Tuesday, September 26, 2017

The rich cultural taboo of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday

Religion is dangerous.
The sole purpose of creating religion by whom so ever was to keep people scared in the name of God. 
Being born and brought up in a modern family, I was raised to ask 'why' to satiate my hunger for learning every time I found something illogical. 
It irks me to see literate people blindly following something they can't really explain. Educated people, not so much. 

Since school, to college, to my job, I've met so many people who are class apart blind followers of
  • No hair wash on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. 
  • No cutting of nails on the above mentioned days. 
  • No washing clothes on Thursdays. 
  • No hair cutting, hair removal on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. 

Of all I could remember as a teenager was to keep a check on MWF/TTS for the coaching classes. (Aspiring to be an engineer wasn't an easy life in high school). 
However, people kept a check on when to schedule their waxing appointments or wash their blood stained underwear according to the calendar. That's pretty gross and unhygienic if you ask me!

I've tried to reason with almost every second person I came across who follows this funny schedule but not one, I repeat, NOT A SINGLE person could tell me the real reason behind these silly logics. 

I'll rather make a small list of reasons I got, just of laughs though. 

Not washing hair on Tuesday - no idea but maybe because it's Hanuman ji's day. 
(Umm, so Hanuman ji is against keeping your mane tidy, I guess)

Not washing hair on Thursday - a lady who has only one brother and/or male child should not wash her hair.
(Like how important it is to have a heir in your family that you'd not clean your hair or nails because then some God of yours would get really pissed at you for maintaining your hygiene and in turn, take away your only chance of having a male child or brother. Cool logic, yeah!)

Not washing hair on Saturday - Your hair will turn grey. (Lol, dude, wtf? Have you heard of the term called genes? Or maybe using those dyes and chemicals, maybe?)

And so on with numerous vague reasons for all the bhakts of Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. 

I ran to my maa, even my grandma the first day when I came across these atrocious rules and they were as chilled out as I am today. We don't care beta, you shouldn't too. 

Somebody even advised me to go the pandits in case I was very keen on knowing the 'truths' behind these jokes, but I don't trust the pandits either. 
They keep scaring the 'god fearing aam aadmi' more with the planetary positions and maanglik dasha and rahu ketu and all that jazz. I mean, nobody gives a rat's ass, at least I don't. 

I'm a working woman, a very busy mom to a hyper 7 month old baby. I wash, cut, wax, trim my hair and nails whenever I get time and bluntly refuse to follow these flaky rules blindly. 

Label me rebellious, label me outspoken, but I'll rather be an atheist than a fool. 

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

पुराने गाने

प्लास्टिक का काले फ्रेम का चश्मा
आँखें मल कर रखा टेबल पर
कंप्यूटर से थकी आँखों को
घड़ी में ग्यारह बजने का सुकून मिला

फ़ोन के दूसरी तरफ से आवाज़ ने पूछा
पुराने गाने पसंद है?
ना कहते कहते जवाब हाँ हो गया 
और आवाज़ ने कहा, 
चलो, घर में पुराने गाने चल सकेंगे 

आज एक घर में अब भी पुराने गाने चलते हैं
और दूसरे में
बस पुराने गानों के बोल