Grandpa called early in the morning. “Do you know there’s a solar eclipse today?”
“Here it comes,” groaned mom inwardly, bracing herself for a list of dos and don’ts as long as a sacred cow’s tail.
“I’m not asking you to do much,” began grandpa diplomatically. “Just stay indoors and don’t look at the sun in the afternoon.”
“Of course,” said mom, somewhat surprised that the list was practical and short.
“OK?” continued grandpa. “And if possible, eat lunch before noon.”
“Why?”
“You might get minor indigestion, that’s all,” trod grandpa carefully, noting the slight edge creeping into mom’s voice. "By the way, it would be nice if you gave some money to the needy today."
"But I usually give food to the needy," mom wanted to protest, even as grandpa informed her that the charitable contribution on this particular day was to ward off ill effects to her birth star.
“Oh, before I forget, you have to take another bath at exactly 4:15 p.m. today,” said grandpa in conclusion.
Despite mom's advanced age, there are times when parental regulations make her want to hit her head rather forcefully against the closest wall.
Her parents can be forgiven for their beliefs as they belong to a different generation, but what does one make of the U.S.-returned neighbor who argues that there's a "scientific reason" behind not eating during an eclipse, throwing away leftovers and bathing right after one?
What's the scientific reason, you ask politely? The woman shrugs her shoulders, but "it's been proven," apparently.
After listening to her, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to learn that pregnant women here are still locked up during an eclipse and not allowed to handle sharp objects.
Progress, people! Maybe we'll get there someday.
31 comments:
terri:
'"But I always give food to the needy," mom wanted to protest'
right now, probably nobody is needier than uncle sam, brother paulson, dick fuld, etc. these guys are knee-deep in "needy" and up to their nose in you-know-what!
"Despite mom's advanced age, there are times when parental regulations make her want to hit her head rather forcefully against the closest wall."
please let mom know that if she is used to doing this in the usa, then not to try it in des.
old jungle saying: 'concrete is more concrete than drywall.'
- s.b.
p.s.: happy republic day!
yep..went through the same things yesterday...had to skip lunch because of the eclipse and my SIL who is expecting a baby was asked to sit in a dark room till the eclipse was over!
And for all the food stuff that you cant throw away, you just add a blade of dried grass to it.(The grass is called Darbe in kannada/Tamil)My dad did that to the regrigerator! :D
Love grandpa's style... lay it out in stages :-)
Anyhow we did the "fasting" as well...
@Muser: There is some explanation to the Darbe... I forget it..
@Vijay : Tried looking it up and this is what i found : Darbe used very commonly in Indian households during religious rituals and particularly during solar eclipses, has the infinite capacity to diffract light and sound waves into the cosmos.
I am a person who mostly believes in the fact that there must have been some valid reason for these rules to be put in place but also think that the rules had to do with those ancient times also. I have wondered what digestion has to do with eclipse. I hope someone will take it up as their research topic. I have an aunt who exactly ate at the eclipse time inspite of the admonishings of my grandma. She already had a messed up digestion system and did not see it getting any worse! :-).
- Shree
Ah, this is what I missed and craved and was happy to receive when I first moved to India. Then it got old in short order. Now I'm glad I'm far away.
Yup, read Message in a Bottle. Did not inspire me to see the movie. And now I know about the zit on the actress' face, I'm even less inspired. Cheesy, you know. Consider the fact that they slept more than they had sex. Jeez.
A colleague who has a PhD, declared that indigestion is 'a given' if anything is consumed during the eclipse. He also went on to narrate this incident of a person who lost his marbles coz he slept bare-chested on his mottamaadi for years together. And his answers are the same as my paati's..there must be some truth to it. (Nevermind if we don't know what they are.)
Yup, one day.
That explains my indigestion today. All this while I blamed it on the biriyani I stuffed myself silly!
MB
And when people have such strong convictions, it's rather difficult/impossible to argue them out of them. Progress? What progress,Terri's Mom?
MB, vegetarian biryani, I hope? Is one allowed to consume meat on that day?
CW, nice, elder-respecting PhD colleague you have. Pssst, stay away from him!
Muser, I want to read the book now, to see if it's as bad as the movie. I think the maama in Senthil library reads this blog. I asked him if he has Message in a Bottle. "Nicklas Sperks, aa?" he immediately asked and jumped up, as though he was waiting for someone to ask him about this particular book. Sadly, the book was out, but he's promised to reserve it.
Sujatha, you went through a pregnancy here, right? You must have the patience of a saint to deal with tons of unsolicited advice.
Shree, I think we need to get with the times. The old don't-trim-your-nails-after-dark and don't-cut-your-hair-on-Tuesdays-and-Fridays customs are completely passe.
Vijay, you have to fast? I thought you're only supposed to eat an early lunch.
Muser, I hope you had a heavy breakfast at least.
s.b., you just made me homesick by reminding me about drywall. One cannot even drive a nail into these walls (just like certain people's mindset). Of course, the carpenter never shows up when you want him to. Life was a lot easier when I could make puncture holes in my walls and fill them up with toothpaste.
Terri: fasting as in not eating during those 2 plus hours... A herculean effort especially when you are told not to eat...
