someone accepts 11 as a meaningful number be it because it looks symmetrical or because they keep seeing it on their digital watches, it becomes easy to find the number every where.
