Buri Nazar Wale Tera Munh Kala…

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Some things don’t change and I realised this last week while enjoying dinner with my friends. There was a breaking news sort of an announcement by one of my friends while we were trying to keep our handbags on the floor next to our chairs in order to make room for plates and cutlery on the not so roomy table (table for 8 should be ideally table for 6 in most restaurants ). She said that she has been advised by a wise man that handbags should not be kept on the floor as it contains money and placing it on the floor would mean insulting Goddess Laxmi. Within no time all the women picked up their handbags and placed them on their laps or on the back of their chairs if possible. I wasn’t surprised, nobody wants to annoy Laxmiji in these times of recession.

I am reasonably sure that none of these women will ever put their handbags on the floor again. Was this a birth of a new superstition? The very mention of superstition opened the flood gates and a long debate about superstitions started, some of it was quite amazing. Remember all these women were literate and represented the elite of the society. One of them complained that her mother wouldn’t let her wash her hair on Thursday and when she protested she was emotionally blackmailed- you have only one brother, it might bring harm to him. My friend couldn’t risk that ever, even if she wouldn’t believe her mother. I would not let these idiosyncracies pass to the next generation she exclaimed. Not washing hair is not the only taboo on Thursday another one of the distinguished lady made another revelation- we don’t eat bananas on Thursdays, why! bananas don’t know the days of the week, her mother thought otherwise.

Superstitions tend to unite Indians as they are almost identical all over India despite religious and cultural differences. I would like to list a few which are common to most Indians-

A pregnant woman should avoid coming into the open during an eclipse to prevent deformity in her newborn.

A horseshoe nailed to the front gate assures that evil spirits won’t enter the house.

A black cat crossing your path is not a good omen. Some people  would drive around the block to  avoid going over the cats trail or wait for a long time for somebody to walk over the trail before they step on it.

My grandmother believed that when you find one of your shoes lying over the other, you should get ready to travel.

If you get hiccups, it is an indication that you are remembered by someone near and dear, if you recite  the names of all the people who can possibly remember you, there is a chance that you can might get relief when you pronounce the name of the right person.

If the left eye of a woman quivers, she is going to get some good news, however if it is the  right eye it could mean bad news. My mother believed this one.

A cawing crow heralds the arrival of a guest, I guess before the phones were invented this was the only way of knowing if you have to cook for some extra people. The crows around  my house are pretty lazy which probably explains  the arrival of a  large number of  guests without any ‘formal announcement’ in my house.

There are two versions about the effect of sneezing, first one — If you sneeze, it means that someone is speaking well of you. The other version is if you sneeze, it brings  bad luck. My family believes in the second version. During my uncle’s marriage  unfortunately I was in the grip of common cold and the result was that I sneezed on all possible occasions. The expression on my mothers face was that of embarrassment, I won’t like to mention the expression on  the faces of my not so friendly relatives. My uncle is happily married till date although I am not sure if the relatives are happy about their marriage

Can Numerology be bracketed under superstition or not could be debatable but it is official that the fire brand Mamata Di of Kolkata has added one more A to her first name after her numerologist advised her to do so in 2008. One can blame Budha babu for her success or an excess A, it  could depend on your political affiliations. Long before Ekta Kapoor and Karan Johar popularised the addition of  the letter ‘k’ in the titles of their films and soaps there was a very popular film director (late) Mehboob Khan who got obsessed with the alphabet A which he took as a guarantee for success. He produced  Anokhi Ada (1948),  Andaz (1949) and Aan (1952),  all of them proved box-office hits.  Amar flopped in 1954 and  hopefully he realised his mistake.

The “evil eye” or “nazar lagna” is another common superstition. It is commonly believed that all kinds of illnesses, pains, epileptic fits and handicaps can be  caused by an evil eye which explains mothers making a black mark on the forehead of the child before taking him out of the house. Black mud pots with fierce faces drawn on them are also hung on the door of a new house , the purpose is  protecting the house from “ the evil eye.” There are TV commercials selling yantras and  other “remedies” to protect from evil eye. A lemon with four or five chillies tied together hanging outside small shops for the same purpose, are a common sight. Once I saw a modern version of lemon and chilly string, it was made of plastic I don’t know if it is as effective as the time tested natural version

I recently read a shocking  story in which  girls were  married to  frogs. The grooms were thrown into the pond after the ritual and  there was no harm done to the girls but I am sure the frogs would have been traumatised.

According to the dictionary, superstition is an irrational belief arising from ignorance or fear. They may be weird and  don’t  make sense yet superstitions often influence  everyday actions of quite a few people all over the world. If anybody has heard about any new superstitions please share.

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Tags: India, superstitions, Traditions