Well , my mom wanted me to follow a bit of that , not that it is not possible , it is just ridiculous considering that there is no ozone layer in this country. One never knows how the sun behaves in this season and I might really piss of the gods if I were seen out.The only thing my mom got out of me was a headbath...and I have a cold now....Srikanth
I guess the old time logic had something to do with lack of electricity, dingy rooms etc so u might not know if u are eating something that has a non-veg item (read poochi) in it. preggie ladies kept safe so they dont trip over. typically, we forget the reasons and follow the archaic ones without asking why.
and dont i sound lofty today?? ;)
grand pa must know his dotter well, terri, to give it to her in bite sized chunks. diplomat, he is!
desigirl, one can get so much out of mortals by putting the fear of God into them, n'est-ce pas?
Srikanth, your comment reminded me, in our house only dad unwittingly attained punyam on eclipse day - he only showers in the evenings.
vijay, it was prime teatime, wasn't it? You could've just defied the Gods, you know?
What?? No meat allowed on Solar Eclipse?? How come no one told me that! Does that mean I've attained paavam for life? Can I undo it by eating only vegtarian today?
I've never understood the not-doing-certain-things on certain-days. I can understand if something is completely unacceptable and not allowed on any day, but what's up with not doing something on Friday alone???
TM, your posts are disguised in humor, but in reality they are thought-provoking.
MB
"The old don't-trim-your-nails-after-dark and don't-cut-your-hair-on-Tuesdays-and-Fridays customs are completely passe"
I agree completely Terri. I have stories about both of those - don't-cut-nails and the don't-cut-hair thing.
This is one of my pet peeves at home. DH has a PhD too (like CW's acquaintances, just not "elderly" :) and hails from a family of teachers. And he still continues to refuse to have a hair-cut on any day other than Wednesday. This, inspite of my many pleas to see logic. There is no reason to it other than that's what how it was when he was growing up. Its pretty aggravating especially when it sometimes rubs off on the kids. Aargh. Its amazing that sometimes even the greatest levels of school education doesn't help people to get over their superstitions. :(
And then the other story about nails: My mom always did that when growing up - never cut my nails or objected me from cutting my nails once it was dark. I would shoot back my "Why?" And she would go, "Because you can't see very well, and might hurt yourself". Now this would prolly hold true in the olden days, but nowadays? Actually my son screams even when I try cutting his nails in the morning..he hates it ..lol.
-rm
terri:
i want to start a new superstition stat. only gulab jamuns will do on sunday for breakfast. nothing else.
ok, make this a tag, not a superstition (looks like you hate tags less than you hate superstitions, terri). everyone who reads this must eat gulab jamuns on sundays, otherwise ... otherwise .... well, they will be hungry for sweets all day long! :-)
- s.b.
Yayy i like this tag, infact can we make it rasmalai instead of gulab jamuns pls
MB, thanks. You name sounds so Mills&Boon-ish.
rm, there's another twist to the haircutting superstition that my own family follows. A father and son cannot cut hair on the same days. Why not? Good question.
s.b., wishful thinking. What does the missus think of this plan? Is there a Gits mix ready in the house? (Yes, I know you can also buy, but homemade is still the best.)
WA, as long as you're making it, you can eat anything you want.
I have a doubt - Why is eating ice cream unacceptable for breakfast? The kids asked, and I automatically said "No!" because that's what my mom would've said. I realized I'm keeping family tradition alive and well.
terri:
a friend of mine recommends tortilla chips with ice cream. i am yet to try that deadly combo (maybe the kids can have chappati with ice cream instead).
one of these super bowls, i just might try chips with ice cream dip.
- s.b.
hmmm, patience, not so much. more a saint-like sense of detachment.
i think desserts make the BEST breakfasts, but no one else seemed to agree until I found this gulab jamun comment! Thank you, s.b. and WA! Besides g.jamuns I also recommend custard and cold payasam.
(Talk about comment drift!)
I like the gulab jamun on sunday thing..however, can I substitute it with rosogolla?
Varali, I love desserts for breakfast.
And lunch.
And dinner.
And supper.
And yeah, I was out during eclipse with my daughter, gallivanting over town, defying one and all and getting on everyone's nerves.
http://sundar72.blogspot.com/2007/02/two-conversations.html
deja vu Terri.. deja vu!
:)
if you do the math and plot the mean charge from adyar to west mambalam over the last 15 years you will find a nice line with the straight slope.. what is more interesting is the 1 sigma (variabliity) in the data that goes into collecting the mean...
someday, will write a treatise on that.
promise.
Yes, yes, people, desserts are the best! Just ask my waistline and my bottom.
s.b., did you try the sweet-salty combo? It sounds like no pleasure without pain.
Sundar, I only understood the French phrase in your comment. What's the other language you're using?
terri:
my two super bowl buddies (yes, i have two) have both become fathers the second time around within the last month or so, so i was all to myself for the super bowl.
at the 11th hour, v.b. got me to get chips for the s.b.; i had those with mango salsa instead of ice cream. that was sweet and salty enough for me :-).
sundar:
glad to see you around here. i was not sure if you ever visited anymore! sad to say, but your mathematical equation skimmed tangentially off the top of my head.
- s.b.
sundar/terri:
i get it. sundar appears to have been referring to the auto rickshaw fare - but he commended on the superstition post!
rs.10 off rs.40 would probably count as 1 sigma, right?
- s.b.
I see. The language being used is Greek, but I still don't get it :(
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