Sunday, December 23, 2012

Of Thumb Rules, Assumptions and Superstition...

There is no end to these  topics…..However, let me get you started on the first one.During one of my stays in a men’s PG..i found a curious case when a group of my fellow PGites embarked in an almost daily routine. 2 fellow law students staying in adjacent rooms would never leave together though they belonged to the same class. On my inquistion, I found that as one of them pointed out that the other brought him bad luck because he was from a
particular caste. Hence, he carefully avoided meeting him in the morning and left only after the other fellow left. This bewildered me and asked him if there was any particular instance on which he retorted that his mother had told him so.This left me in the cold.I told him he was lucky to be in a PG and not in a hostel or he would have never known who he ended with.
My mom has been trying to get some sort of thread around me since eons. I asked her why and she said that its becoz we belong to certain caste we should be doing so and so..Now, this has never appealed to my scientific mind…without a reason or rhyme just put a thread for the whole of ur life. And again somehow, the females were not supposed to wear it. To sum it up..i always avoided wearing it and my mom finally gave up. But I had
to go through some pointed remarks on how non-compliant I was etc etc etc. Now, I have nothing against people having/making their own luck..I fully support it..but sometimes these superstition cause much chagrin and confusion. One of my friends used to “jhap” of Gayathri mantra for a fixed number of times to bring him luck…becoz he felt he had done something to anger the Gods. I told him that he was much better and the last thing
God would think is to hurt his own children.
Another impact has ben the growth of astrology and the so called “babas” or healers. I dont wan to pick up specific examples.. but for each genuine case we have a charlatan. And too much focus is given on astrology..my view is that for relationships to make or break…is not dependent on a stars position but how really compatible we are. Incompatible people are going to end unhappy. Black cat crossing the road, black spot on the cheek, having
a maid from a particular community..this is an endless list…visiting a particular team to get a visa…etc etc
The second con is assumption. Let me clarify it with an example. I normally watch movies after seeing their ratings or taking a review from friends. However, I have found that there is no consistent agreement between these ratings. For some movies which recieved low ratings..I found them quite satisfactory and where high ratings were given they just disappointed. One another assumpiton is that the responsibliyt of family falls on the  eldest.
I never know why we follow this…it should be more of who ist the most talented should lead the family. And never assume anything in a relationship. Just because you are a part of the family/relation don’t expect that they will put throught with you even if you don’t put the effort.
The third point is thumb rules. One of the things which is rampant in the workplace is the act of classifying people based on a certain state/religion/hence, If you are from Maharashtra..u automatically turn into a supporterof Shiv Sena or MNS, all Tamil people will only like Tamil and so and so. Coming to work place..a lot of folks have thumb rules regarding a certain colleague or a technical work.  You are a Gujrati..then u are a miser..Puneites are lazy. Such stereotypical thumb rules sometimes becomes so rampant that we crucify people without even knowing them properly.
So why did I raise this point? I am finding increasing contexts that people operate with these topics exclusively in their life.And the people who are part of this are not illiterate However, nobody is ready to take a good look in the systematic details associated in selecting/rejecting a  person.Hence, we end up doing something which might be injurious to us later. Just take it to a point that u done your research before making a statement and
don’t fall into the trap of the Assumption and Superstition which will lead to ignorance and eventually our downfall as “knowledge” beings.

No comments: