click..
click...click..
click..click..click..click..
It is April 6th 2018 AD. A week to go for my spatial sojourner. The cell phone rings <Whaats-aa whats-on Whats-on-aa whats-aa dhap.... Lajjavathiye..>. A call from India, the land where religion is regarded above humanity. What was the call about? “When are you guys leaving?” the person on the other line spoke. “This Friday, April 13th”, I replied with excitement. “Oh!” I could sense the fear and concern in the person’s voice. I asked, “Is anything wrong?” “Nothing. Nothing at all.” the reply came. “What is time of flight?” “12:30 noon” “Is that Indian Time?” “No Chicago Time”. “What is the time difference between Chicago and India?” Fair enough, I got the idea where they were getting at.
“So, what should be done?” I was smirking when I said that. “Could you postpone your trip to after 7.5 years? It is preferable for the spaceship to start at 4:30 am or you leave before 6:00pm the previous evening. Also, if there is another spaceship leaving the day after, let Ruks travel in that.” “What???” I gasped. “The panchangam says, it is not a good day for travel. You have Saturn sitting in your 12th position – Pppeakkkk Time!”
Mannar & Mannar had earned themselves a reputation for providing a world class comfort in space travel. A well planned savings had earned us the luxury of visiting the land of Martians. I believe they do process Red-Card (equivalent Permanent residency status).
What do we get there and not here? – A typical question was asked by me to Ms. Kunjalam – a travel advising specialist. Well, almost all the facilities you get here on Earth. “Saarayam, a water refinery unit, has been delivering Koovam, mineral water bottles.” Darn! Some luxury these Martians are enjoying!.What about gas? “Oh you mean petrol and diesel? Seemannai & Co has 1000s of perennial oil rigs in the poles of the planet. Job Security, food, clothing, name anything, you have it there. We have processed the red-card for 23,741,536 people.” Earth has been struck by famine for the past 4 years. Saarayam, realizing the consumers’ potential, relocated the head quarters to position 114o4”E and 5 o 35” N. Same with “Sevaru-Kadai”, leading retail “Wal-….” stores in USA.
Why do we follow superstitious belief? What are its roots? Who are/were the proponents? Most often, the answer I get is, “It has been followed for ages. No one to question its existence. Since maha muni/sages time………”
Couple of quick questions: Is it affecting a morality of a person (By not following the superstitious beliefs)? I do not see that happening. How far is conscience involved? Other than, “Do this at this specified time. Do that at this specified time”, I cannot perceive any closeness to “Conscience”. What about mind? Conscience and mind – synonymous ain’t it? But MIND, is more like a tool and weapon here. We kind of train our mind to certain beliefs (BeLIEfs???) Again, “Do this at the specified time. DO NOT do it!!” How does it affect us? Well, if one still persists on doing it – at the wrong time! – your life is traumatized forever. (Sounds similar to the chain of emails I receive, asking me to forward to 10 people to get PIECE of mind, 15 people to see my marriage successful, 100 people to life full of satisfaction: What a SADDISTfactional way to bless a person ;-)!!!)
May be a pure coincidence – The Author wish to cite the following incident. I am really stupefied here: a coincidence or has to happen-will happen or human error. The following incident happened (A real life incident – Overriding the disclaimer of the blog – Pure Coincidence, remember???) when I was doing my final year Under-Grad. It was the farewell party hosted by our immediate juniors. Enjoyed the status of being the founder of College band – rocked couple of on-stage shows, our band was invited to perform our last stage show in front of about 3000+ gathering. An hour before our GRAND FINALE, my friend and I got up to have a word with the sound engineer and proceed to back stage. As soon as I got up, I tripped- A bad Omen! (Damn, I do not know how to walk properly even at the age of 21???!!!). My friend, an ardent devotee of Lord Superstition-eshwara, promptly sat down for couple of minutes and then he got up. Urgh! Limits, ain’t it?? The story does not end here. What about the show? Your guess please? The show did not go well right? A BIG NO. You are wrong! The show did not happen at all. Hahaha!! Why? Some professor hoodwinked us by saying, it is 8:00pm, the show is supposed to end at 8:00pm. Result? Utter chaos. Tube lights broken, Glass panes shattered, chairs thrown high in the air, Cat calls and boohs! The crowd finally dispersed after expressing the anguish. STOP. REWIND.....aah.. there.. there STOP! Now PLAY. Where did it all start? An hour before our GRAND FINALE, my friend and I got up to have a word with the sound engineer and proceed to back stage. As soon as I got up, I tripped! (Damn, I do not know how to walk properly even at the age of 21???!!!). A 21 year old fellow not able to walk!!! The root cause of the debacle!! Albeit, there were other reasons cited (for those who did not know I tripped) such as, the time the show began (Yama Kandam!), number of shows scheduled for the evening, numerology factor for the show’s name. I still cannot forget the laugh and glare I got from my dear friend who still continues to mention this instance during our conversation – and ofcourse the ride back home in my dear Kinetic Honda with my Keyboard et al on NH 47.
Pardon my didactic approach or attitude here. People who argue that, “We live in twenty first century, we talk about women’s lib/reservations (a topic b-eaten to death!), no gender bias, late night parties...blah blah…”, are probably myopic to follow such kind of superstitious beliefs. Baffles the author here! Often the by-products and catalysts includes, chauvinistic accusations, astrology etc… Hmm Très Intéressant!! Do I see something brewing here? Locking horns with this RAM anyone?
That was a long detour from the imaginary world... The Hero of this blog goes singing around the trees with his heroine..."Leaving on a Jet Plane.. Don't know when I'll be back again..."
After, an hour of discussion and persuasion on the phone, it was finally yet half heartedly agreed that the trip to Martian land would be called off – Just to appease the people from the land of traditions and culturally rich – again, where religion is regarded above humanity. A waste of couple of grand of dollars. Caption ideally suited for Citibank – Calling card to India $10, Calling off the trip $,$$,$$$.cc, Seeing people at mental ease PRICELESS!! As I regard humanity above superstitious beliefs, I was forced to cancel this ambitious trip.
People who graze this blog are welcomed to join/post discussions. A final footnote before I go to bed…
Peace! Amen!
Karthik
