Care for some Superstitions???

This post truly depicts the name of my blog - it's totally random, am all over a lot of things at once!
I have been composing this blog for a long time now - To make sure I don't leave out any key, unusual, striking ones!

As part of growing up in Palakkad(which my husband loves to put down as a 'village' and I proudly accept!!) in a staunch Brahmin community, there have been a lot of 'superstitions' or more like 'sayings', most of which we used to follow just for the sake of it or rather we were used to doing so and never because we actually believed them.

A great deal is contributed when we go out of the house. Stuff like black cat crossing, Rahu Kaalam are known to all and is not peculiar to our community. The lesser known ones follow:

- Meeting a lone Brahmin guy as you get out of the house - Oh supposed to be a very bad omen!! I have actually seen my grandfather make sure that there are none when he goes even for a walk. Should also appreciate the fact that he avoids getting into some one else's path too. :)
- A similar one is meeting a guy with any kind of weapon like saw, sickle, knife etc.
- Going in a group of 3 - The visit will be futile. Whatever you wanted will not happen on that visit. I remember, once my grandmother made someone go along as the fourth person till the end of the street!
- If you are going for an exam or something equally important and had to come back home because you forgot to take something, it is a must that you sit for sometime or drink some water. I can't believe I have actually done that, since my neighbour paatti(grandmother) insisted!!

Now as I start thinking about this, looks like there are so many of this kind. Some come with sayings attached:

- Wednesdays - "Ponnu kadachaalum Budhan kadaikkaathu" (You might get gold (not a girl) easily but not a Wednesday) Yea right! Like they are so scarce every week! On the contrary, hearing some one's death news on Wednesdays is really bad. If so happens, you will get another death news by Sunday!!!
- Speaking of deaths, as soon as you hear about any relative's death, you have to take a head bath. I believe previously this was done in case the person died due to some illness/disease and for the sake of avoiding any contamination. Now, we continue to do this - Doesn't matter if you have never seen that person in your lifetime or if that person lived thousands of miles away!!
- Also, seeing a crow take bath/play in water - definitely bad/death news is on the way! - But if one of them caws for long near your house, make arrangements - Guests are likely!
- When you come into the house, always wash your heels, else the Saturn God will take over your life - Yea, he knows the way in only through your heel!
- On the same note, you should not wash your feet after you come back from the temple. You will lose all the goodness you earned.
- Taking bath as soon as someone leaves the house is considered inauspicious since it indicates you are "getting rid" of the person. Same is the case of leaving the house while someone is having a meal, not for the same reason though. My grandmother literally gulps down her food when there is any sign of anyone leaving.
- Now for my favourite one - Before going to sleep, whatever you want to eat will be fulfilled - Yes. The belief is, if you ask for something and go to sleep without having it and God forbid you don't get up in the morning your wish remains unfulfilled, right? So, my mom very cleverly forbids us to ask anything which cannot be had before sleep!! :(
- A funny one - if you see a shooting star, you should say out loud the names of nine bald men you know, else it's considered unlucky. It became easier as we grew older. :D

Now for some religious ones - These are unquestionable and tough to argue since they require no particular reason! I can never fit them all in this blog and so mentioning only a few:
- During dusk time, one shouldn't sit on the foot steps. This belief is related to the story of Hiranyakashipu(a demon king) who was killed during dusk in the footsteps by Narasimha, one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu.
- Also, shouldn't comb your hair or clean the front yard during that time since that's the hour Goddess Mahalakshmi visits our house and such actions would outrage Her.
- Whenever you donate money it should not be in tens. Like it should be eleven or twenty one instead of ten or twenty respectively.
- Seeing the moon on Chathurthi(4th day after New Moon) is awful but the 3rd day is lucky and as Murphy's law goes, I always catch the moon on the wrong day!
- Performing any ritual facing South is taboo.

There are a lot more like these which I guess many of you may not be keen on. So lemme just give you the more interesting ones:
- One evening, mom was chatting with the neighbour paatti and it turned out that in Thirupathi the Goddess' thaali(sacred thread tied during marriage) fell off from the idol. That evening I went for a walk, and at every small junction, there were groups of ladies gathered together discussing and their faces filled with astonishment, bewilderment and "what now" looks.. The solution(God knows from where it came from) was that every married lady untie her thaali and tie it back again!! I could neither believe my ears nor my eyes when I saw my mom do it!
- Another such incident that I vaguely remember was that guys should buy their sisters a green color dress. I wasn't clear on the reason, but my mom was happy as she got a new saree!
- The master of all these is the one, am sure, none of you will ever forget.. Lord Ganesha drinking milk..
Man! It was fun during that time. Everywhere around my house people had only one thing to talk about. To top it all, when I went to grandma's house, I found a big vessel full of milk and in it Lord Ganesha, Krishna, Vishnu and all Gods one can imagine. She didn't bother to try and feed them, just immersed them in milk so that they can drink however they want. And she wasn't partial to just Ganesha, she made sure all Gods drank!!

Even though i make fun of all these, it surprises me now, how I never questioned the reason behind all or any of this and just obediently did what was asked. I guess I knew mom or grandmother also would not give a clear answer and all I will have to hear is - "It's like that. Just do it" because that's what they also used to get from their parents. Maybe there are valid reasons for some of them at least, which I don't know about yet, some of which one of you guys might know and some left to ponder upon..
P.S : For those of you who expected this blog on Tuesday, sorry, I decided to push it a day further..err.. After all, Wednesday is a good day, right? ;)