The Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, the most popular creation of Agatha Christie, once said, “The power of superstition is one of the greatest forces in the world.”
The proposal to ban scores of superstitions is thought-provoking and debatable, especially in a country of mystique and magic. Blind beliefs in the name of religion, seemingly for the good of the people, sometimes take a toll on the dignity of the people themselves. They also drain the gullible masses of valuable resources like their time and money.
Apart from this, we come across various myths in our daily lives which amuse, anger or simply intrigue us. One of the common superstitions is to avoid a path if a cat happens to cross it. Does the cat know how potent its catwalk is to some? Take another instance: A sneeze is a physiological response to a stimulus. But whenever I let out a sneeze, an elder would shake their head and say ominously, “A single sneeze is never good.” I would force up an artificial sneeze making all happy. Another popular belief is that if one keeps yawning non-stop, he is being remembered intensively by someone. Whatever happened to the natural reason that one may be plain sleepy? Yet another one is that a twitching eyelid is auspicious—either the right or left—depending on one’s gender.
Superstitions are not intrinsic to India. In the Middle East, a person need not be embarrassed if they spill their coffee; it actually portends good luck to both the person and the place where it is spilt! America may be a modern nation but superstitions abound there aplenty. Dropping salt is deemed unlucky but throwing some of the same over the shoulder may reverse the downturn. In parts of Europe, I had noticed love locks fixed to railings of bridges with the key thrown away to preserve eternal love between the couple. The divorce lawyers there may be twiddling their thumbs.
Superstitions may serve as a source of solace when rationality provides none. So far as it stays harmless, it can be condoned but taking the unfounded beliefs too far may sometimes seem devious. I remember a colleague who had sadly broken the news of the death of her newborn. She went about her work with a woebegone face and all her faults were pardoned in the face of such a grief. My shock may be imagined when she displayed a picture of her healthy five month-old son as she left the town. It seems she had been advised to spread the bad news to save the child from some intangible danger. Now this has been a superstition left undigested by me till date!
Email: sandhya.vasudev@gmail.com