And why it is more dangerous than believing in a lucky number or the evil eye
Have you thought, long and hard about what your lucky number is, but can’t risk revealing it? I’ve been wondering whether my prayer beads falling apart had something to do with bad energy directed at me. Of course, you might say the breaking of two sets of my beloved beads had more to do with the wear and tear on the thread than a bad omen, but I’m hardly alone in worrying about the evil eye. From young mothers to CEOs, truck drivers to entrepreneurs, film-makers to doctors, we are enveloped in superstitious beliefs in varying degrees. We barely notice touching wood or our heads, with relief and hope when a situation is simply out of our control. Only, if the grim consequences of superstition did not stare us in the face.
A study by the University of Kerala found that 48 per cent of post-graduate students responded positively to superstition—this in a state that claims 94 per cent literacy. There was no difference in students from the social science stream and those studying science. Also, students from rural societies had shown lower superstition rates than urban, so education and exposure seem to have little to do with rationalism. Superstition is, in fact, a cross-community preoccupation in India.
What is It Anyway?
According to Dr Kamala Ganesh, a leading sociologist in Mumbai, “Superstition encompasses different practices, some cultural or cosmetic habits with no harmful consequences, some that are downright harmful to health and well-being, and others that discriminate against certain categories of people.” Many of these, she explains, have evolved from times when the uncertainties and dangers of life and threats to survival actually made people create symbolic and metaphoric ways of dealing with them psychologically.
この記事は Reader's Digest India の May 2016 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Reader's Digest India の May 2016 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi
Pushpesh Pant, one of India’s pre-eminent food writers, is back with a comprehensive food history of the capital.
Who Wants Coffee?
It’s bitter—but beloved around the world
Prevent The Pain Of Shingles
You don't have to suffer, as long as you take two important steps
The Best And Worst Diets For Your Heart
Dozens of diets are touted as ‘best’, but it’s easy to lose track of the fact that healthy eating needs to be about overall wellness, not just weight loss.
ME & MY SHELF
Journalist Sopan Joshi has worked in a science and environment framework for nearly three decades. His book Mangifera indica: A Biography of the Mango (Aleph Book Company) synthesizes the sensory appeal of India's favourite fruit with its elaborate cultural roots and natural history. He writes in English and Hindi.
SWITCHED
In 1962, nurses at a small Canadian hospital sent home two women with the wrong babies. Then, 50 years later, their children discovered the shocking mistake.
ECHOES OF THE PAST
A VISIT TO THE ANCIENT BARABAR CAVES IN BIHAR REVEALS A SURPRISING CONNECTION TO A LITERARY CLASSIC
Fathers of the Bride
A young woman finds a unique way to honour the many men who helped her survive her childhood
Fiction's Foresight
British-Bangladeshi author Manzu Islam's works reveal startling parallels to recent political upheavals in Bangladesh, begging the question: Besides helping us make sense of our world, can stories also offer a glimpse into the future?
It Happens ONLY IN INDIA
The Divine Defence Picture this: A tractor in Rajasthan‘s Banswara district,a group of loan agents closing in to seize it and the defaulting farmer and his family standing by.
