Superstition posted by Ranu

Superstition is an irrational belief or practice resulting from ignorance. The other day I watched a movie in which a woman died of childbirth.No one tried to find out why the woman died,their belief was she died because the girl born to this woman,is unlucky.There are many causes of death in childbirth,the process of delivery,the physician who looked after could have done something wrong.The woman had some kind of disease like cancer.Nothing was taken into account,but the friends,families and neighbours of the deceased immediately blamed the baby girl,they were certain she was unlucky.The result was she and her father were ostracized. No one visited them.The poor child could not play with any one.She grew up believing she really was unlucky therefore she should end her life. This kind of belief destroys a person and the family.

I have experienced some superstitious beliefs by my parents.Every morning,my Mom used to wake up and made sure she saw my face first before she prayed and started the chores in the house.

One day my Dad came home from the office.He was furious with our servant because he opened the door and my Dad saw his face first thing in the morning.According to him,everything went wrong in the office.He called me and said, ‘Ma Ranu ,can you open the door in the morning?’ Let me explain about opening the door.During the summer months,because it was exceptionally hot inside the house,we used to take our bed and bedding to sleep in the verandah. All the doors therefore were closed from inside,but there was one door we used to lock from the outside.This was the job of the servant. Anyway I was assigned to open the door,I was considered lucky,so who better to be in-charge of the door,but me.

Not that I minded doing this easy chore,but it was getting ridiculous.My younger sister wrote her high school exams,the results were due to come out the following morning. She wanted to see my face when she woke up.My sister was a terrible student,I knew there is no way she is going to pass the exam. and she would blame me,I seriously prayed and asked God to help me. Talk about ‘Divine ‘ help I could not believe how things turned out for me. For some very important reason I had to go to Dhaka.I wasn’t home when the results came out. My sister failed,she couldn’t blame me for her failure.I thanked God for His help.

Daily Prompt: Judgment Day Posted by Ranu

If I were to judge my favourite book by its cover, will I still read it? Yes I will,the cover of a book,makes no difference to me.I pick books by the title and not cover. Recently I read Paulo Coelho’s book,’The Alchemist’,I didn’t even look at the cover.Out of curiosity I took out the book again and looked at the cover.The design is nothing out of the ordinary, there is nothing on it that can make me even a little eager to find out what it is about.The title certainly attracted my attention.I started reading the book and did not stop until I was finished.This is the type of book I will read several times.

Another book that caught my attention,was ,’Proof of Heaven’.This one is written by a neurologist.I could not put it down until I read the whole book. I am embarrassed to admit,I didn’t even look at the cover.I read the title and bought the book.What I am trying to say is,’I do not judge a book by its cover.”

Reading Proof of Heaven, Dr. Eben Alexander’s near death experience (Photo credit: Lost A Sock)