One day, I
picked up an urn to rush to a nearby tap to fetch water for my mother who was
in the kitchen cooking. As I had reached the gate of my house, I heard someone
spitting and groaning in anger behind me. Turning back, I saw a neighborhood
woman clad in new clothes staring at me in horror. Apparently, she was on a
journey to somewhere. I smiled at her as usual, but she went past without
speaking to me. I felt both surprised and uneasy the moment I realized she had
been afraid of possible troubles in her journey after seeing my empty vessel.
I meet many people like her, educated and uneducated, everyday. They are quite superstitious. They do various strange things to avoid bad fate.
I am surprised to see many so called educated people following such practices blindly. Some of them are even more superstitious than the uneducated.
I often see many youths stopping on the road when they see a cat cross their way. They resume their walk only after somebody else has gone ahead of them. They believe the
curse, which otherwise would have fallen upon them, would be transferred to the person ahead of them. How selfish they are!
For many people in our society, animals like cats, lizards, etc represent bad omens. They perform different ceremonies to purify themselves of the so-called curse that they believe might fall on them on seeing those animals in their journey. They believe those animals invite accidents for them.
Sometimes, I feel I am surrounded by superstitious people with horrible ideas.
Even my family members have many such beliefs. For example, Saturday is not the right day for starting a new journey!
We should not arrive home from outside on the ninth day of departure. Tuesday is not
the day for having one’s hair cut, etc.
Most of them are baseless and unscientific. But not all the
traditional beliefs are so. In fact, some are worth practicing
because they are scientific
and practical even though their social motive is otherwise. For example, it is a common belief that one should not sweep the floor in the evening or at night. It has a scientific reason for one may lose valuables (gold, silver, money, etc.) if one sweeps at night.
So, what we need is the ability to make right judgments. We have to consider the scientific reasons, if any, before we start following such practices blindly. It’s a pity that even so-called educated youths of today don’t take the trouble of thinking and rethinking before practicing such beliefs.
I meet many people like her, educated and uneducated, everyday. They are quite superstitious. They do various strange things to avoid bad fate.
I am surprised to see many so called educated people following such practices blindly. Some of them are even more superstitious than the uneducated.
I often see many youths stopping on the road when they see a cat cross their way. They resume their walk only after somebody else has gone ahead of them. They believe the
curse, which otherwise would have fallen upon them, would be transferred to the person ahead of them. How selfish they are!
For many people in our society, animals like cats, lizards, etc represent bad omens. They perform different ceremonies to purify themselves of the so-called curse that they believe might fall on them on seeing those animals in their journey. They believe those animals invite accidents for them.
Sometimes, I feel I am surrounded by superstitious people with horrible ideas.
Even my family members have many such beliefs. For example, Saturday is not the right day for starting a new journey!
We should not arrive home from outside on the ninth day of departure. Tuesday is not
the day for having one’s hair cut, etc.
Most of them are baseless and unscientific. But not all the
traditional beliefs are so. In fact, some are worth practicing
because they are scientific
and practical even though their social motive is otherwise. For example, it is a common belief that one should not sweep the floor in the evening or at night. It has a scientific reason for one may lose valuables (gold, silver, money, etc.) if one sweeps at night.
So, what we need is the ability to make right judgments. We have to consider the scientific reasons, if any, before we start following such practices blindly. It’s a pity that even so-called educated youths of today don’t take the trouble of thinking and rethinking before practicing such beliefs.
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