When it comes to grades in school and career choices, all desi kids experience parental pressure at different stages in life. Some quotes (translated in English) overheard in real life:
“Mohan beta, how could Raju score 92% marks, and you only get 87%? Your career and life are ruined ……..”
“There is no scope in music/sports. Why don’t you go into engineering/medicine ………”
Blood transfusions – a dumb way to get smarter
I would venture to say that probably that most remarks of this nature are well intentioned, hurtful as they might be. However, these parents from Rohtak, who happen to be doctors took things too far (tip: Runa via Tipster).
Faced with the tragedy that perhaps their older son was not smart enough to get into MBBS school, the doctor couple from Rohtak were at their wits end. Then a guru appeared in the mother’s dreams and suggested a miraculous technique to make the kid smarter – transfuse him with blood from his smarter younger brother.
Investigations revealed that while Piyush, a class VI student, excelled in studies, 18-year-old Abhishek, who was preparing for medical entrance examinations, was an average student. The couple was desperate to get him enrolled in an MBBS course.
The superstitious mother reportedly saw the ‘guru’ in her dream, who advised her to transfuse the blood of Piyush to Abhishek for his sure admission to a medical college. He also directed her to spill oil and burn something to create smoke in the house during the transfusion.
The cliche goes “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. But what if it kills you? No one to this day, has answered the all important question to the cliche.
The operation, however, went haywire and the younger sibling died of excessive bleeding.
We often blame illiteracy in India for the existence of asinine superstitions even in the 21st century. Turns out even educated people are not immune to superstitions.
What’s shocking is that the mother, Dr Promila Malik, is a professor in Pandit Bhagat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here and the father, Dr Ashok Malik, is employed in a hospital at Amritsar. Apparently, the ‘guru’ used to appear in the mother’s dreams.
Rohtak police made this startling revelation on Wednesday, after investigating into the incident in which Piyush (12) was killed and his brother Abhishek and their mother Promila were found injured in their house in the PGIMS campus on October 1. They arrested the parents after registering cases under sections 304 and 120 B of IPC. Police had also seized material like mustard and kerosene oil, incense sticks and matchbox, indicating that tantrik rituals had been performed in the house. Superintendent of police Haneef Quraishi said some family member could be involved in the incident. “We have interrogated the father and the family’s 14-year-old domestic help who revealed that Promila had faith in the magical remedies of a tantrik. We have found blood-soaked syringes and needles.”
This story brings forth so many issues facing urban educated Indians. Excessive parental pressure, abundance of quacks masquerading as doctors and the existence of superstitious practices even among the educated elite of society.
While discussing this story with some friends, they rightly pointed out that not all educated people succumb to such extreme superstitions and engage in tantrik rituals. That may be correct but a lot of educated people of Indian origin, engage in some equally mind-numbing, albeit harmless, rituals. One of them is the nimbu and mirchi (pictured left) to ward off evil spirits. This is widely used in homes and businesses in India and Indian-owned homes and businesses abroad. The other one that comes to mind is the kaala teeka (black mark) on the face of children to ward off evil eyes, again, practiced by Indians in the des and abroad. These are superstitions sponsored by organized religion, victimless, but asinine nevertheless. The problem with superstitions sponsored by organized religion is where do you draw a line? Sure blood and gore are not standard fare in superstitions in Indian society but they (superstitions) represent a weak mind. This weakness, in our minds, as Runa points out, is exploited by unscrupulous elements on the fringes of organized religion – godmen, sadhus, babas, tantriks, quacks, shamans, exorcists, etc. The innocuous nimbu and mirchi does not get anyone killed but it starts a slippery slope. People who indulge in one are not above indulging in an equally, if not more, silly superstition sponsored by organized religion and somewhere, the line gets crossed.
Full disclosure: Like mentioned above, educated individuals are not above indulging in superstitions and I’m not immune to it. I’m immensly superstitious when it comes to watching sports and it does come from a weak mind. My two favorite teams (1,2) are stinking up the joint and I’ve not slept for days on end. But fear not, no tantriks or blood transfusions have been involved as of yet.
Everyone has their own favorite superstition. What is your guilty pleasure? Any other thoughts or opinions on superstitions in our culture or parental pressure facing desi youngsters?
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