Skip to main content

Superstition



If you stop a moment to observe, you get characters for stories.   Every moment is a story.  Every person is a story.  Life is a story.

I was in a shop in Delhi.  A buyer’s bill came to Rs 115.  He gave a five-hundred rupee note.  No change, says the shopkeeper.  So the client fished out a hundred-rupee note and a ten-rupee coin and a five-rupee coin.  Both the coins were golden.  A moment passed.  I was busy (in my own clumsy, lazily observing way) picking my items.  That man came back.  “Where’s the coconut I bought?” he asked.

“Sorry,” said the shopkeeper who picked out the coconut from under his outdated weighing balance.  “But I have not charged for this…”

“I know,” said the client.  “How much?”

“Rs 25.”

The client gave a Rs50 note.  The shopkeeper gave back Rs25 which included the same golden coins that he had given earlier.

“A lucky sign,” said the client. 

“You believe in luck?” said the shopkeeper pretending to be nonchalant.

“Not at all.  I’m not bloody superstitious.   What do you think I am.  It’s just that the Shastri said yesterday that my Shukradasha (auspicious 12 years) is beginning.”
Top post on IndiBlogger.in, the community of Indian Bloggers



Comments

  1. Ankur AnandMarch 21, 2014 at 8:47 PM

    If there was no Superstition, we'd be celebrating the 4.5 billionth New year, instead we are in 2014. This is how Religion and Superstition pushed us back by years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NamrotaMarch 22, 2014 at 11:04 AM

      I am curious...what did that mean?

      Delete
    2. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 22, 2014 at 1:34 PM

      I'm equally curious, Namrota. Hope Ankur returns to satisfy us.

      Delete
    3. NSMarch 22, 2014 at 8:30 PM

      Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) celebrates the real AGE, thats right, in Billions, you should search for the Hindu New Year (age) . You will get idea of which exact year is this. When world was counting age of planet in thousands, Sanatan Dharma had the concept of yug, mahayug, Kalpa. 1 Kalpa is 4.32 billion years. 2014 is brought by Abrahamic religions.

      Delete
    4. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 23, 2014 at 9:20 AM

      But what has that got to do with superstition. It's just a matter of convenience and history. There was no intelligent creature 4.5 billion years ago to make a calendar in the first place. Secondly, the Hindu calculation also cannot claim any scientific authenticity.

      Delete
    5. Ankur AnandMarch 23, 2014 at 3:06 PM

      it's has got nothing to do one religion .. it's simply the age of our planet which is 4.54 billion.. scientifically.. what my point was that...when you said in last line that It’s just that the Shastri said yesterday that my Shukradasha (auspicious 12 years) is beginning.” "Shastri always follow Gregorian calender to predict things even when in Hinduism every Ved has been written in kalpa .. how to believe in such people prediction ..
      Every thing has got to do with the superstition .. every religion has made their own calender according to their superstition.. In mayan calender there was no date after 2012 because there superstition was that world will end on that day .. even the modern Gregorian calender that we use was reformed and made such that everyone should celebrate the Easter on the same day .
      I’m not saying that the Hindu calculation can claim any scientific authenticity but it has predicted its value more accurately than any other .. 4.32 .

      Delete
  2. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 21, 2014 at 9:40 PM

    Will you please explain that?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Viktoriia KalyniukMarch 21, 2014 at 11:44 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Viktoriia KalyniukMarch 21, 2014 at 11:45 PM

    k I do believe that if my right palm is itching is for loosing money and left for gaining. It does work :P so I believe in superstitions.
    But how can the client claim he is not superstitious, obviously he is lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMarch 22, 2014 at 10:36 AM

    Its just like, i am superstitious but wait why am i telling you this, kinda situation !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 22, 2014 at 1:08 PM

      Many people don't realise how superstitious they are.

      Delete
  6. NamrotaMarch 22, 2014 at 11:06 AM

    haha... many people think it's old fashion to be superstitious and so they deny.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 22, 2014 at 1:10 PM

      Many people are not aware of their own superstitions!

      Delete
  7. Deepa GopalMarch 22, 2014 at 11:28 AM

    It's so easy to find them around almost all the time :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 22, 2014 at 1:11 PM

      No doubt, the world is full of such people, perhaps including us!

      Delete
  8. AmitAagMarch 22, 2014 at 11:59 AM

    :):)

    ReplyDelete
  9. RAN IN JAN March 22, 2014 at 1:42 PM

    good post. I had written something in similar lines.

    http://truethoughts-niranjan.blogspot.in/2013/07/dangerous-belief.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. UnknownMarch 22, 2014 at 8:12 PM

    I am superstitious when it comes to my loved ones. Too much of care and concern asks me to be careful in every possible way. :D Why to take risk!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 23, 2014 at 9:21 AM

      Some superstition is inevitable when it comes to matters like love. There's no love without some illusions, in other words.

      Delete
  11. UnknownMarch 22, 2014 at 9:04 PM

    LOL! Vehemently denying is the first instinct of anyone who is asked "Are you superstitious?" Afterwards, you notice the colorful rings on their fingers, the red and black threads on their wrists and little cylindrical silver pieces around their necks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 23, 2014 at 9:22 AM

      Precisely, Sreesha. Such people can be interesting objects of fiction.

