Monday 15 April 2013

M = Myths


Few days back I observed a bunch of little girls playing /chatting in our housing complex lawn. Suddenly while getting up one girl's forehead brushed with another's head......the first girl was about to leave when the second girl called her back. "we need to collide our heads once again otherwise we would get horns (Seeng)on our head!!!!". 

This was funny but even I used to believe it as a kid!! So, what all I can recollect from my memory here are few myths which I believed to core as a kid. I am still not sure how I learnt these myths because my 'Thama' (grand mom) was way too progressive to believe in these lines and my mom also never taught me about them...might be possible from school mates I got these ideas!!

(Disclaimer: All the myths & remedies mentioned below are folklore ...believe them or implement them at your own risk.This post is meant for humor only, and not to offend anyone's religious or spiritual beliefs & sentiments)

Myth 1: One time head/fore head collision can result in eruption of horns from your forehead.
Remedy: Collide it again...Yes I am serious, we used to do this deliberately!

Myth 2: Do not pluck leaves or flowers after sun-set...or for that matter Do not touch the tree/plant at all.'Bhoot(Ghost)' will not spare you...mind it!!!
Remedy: Even if you have done this unknowingly just pray to the 'Tree GOD' for forgiveness. Now, I realize this must have been spread across in earlier days in villages to avoid people from inhaling Carbon di-oxide which plants release after sunset. And like any other custom it just got downloaded in present times without any logic.

Myth 3: If someone is sitting or lying do not cross over them. It stops their height growth. (Considering my vertically challenged figure, I am damn sure that the crowd which gathers for 'Kumbh Mela' at my hometown must have crossed over me while I was sitting!!!)
Remedy: Cross again but this time from opposite side!

Myth 4: Do not touch feet if anyone is sleeping or lying...it symbolical to touching feet of a dead body!!
Remedy: I do not know...but yes this one was followed in my family and we used to get lot scolding if done.

Myth 5: If you happen to touch any stuff related to studies ( books, pens, pencils, eraser....) with your feet or for that matter if any of these fall to ground , you would surely get a blot in your academic career!!
Remedy: Pick it up touch it with you forehead and kiss it. I follow this still today as was told once as kid that actually Goddess Saraswati ( Goddess of learning & education) resides in all these items.

Myth 6: Snakes do come out and start dancing (not like Chikni Chameli but just swaying their hood!!!) if that particular 'Been' (musical instrument) is played. The credit of this belief goes to movie 'Nagina' where Sridevi who was actually a 'Nagin'(snake) danced like inebriated person every time the tune was played.
Remedy: Run away from that place where this tune is played!!

Myth 7: If you see a funeral procession, always put palm of your hand to your head till the time it is not out of sight. I am not sure what happens if we fail to follow this one.
Remedy: I don't know.

Myth 8: Never throw any discarded stuff from you body like used bandage/cotton, bunch of you hair unattended outside. Might be this was a way to teach hygiene actually.
Remedy: Spit on it and then throw ( Huh...here goes hygiene out of window!!!)

Myth 9:Do not touch anyone with broom, especially small kids. They lose weight and become thin.
Remedy: Not sure, but just don't do it. I am sure this must have been said for hygiene reasons. (Also, seeing my over-weight body structure, it clearly means, I should get broom- beating everyday two times, like some medicine dosage!!)

This is what I can remember for now...would surely add on if can recollect more!! But honestly, feeling very nice as I walk through my childhood days in my mind while writing this post.

So, What myths you all know or follow....write about it...it is fun!

35 comments:

  1. lol; m=made me smile post. the myth no 7- i have never heard about. and myth no 8 to spit some saliva on the used stuff was hilarious- i have never heard about it before.gee fun post indeed. i just remembered the one that I did when i was little - catching hold of the locks of hair whenver we see a donkey. supposed to sprout hair magically.omg the thought of it is now hilarious

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    1. Glad that you liked it...I am gointy out right now to search a donkey!!! :)

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  2. Frantically searching for the broom - I could stand to lose some weight ;-) Funny as ever - Keep it up Nibeditha:-)

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    1. Thanx... :) We can hit each other with to help in losing weight :)

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  3. The first one takes the cake... we used to be told too to collide heads first... but just coz it was not a good omen... they never told us the interesting story about growing horns ! :P :P :P

    The height stopping coz someone jumped over me !? :P lol thats why I am stuck at 5'7" I guess... yes... we had that one too..

    another one was two people never spread the sheet on a bed... its symbolical of preparing a death bed ! :-O

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    1. Yes..I believed that number 1 and collided head more vigorously second time to negate the effect :)

      Aiyo...I cannot spread sheet on a bed alone :)

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  4. Myths I love them somehow ! Never follow them but love hearing about new ones. There is that classic of cat crossing the path and not sneezing before leaving he house !

