Gradually get rid of superstitions. , Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
TeaThe other day, as I was scrolling through a magazine, a particular article about superstition and science caught my attention. This article reminded me of an incident which happened many years ago during my school days.
Once I went to my grandfather’s village during the holidays. There were small animals around the pond near her house, like rabbits and turtles which I loved very much. One day it so happened that a tortoise came out of the water and came into the house. This made my grandfather agitated and irritated. According to a famous saying in Tamil Nadu, aamai pugunthavidu urupudathuWhich means that the house that the tortoise enters will never be prosperous. Now, I think you can understand why my grandfather was so excited. Since I was the only person around at that time, he ordered me to pick up the tortoise and give it to the caretaker of the house. I followed the first part of the instructions right away. I picked it up and quickly ran out of the house. Fearing that the caretaker might damage the poor little thing, I took it to the tree near the pond and left it there. I remember it was covered with dry leaves so that no one would see it and hurt it.
The next day my grandfather got angry with me because I had not followed his instructions properly. When he asked the caretaker what he had done with the turtle, he became completely confused and refused to receive the creature from me. When further probed, I had to show the place where I had last left the lovely little thing. When he went to the place I pointed out, luckily the poor little tortoise was saved. Perhaps he had slowly made his way into the pond.
My grandfather began teaching me about the age-old superstition. He said that we should not encourage tortoises to enter the house as it can bring bad luck.
As I recall the incident, I can understand how superstition can be fueled by some realistic considerations. As explained in the magazine article Exactly What We Shouldn’t Let Into Our Home kallamai, which means illiteracy; I llamaiwhich means lack of essential things; iyallamai, meaning incompetence; And Poramai, which means jealousy. pay attention come mai, which, in itself, means turtle at the end of each word. In fact, people started taking the Tamil proverb (mentioned earlier) literally. Ultimately the poor little turtle became the victim.
priyasri_m_1976@yahoo.com