      Delete
  12. PriyaMarch 23, 2014 at 11:23 PM

    Oh, I'm very superstitious and I guess so is everyone, in their own little ways. I love your illustration of the point.
    Off-topic (kind of), it reminded me of something by Terry Pratchett: “There’s no point in believing in things that exist. They will go on existing whether you believe it or not.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 24, 2014 at 6:41 AM

      Carrying on from where Pratchett stops, can we say that it's better to believe in things that don't exist? :)
      Yes, I agree with you that we are all superstitious in one way or another. I wasn't really making a judgment when I wrote this blog, was trying to show how we are.

      Delete
  13. UnknownMarch 25, 2014 at 11:52 AM

    I'm superstitious...I believe in astrology :) I believe my stars are the reflection of my past deed...and yes, I believe in rebirth too :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ivan the unusual friend

When you are down and out, you will find that people are of two types. One is the kind that will walk away from you because now you are no good. They will pretend that you don’t exist. They don’t see you even if you happen to land right in front of them. The other is the sort that will have much fun at your expense. They will crack jokes about you even to you or preach at you or pray over you. This latter people are usually pretty happy that you are broke. You make them feel more comfortable with themselves even to the point of self-righteousness. Ivan was an exception. When I slipped on the path of life and started a free fall that would last many years before I hit the bottom without a thud but with enormous anguish, Ivan stood by me for some reason of his own. He didn’t display any affection which probably he didn’t have. He didn’t display any dislike either. There was no question of preaching or praying. No jokes either. Ivan was my colleague for a brief period at St Joseph’s
14 comments
Read more

Machiavelli the Reverend

Let us go today , you and I, through certain miasmic streets. Nothing will be quite clear along our way because this journey is through some delusions and illusions. You will meet people wearing holy robes and talking about morality and virtues. Some of them will claim to be god’s men and some will make taller claims. Some of them are just amorphous. Invisible. But omnipotent. You can feel their power around you. On you. Oppressing you. Stifling you. Reverend Machiavelli is one such oppressive power. You will meet Franz Kafka somewhere along the way. Joseph K’s ghost will pass by. Remember Joseph K who was arrested one fine morning for a crime that nobody knew anything about? Neither Joseph nor the men who arrest him know why Joseph K is arrested. The power that keeps Joseph K under arrest is invisible. He cannot get answers to his valid questions from the visible agents of that power. He cannot explain himself to that power. Finally, he is taken to a quarry outside the town wher
14 comments
Read more

Joe the tenacious friend

AI-generated illustration You outgrow certain friendships because life changes you in ways that nobody, including you, had expected. Joe is one such friend of mine who was very dear to me once. That friendship cannot be sustained anymore because I am no more the person whom Joe knew and loved to amble along with. And Joe seems incapable of understanding the fact that people can change substantially. Joe and I were supposed to meet one of these days after a gap of more than two decades. I scuttled the meeting rather heartlessly. Just because Joe’s last messages carried words that smacked of intimacy. My life has gone through so much devastating fire that the delicate warmth of intimacy has become repulsive. Joe was a good friend of mine while we were in Shillong. He was a post-graduate student and a part-time schoolteacher when I met him first. I was a fulltime schoolteacher teaching math and science to ninth and tenth graders. My dream was to postgraduate in English literature an
11 comments
Read more

Kailasnath the Paradox

AI-generated illustration It wasn’t easy to discern whether he was a friend or merely an amused onlooker. He was my colleague at the college, though from another department. When my life had entered a slippery slope because of certain unresolved psychological problems, he didn’t choose to shun me as most others did. However, when he did condescend to join me in the college canteen sipping tea and smoking a cigarette, I wasn’t ever sure whether he was befriending me or mocking me. Kailasnath was a bundle of paradoxes. He appeared to be an alpha male, so self-assured and lord of all that he surveyed. Yet if you cared to observe deeply, you would find too many chinks in his armour. Beneath all those domineering words and gestures lay ample signs of frailty. The tall, elegantly slim and precisely erect stature would draw anyone’s attention quickly. Kailasnath was always attractively dressed though never unduly stylish. Everything about him exuded an air of chic confidence. But the wa
9 comments
Read more

Levin the good shepherd

AI-generated image The lost sheep and its redeemer form a pet motif in Christianity. Jesus portrayed himself as a good shepherd many times. He said that the good shepherd will leave his 99 sheep in order to bring the lost sheep back to the fold. When he finds the lost sheep, the shepherd is happier about that one sheep than about the 99, Jesus claimed. He was speaking metaphorically. The lost sheep is the sinner in Jesus’ parable. Sin is a departure from the ‘right’ way. Angels raise a toast in heaven whenever a sinner returns to the ‘right’ path [Luke 15:10]. A lot of Catholic priests I know carry some sort of a Redeemer complex in their souls. They love the sinner so much that they cannot rest until they make the angels of God run for their cups of joy. I have also been fortunate to have one such priest-friend whom I shall call Levin in this post. He has befriended me right from the year 1976 when I was a blundering adolescent and he was just one year older than me. He possesse
8 comments
Read more