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    1. Cat crossing the path & sneezing one is anyways classic...once our office cab driver halted the cab in the middle of a deserted road at around 1AM in night seeing a cat crossing the path....He wanted another vehicle to pass first...we waited for almost more than 5 mins on his insistence and then gave up!!!

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  5. Oh this was fun. 3 4 5 were strictly enforced even though my family didn't believe in myths - maybe the servants brought this in. And as for 9 - obviously no one touched me with the broom otherwise I would've ended up thin!

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    1. Ha.ha even I a looking for a broom now :)

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  6. I definitely know of #1, 3, 4, and 5! And, yes, we did bump our heads again for fear of getting horns!! :D

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  7. 1,2,3 & 5, been there and done that! The others, really? Wow, and we live and we learn!

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  8. We too followed similar myths (and some more)...Now to think of them, some of them are downright hilarious!!! This one was very entertaining :)

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  9. Oh will someone beat me up with a broom :P I definitely need to lose quite a lot :)

    Bhavya
    Just Another Blog

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    1. Okk Bhavya let's do it for each other :)

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  10. haha this was really funny. There was no need of that disclaimer. I also know almost all of what u told but we never really believed many. Few had some hidden logic or hygeine reason like u told and few r riddiculous

    I even know some myth where I Was told not to go under neem trees in noon after head bath due to the same ghostly reason
    I WAS DEAD scared as we had a wonderful neem tree in my house backyard.
    There are many more like dont pass the salt with hand. You both will end up enemies etc etc
    THEY R TOO FUN . I learnt all in school :P. my mom used to mock me

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    1. Arre even i was so scared of Neem, Banyan & pipal tree as kid...passing salt, I think i remember that not passing the chilies has the same meaning in our house :)

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  11. This was fun. I didn't know about them except for the first three. :) All these might have been said for a proper reason and with a valid point when they were formulated. Sadly, passing down the generations, the reason was lost/no longer valid but people still blindly follow them.

    Until later,
    Keirthana :)

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    1. Exactly, people just follow anything blindly downloaded from ancestors :)

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  12. 1,3,5... have believed in them and done the remedial actions too as kids! Never heard of 9. And 8 reminded me of a train journey with a Bengali family. The mother changed the the diaper of the kid. Father was asked to throw the soiled diaper with clear instructions of spitting on it!

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    1. Yeah Shilpa..for that 8 one...I feel so yuck!!! I do remember your post on live blogging from train about that family who never washed hands after changing the diaper!!! :)

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    2. Wow! You remembered that!! You made my day, Nibedita :D

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  13. Laughed my way through this one! I've done my share of head butting to keep the horns from growing. And not crossing over someone who was sitting or lying down. I got these from my school mates.

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  14. I have heard all of these. Some of them are real funny. :)

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  15. I have heard of 3, 5, and 7. I don't leave the house when sneezes as I am leaving the house :)

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  16. I had never heard of the head butting before! Wow - it sure is amusing!

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  17. I have heard almost all of them except 8 & 9!

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  18. LOL...identify with many. Liked the last one in particular. :-)

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  19. Hahah...love these ones. Crack me up every time. But they seems serious to kids who follow them religiously :D

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  20. Enjoyable post, made me smile, some of the myths was practiced at school, neighborhood and at home too. the head butting was famous in my school, sneezing and the cat crossing was popular in the neighborhood. I have heard of "do not sit on pillows " I don't know the reason, if you have gone for a funeral, do not enter the house, without washing your feet, sprinkle some water on the head three times. If you have gone to the burial ground, take bath and enter the house are some more that we follow ...

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  21. hahahhahha... yeah heard of many of these..and that "not touching feet of a person sleeping" holds true at our place too.

    and loved the last one too... wish it was true... then out go dieting and exercising, in with the broom. :D

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