Tanay Sukumar, April 18, 2010

A 45-year-old man started feeling very hot and was taken to hospital on Saturday night after he heard on TV that the day was the hottest in the last 1,024 years. The man was quite normal before the news bulletin, family members said.

“He had his dinner at around 10 pm, and then went to have a stroll outside,” the man’s 19-year-old son told reporters. “Then the whole family watched TV. India TV was reporting something about this Sunday being ‘Super Sunday’ because Saturday had been hottest in around 1,024 years, and Sunday was expected to be hotter.”

Family members said the news report seemed to have disturbed the man, who could not believe that the day had been the hottest. He suddenly started feeling hot and stripped down to his undergarments. He started sweating and breathing heavily, his family said.

The family doctor was called and the patient admitted to a nearby nursing home. Doctors are puzzled over this rare case, and have called it a psychological problem rather than a weather problem.