BENGALURU:They say a stitch in time saves nine, and in India there is a “right time” to make that stitch – between 6 am and 6pm. No shop in the city will sell you a needle after 6 pm. They believe it brings bad luck.
According to a shopkeeper at Kheteshwar Gift Centre in Vasanth Nagar, even if double the sale price is offered, “99 per cent of the shops in the city won’t trade in needles after 6 pm”. It is considered unlucky and the belief is that the business may collapse if needle is traded in the hour after the diya is lit, so the shopkeeper will either tell you that they don’t have needles to sell or that you can purchase one in the morning.
On a larger scale, needles are not imported after 6 pm. T S Chandrashekar, deputy director of Korea-India trade (KOTRA), says that the needle imports from Korea are halted at evening and resumes in the morning. Needle Industries India Limited located in Jayanagar sells the last bunch at 5.30 pm.
The Reason
Why, you may ask... It has been an ongoing tradition and nobody knows the exact reason why.
“It (trading needles after dusk) is an insult to the sun god,” says Chandrashekar. “Normally stitching is to be done in the day and we do it under the light of the sun, so we refrain from insulting the god,” he adds. One of the legends goes that evening is the time that sun god returns home after a long day’s work. Anything that comes in the way of the sun god be it combing hair or sewing is considered blasphemous.
Interestingly, the British rule only served to deepen such beliefs, says Professor Narendra Nayak, president of Federation of Indian Rationalists Association. “As it was once said the sun never sets on the British Empire, the empire encouraged these myths that caused a more ardent worship of the sun god.”
Logic Drives It
The superstition originated at a time when there was no electricity, and could have been a cautionary measure to avoid mishandling the needle in the dark. “The superstition has been carried on in the idea that my father used to do it so will I do it,” says Rajani K S, state secretary of Break Through Science Society organisation. “Since the shopkeepers believe that they will lose money if the needle is traded at night, they became very cautious and would not like to test it.”
Now that there is light, the shopkeepers still abide by the old tradition often invoking the wrath from young customers. Millennial have little idea about this superstition that is prevalent all over the country.
Akash Manker who was going around at 7.30 pm in Pune to purchase a needle and sew a torn shirt was told to buy a thread and needle in the morning.
Expressing his anger on his social media page, he wrote that if India was be like Sweden with six-months of night then half the population would be going around in torn clothes. There were many who agreed with his view.