Are you superstitious? The answer to this question could begin with, "Of course, I'm not. But " And here a note of uncertainty creeps tn. Superstitions arc supposed to be baseless. Yet like an invisible chain they bind the thoughts and actions of many men and women.

Ignorant people leave their faith to superstitions. But what about the educated people who find themselves under the wings of blind beliefs? This unseen force offers relishing possibilities for some. At the same time it could haunt the mind with bad omens. How wild these imaginations arc I We loose our reasons and grope into a dark future. Good and the bad omens take firm hold of our unconscious self. Willingly or unwillingly we allow ourselves to be influenced by the unexplained, unfathomable ■ phenomenons. Superstition becomes a puzzling riddle when peculiarly enough some of them respond cor-rectly.

Perhaps one shouldn't pay heed to what I’m saying but do you know about the wonderful predictions your beauty soots cotlid

make? The sayings go like this:

Spots in eye make you cry,

Spots on the foot make you buy.

Spots on the hands make you bake. Spots on the tooth take you to grave. There are signs and symptoms which could tell about arrival of guests. Listen carefully. Do you hear a crow calling on the west? Did your child take the broom in the hands? Have you been dropping things all day long? Have the two of you been talking at a time? All these should be cautioning you to prepare yourself for unexpected guests. These guest announcements were invented when other communications were slow. Even now in our country guests drop in unannounced. The value of the guests will depend on the entertainment measures. So watch for those signals and be ready!

Have you fallen in love? Are you wafting for those special letters? Watch for the maynahs. The birds are efficient in predicting the future. Depending on how many you see at a time, the saying goes like this;

One for sorrow

Two for Joy

Three for letter etc.

Aha! Have you seen three birds together? Then keep hoping the letter may come soonl These omens go on to number ten. How effectively nature has extended its hands to man! In nature primitive man found causes for good and evils. Women were restricted from various night time activities. Strangely enough the su-perstltion of the dark still casts shadows on our mind under electric lights!

Let's go to village superstitions. Once there you'll be bound with invisible chains of command. The fears of bad omens and anticipations of good omens follow tn every step. The mothers-ln-low and the dominating husbands have made the rules to their own convenience. "Don't eat before members of the family have taken food. Don't eat the chicken breast because you'll have a girl child etc". The villagers are practically handicapped by thousands of superstitions.

Spiders could well be leading you to great fortunes. Spiders on yourself? Don't shrink at the idea. Spiders are marks of new arrivals, new houses, new clothes, new cars etc. If you wear clothes inside-out. that also brings in new clothes. Man lives with hopes. No wonder the symbols were invented to keep on hoping for new things.

Superstition in the child of ignorance, folly and unreason. Through The stages of civilization, through cultural and social changes there existed classes who were beneficiaries of these rituals. But would you believe that the itching of the right-hand palm brings in a lot of money? So get ready to open your bank account.