I am not
superstitious. Like Groucho Marx, I know
that if a black cat crosses my path it means that the cat is going somewhere and
has nothing to do with me except that it happened to cross my path. Usually it is better that the cat happened to
cross my path than a human being, especially human beings with staunch
religious affiliations. I am more likely
to be killed by a gau bhakt today than a cat.
 |
| Marx becoming Marks! God!! |
Superstition is born out
of cowardice and irresponsibility. You
are afraid of, say, water. But you have
to cross the river and there’s no other choice.
You get into the boat with fear in your knees. Your knees tremble. Your knees wobble. The boat takes on your trembling. Trembling is contagious. Like a disease. It spreads.
And the boat succumbs. It capsizes,
let us say. You are saved, let us
hope. And then you blame the cat. Because you don’t want to accept that you
peed in your trousers. The cat that
crossed your path while you were on your way to the river becomes a poor
scapegoat.
Superstition is all about
creating scapegoats.
It can also be about
creating frauds who will claim to heal you by invoking gods. It can also be about politicians who will rid
the country of cats. The politicians may
even create a holy cat if that can win them votes. And your ego can go on a hot air balloon
trip. The cat that crossed your path has
become something not to be feared but to be worshipped. Cat becomes holy. Cat becomes vote catcher. Cat becomes theology. Cat’s piss becomes Ayurvedic cure.
PS. Written for
Indispire Edition 174: #Superstitionandyou
Cat’s piss becomes Ayurvedic cure.. that was funny. A good length of satire can be written on how it became a medicine.
ReplyDeleteI have my own take on superstition. Perhaps would write about it.
India has become such a joke that cat's pee can become holy tomorrow.
DeleteI'd love to read your take on superstition.
we are loaded with the list sir. From broken mirror to hanging lemons and tress, you can make them do anything. Recently , I too had an experience and had shared my thoughts on same.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know there's a whole series of them. Perhaps, like religion, superstition is an integral part of the human soul.
Delete"Superstition is all about creating scapegoats" Well said
ReplyDeleteWe need to shift the blame to someone or something :)
Delete:) cross my heart my views are similar.
ReplyDeleteI can understand that.
Delete