Age is catching up to all of us slowly and surely,
last week my sister in law sprained her back! It was for the first time and she
gyms quite a bit and you think she would be the last person to suffer from this.
But, it so happened and when she was asked about her pain and all, she kept on
saying oh its happened for the first time. Back pain happens for the first time,
and it is uncomfortable. Seeing her out of action physically had our servants
quite worried, so one off the old time maids we had , had a sure shot answer to
all this . She said medicines, pain gels nothing works angrezi dawai; her
answer was a classic one.
She said, that if two sisters are married into one family,
one of them could come and she would touch the back of the spine with her left toe
and say something five times and both of them would not talk to each other,
plus not cross each others paths. The pain would all go away. It was black
magic and nazar that had caused this ache. At first it sounded so bizarre , but
it was worth a try .I mean what could happen , nothing could go wrong or worse
than what her position was. It could not go worse than this . We were quite
stumped that who would fit in all the requirements and then like eureka! I
remembered that our cook and his brother are married to two brothers. I do have
my finer moments, if I say so myself.
Well, the next morning, he brought his wife, and Simer
sat in the crossroads of the door facing outwards and she did her bit of magic.
Simer had been told before hand not to speak to her and go the other way and
talk to the lady doing all this. They were not supposed to talk or cross each other’s
paths.
As, simple as that.
I saw them do this. And, she touched her spine with her toe and mumbled
something and went her way. We all
laughed over this, and don’t know if it was psychological or whether it worked
or whether the medicines had kicked in after resting that she felt that her
back was better.
These little superstitious acts are apart and parcel
of our lives especially us lot who dot the rural landscape of India. It doesn’t
matter if you’re a science graduate or masters in commerce, this kala magic
affects us. Call us ignorant or superstitious but in all of us lies that
vulnerable soul who is susceptible to this. The Minister of Education should be
forgiven for visiting a pundit, he had prophesized she will be the future
President of India. If someone, sold me that dream , why would I not pander to
his wishes?
India is a country that has definitely moved on from
the land of snake charmers but we have moved to mouse and make the world our
captive with our stories, our yogic traditions, and yes some of our
superstitious beliefs. Actually we come way behind the Europeans in our
thoughts.
As, the pain got better, she didn’t know what to attribute
it to whether it was allopathy and rest or sheer luck with the toe. However,
the story going the rounds is that Bittu’s wife’s social position in the
village has been elevated as she had cured Bhabhiji ! Apparently, a quick make
money business scheme has been hatched. Till then ,if you have a niggling back
ache do visit us for instant cure minus the ugly belt.
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