Monday, September 24, 2007

Superstitious about superstitions

I am superstitious about superstitions. Touchwood, they always evoke the best laughter.

I read somewhere that superstitions and sentiments come into play when one is not sure of oneself. It is no coincidence that Cricket, Films and Politics- all avocations in which the secret of success can just be that- a secret!

Superstitions are interesting human foibles and fetishes, adding a comic pinch to the humdrum of our lives. But when you wear your superstitious beliefs on your sleeve, there is no point in denying or trying to rationalise it.

One of my school friend ‘J’, never had any intellectual or rational pretensions. She had strange habits. She used to make a ponytail out of her hair on exam days, but on an ordinary day, she plaits her hair. I thought may be it was due to lack of time, she made a pony tail, but she associated pony tail with good luck. Talk about silly beliefs! And not just that, when the papers were corrected, marks called out. ‘J’ always has her fingers and toes crossed. She believed to get low marks if she did not cross her fingers and toes, and her belief worked for her.

I had another friend ‘D’ in college, who used to come clad in a pale grey shirt whenever there was a tough exam or a presentation to be made. And believe me, he wore the same pale grey shirt for every semester exam, even after it became too tight for him and was about to explode anytime. I was told by another common friend that ‘D’ wore the same shirt for his CAT entrance test and that ‘D’ claimed that, with that shirt he would have got into one of those Ivy league colleges. But my dear ‘D’, I don’t think you could have even got into that dress!


Most of the superstitions start as innocuous habits, but soon become unshakable shibboleths of our lives. Now, I want to end this post with a very catchy punchline on superstition. But I cant. Ouch, I have an important presentation to be made today and my lucky white salwar is not yet pressed..

9 comments:

Albert Einstein said...

Good One. We can find such people everywhere. My friend will use the same dress for the exams because that dress made him clear all his exams :-) and not preparation. He was so sentimental about the pen with which he writes the exam. He had a pen which will be used only for major exams :-)

Sriram said...

cha cha vaayppae illa.. un vocab yengayo poidutthu po..
amazing writing.. yenna oru creativity.. thought process is super..
superstitious abt supersitions wat a topic.. everyone will have superstitions.. sila paer oru thadavai seyyaradhukku badhilaa moonu thdavai seyvaanga sila samayam.. supersitions r really interesting and as long as it doesnt affect others, (sadly some pazhakak vazhakkams are at times), they are something special..

ss said...

@ALBERT
very typical and common..i have seen numerous ppl with such habits

@SRIRAM
thank u so much. nothing abt vocab. i just tried it out, avlo thaan.glad u liked it.oh ya, i truly take note of ur point on not holding on to superstitions which mite affect someone else. its fine as long as v dont bother someone else with it.

sudha said...

I can easily relate to this post because I too had a frnd like your J, she too used to come in ponytail for exams.Funny post.Good one re

Unknown said...

How true is this post dear
I have my own set of beliefs, like I always wear a black sandal when I have some important meeting or presentation.I always think and try to get rid of it, but I am not successful yet. And I see you are no exception, your lucky white salwar huh? Cool post and very relevant too

ss said...

@SUDHA
is it?

@POOJA
black sandal? thats funny..oh ya i have a particular white salwar which i prefer wearing for interviews and another strange thing with me is, if ever i go shoppin, i need to buy a pair of earrings..i cant beat that..

Anonymous said...

Well said shub.I too had a friend in college, who used to wear only blue color pants for exams.These superstitious beliefs if taken too seriously can harm one, so better have it in limits.And you too BRUTUS?White dress? Hmm, now that you have revealed yours, let me say mine.I used to buy Apsara pencils for all my exams.I believed if I did not use that pencil somewhere at all in my answer shee, I would flunk.Haha! Brings laughter now

Anonymous said...

Hey ya..this is true to me also.I wore one blue n white striped shirt to one interview and got selected in that..Then after that i wore the same for another 2 interviews and got selected in that too..It worked for me.. :).Anyway i know its just a belief..But still we people follow it...cool.It all happens!!!!

ss said...

@CLUELESS
yes, one particular white salwar is lucky for me. and wat? apsara pencil? oh, trust me that brings so much of nostalgic memories to me.i once owned a chat name apsara beauty,god...its gettin 2 nostalgic.

@PRAVEEN
hmm , am sure ach of us will have some thing or the other. anyways hows ur new company treatin u?