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Do you say 'fingers crossed' when you are wishing hard for something? That is the power of faith, one that can lead to quaint beliefs and much entertainment!
Do you say ‘fingers crossed’ when you are wishing hard for something? That is the power of faith, one that can lead to quaint beliefs and much entertainment!
Belief is all-powerful and our strong belief in certain things gives rise to our faith in those things. Faith of anyone cannot be questioned, unless it is affecting us and becomes intolerable, and results in blind faith.
Well here I am not trying to hurt or question the religious sentiments or faith of anyone. I just want to list a few of our beliefs, and blind faith in certain things which can be quaint, and sometimes downright funny. Here are some relatively harmless, but strong beliefs that we can see around us.
Hindu married ladies are often seen with a bindi sticking on their forehead. When you put on the new one you are not supposed to throw away the old one, but stick it some where. Well this is a matter of faith. I recently visited a friend, and unknowingly referred to the bindis sticking all over on her dressing table as the mischief done by her kids! On hearing this from me, she gave me a frosty stare without saying anything.
We, the Indians can waste any amount of food and throw it in the dustbin or on the roadside, but when it comes to disposing burnt incense sticks or or for that matter even the ash left from the sticks, we only believe in immersing it in the flowing clean water and nothing else, even if it causes water logging or making the water impure.
I have often witnessed my family and friends fasting on some particular days and donating generously, but on normal days they would just ignore the beggars.
While visiting temples one sees devotees thronging the place with their offerings, which most of the times contains fresh coconuts. I was amused to see that the coconuts offered to the deities were again sold back by the priest to the vendors selling them, though this time it was sold at a much cheaper price as sold to the customers.
Recently I met this lady who was from the creamy layer of our society but it was hilarious to see that the ten fingers of her hands were overloaded with at least fifteen stones as recommended to her by an astrologer!
I often pull my husband’s leg as he, like Bappi Lahri carries a big gold chain around his neck with five pendants attached to it.
A proud owner of a brand new luxury car decided to buy neembu-mirchi(lemon and green chillies) to hang near the bonnet before buying any other accessory for his new car. People also sometimes buy special numbers for their vehicles (decided by numerology) which turn out to be costlier than the cars themselves!
I have often heard my friends saying ‘touchwood”, and touching everything else except wood.
Few years ago we had a neighbour, whose husband was stuck in a legal mess. The remedy for this as suggested by an astrologer to her was to feed a black dog every Saturday. The onus of saving her husband from this problem now fell on the shoulders of our black shepherd dog, who was made to eat this sweet bread every Saturday! Of course, as good neighbours, we could not decline her request.
Another lady in our neighbourhood believed that if she threw away hair after taking the stray ones off the comb, it would bring bad luck to her husband! So she always put the straggling strands of hair in green plant pots or immersed them in flowing water.
There are people who abstain themselves from taking any names of any person, place or a thing early in the morning as it may prove unlucky for them.
On Ganesh Chathurthi (birthday of Lord Ganesha) many of my friends do not move out of their homes as they may accidentally see the moon which would put some curse on them, as many say that seeing the moon that particular day would annoy the Elephant-God.
At last, even I would also like to confess about my belief. It has become a habit for me to never let my daughter leave home without a kala-tikka (black dot), which puts me also in the list of blind-faith holders!
So, faith can be very funny. Keep the humour on!
Image source: fingers crossed by Shutterstock.
A woman of today ,I love to travel and live life simple and happy. Writing for me is an outlet to my emotions, which I can visit again and again. And yes learnt the hard read more...
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Neena was the sole caregiver of Amma and though one would think that Amma was dependent on her, Neena felt otherwise.
Neena inhaled the aroma that emanated from the pan and took a deep breath. The aroma of cumin interspersed with butter transported her back to the modest kitchen in her native village. She could picture her father standing in the kitchen wearing his white crisp kurta as he made delectable concoctions for his only daughter.
Neena grew up in a home where both her parents worked together in tandem to keep the house up and running. She had a blissful childhood in her modest two-room house. The house was small but every nook and cranny gave her memories of a lifetime. Neena’s young heart imagined that her life would follow the same cheerful course. But how wrong she was!
When she was sixteen, the catastrophic clutches of destiny snatched away her parents. They passed away in a road accident and Neena was devastated. Relatives thronged her now gloomy house and soon it was decided that she should be married off.
Women today don’t want to be in a partnership that complicates their lives further. They need an equal partner with whom they can figure out life as a team, playing by each other’s strengths.
We all are familiar with that one annoying aunty who is more interested in our marital status than in the dessert counter at a wedding. But these aunties have somehow become obsolete now. Now they are replaced by men we have in our lives. Friends, family, and even work colleagues. It’s the men who are worried about why we are not saying yes to one among their clans. What is wrong with us? Aren’t we scared of dying alone? Like them?
A recent interaction with a guy friend of mine turned sour when he lectured me about how I would regret not getting married at the right time. He lectured that every event in our lives needs to be completed within a certain timeframe set by society else we are doomed. I wasn’t angry. I was just disappointed to realize that annoying aunties are rapidly doubling in our society. And they don’t just appear at weddings or family functions anymore. They are everywhere. They are the real pandemic.
Let’s examine this a little closer.
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