Indians and superstitions are inseparable. We allow our beliefs to define us. A typical Indian limits his range of thoughts to his superstitions and fancies. We all are aware of the fact that various superstitions exist, even among the well-educated families. Logical reasoning is not enough to uproot superstitions from our culture.

How can we explain it to a person, who discontinued his quest, just because a black cat crossed his path? Poor cat, would’ve been hunting for food. How, possibly can it be an evil omen? Now that I’ve mentioned that, I remember a quote I read somewhere: “A black cat crossing your path signifies that the cat is going somewhere”. Worrying about that cat’s sinister behaviour isn’t going to get us anywhere, so why worry?

If cat behaviour is tormenting us on one side, there are people who don’t want to face widows. What kind of honest reason can they give for avoiding a widow? It’s considered a bad omen if one faces a widow before doing anything auspicious. I don’t think any ‘god’, has told us to avoid or shun our fellow humans. Then why do some people ignore them? Is it a girl’s fault if she obeyed her parents; married the man they pointed at, who just happened to face an unnatural death?  People and society make these women vulnerable and then shun them saying they bring bad luck.

My friend accidentally dropped a mirror. It shattered to a million pieces, each reflecting her mother’s angry expression. She wasn’t angry because her daughter had broken an expensive mirror; what angered her was the simple fact that her daughter had broken a mirror. She said that it would bring seven years of bad luck! It was quite surprising; she was an educated and socially reputed woman, but here she was, worrying about a silly superstition. I can personally guarantee that I’ve broken a lot of mirrors before, enough to bring me a life-time of bad luck. These beliefs just don’t work.

We generally tend to blame others. If something bad happens, we blame cats for crossing our paths, we blame widows if our prayers aren’t fulfilled and we even blame crows for cawing if undesirable visitors turn up. We simply blame others and victimize them for our superstitions.

I think we can develop ourselves, only if we could accept the consequences of our own actions, instead of blaming others, in the name of god and superstitions.