Superstitions - To Believe Or Not To Believe

Today after a long time, thought of blogging and was thinking of a topic for my blog. After a long thought process, I couldn't arrive at a proper blog topic, so decided to cut my nails. The moment i started cutting my nails, my mom started scolding me. For a moment, I failed to understand why she was scolding me. Then she told me cutting nails on a Saturday is a bad omen. She also told me, I should also never cut nails after sunset on any day. Well, when I asked her the reason behind it, she had no answer, she just said its bad.

Similarly, there are many credulous belief or notion in this world which are not based on any reasonable proof or knowledge but still people tend to believe them.

Whether we believe in these superstitions or not, but when somebody says its a bad omen, we tend to believe it. I personally don't believe in these things but subconsciously I have believed in few of these superstitions over the years. In fact many of us would have believed in them at one or other instances.

I can list a few beliefs which I have heard from my elders from my childhood.

1. Do not proceed if a cat crosses your path.

2. Never ask the question "Where are you going" when somebody is leaving the house.

3. Never get a hair cut on a Tuesday.

4. When you wake up in the morning, always wake up from the right side.

5. Never leave your slippers in your bedroom. Seeing slippers as soon as you wake up in the morning is bad omen.

6. Right eye twitching is good for men, left eye twitching is good for women.

7. If there is itching on the right palm (left for female) you can get some money or favors.

8. If there is itching on the left palm (right for female) brings bad luck.

8. If a lizard makes a sound when you make a statement, it indicates that what you said is true.

9. Coconut tree, Ashoka Tree, Banyan Tree etc are considered sacred. Never cut them.

10. Repeated hiccups indicates someone's thinking of you.

and this list goes on. 

World No Tobacco Day

AN ASHTRAY WITH A ROSE,
LOGO OF THE WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY OF THE WHO

May 31 of every year is considered as "World No Tobacco Day".
I wonder why this day or any day related to tobacco would be important to me. Actually this is a question which most of us ie: non- smokers have in our minds.
Well, though I am a non-smoker or I don have any forms of tobacco like Cigarettes,cigars,pipes, bidis, kreteks, clove cigarettes, snus, snuff, smokeless forms like gutka, khaini, paan masala with tobacco etc, I cannot call myself a non-tobacco user since I am a passive smoker.
Now what is passive smoking?
It is also known as secondhand, involuntary or Environmental tobacco smoking. It is basically the breathing in and exposure to other people's cigarette smoke.
Environmental tobacco smoke is one of the biggest sources of indoor air pollution. As well as making your home or your workplace smell bad, it also, more importantly can lead to lung cancer and heart disease in smokers and in non-smokers. Non-smokers who are exposed to breathing in tobacco smoke at home have a 25% higher risk of developing lung cancer or heart disease. If this is added to exposure in the workplace and public places, the risk goes up to as high as 60%. Now, if this stats is to be believed, sub-consciously this makes me think about tobacco and importance of world non tobacco day to a non-smoker or a non-tobacco user like me. It makes me wonder, "Why should I be the victim of somebody's pleasure?"


Interestingly when I ask the smokers I know to quit smoking, I almost end up getting similar response "I am trying". Well, there are very few smokers who actually tell me they love smoking. But 90% of the time I hear smokers wanting to quit smoking and they are trying hard to do the same. This makes me appreciate the 10% who atleast accept that they love smoking or they cannot quit smoking. I agree with the fact that any addiction to quit, requires a lot of will power and determination, but it is not an impossible task. So the 90% who are trying to quit smoking have more will power and determination to smoke rather than to quit.This is the nature of addiction they have for smoking.


Mark Twain once said "Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I 
know because I've done it thousands of times". 


So I can only sympathize and empathize the 90% of smokers who want to quit smoking and I pity them for the lack of sheer will-power in them. 


To all the 90% smokers, its better to be in the 10% rather than faking about quitting this addiction. If you really have the will to quit, you are already 50% out of this addiction,you just need to resist your temptation further to make it 100%. 
Someday I hope to find atleast 90% of the world population as non-smokers :).

Cheers!

First Post Finally!!!

It has been on my cards for more than 5yrs now that I should start blogging. Finally with lot of initiation from my friends I am entering the blogging world. I am not a good writer but I have promised myself that I will try and do a good job of writing in my blog.

This blog is not about anything in particular, but about everything under the sun: life experiences, best moments, worst nightmares, best dreams, mundane things, cooking, travel and the list goes on.

I will try and express my opinions through my writings.

Thanks for reading. I really appreciate it. Comments and opinions are always welcome. Will write more often.

Cheers!