Black spots on toddlers’ faces and hanging lemon and chili on car ceilings are intended to keep off the perceived-to-be-evil eye from inching closer. While most women debunk them as superstition, a few cling to these otherwise ‘harmless’ beliefs
Post News Network
Tiny tots with little black ‘bindis’ or spots on their foreheads and cheeks are so beautified as to ward off the evil eye. The ‘kala tika’ is believed to be a very common ‘totka’ – the sort of, often superstitious, belief that it would keep the child safe from all kinds of looks. Such beliefs in today’s age are dubbed irrational but the emotional force of ‘totkas’ and other superstitious beliefs, which are often left unexplained, is undeniable. Orissa POST asks women whether such common beliefs at all carry emotional force of conviction for them.
Sangita Majhi, an advocate from Bhubaneswar, is mother of two youngsters. She says she has applied the black ‘bindi’ on her children’s faces when they were toddlers. She says, “If there is evil, surely God is there too. And if God is there, He will protect your baby from all evils. This myth holds no relevance and is discarded by many progressive families. But I still remained silent. Because whether it is a positive practice or not I don’t know, but it does not affect me in a bad way. And if our seniors in the family want to carry on the practice, we should not protest.”
“Not only the kala tika there many other totkas which are blindly believed and practised. Our grandmothers tell our mothers and the practices are handed down the generations. Surprisingly, even TV daily soaps and films display superstitious practices. Scenes of a person having curd and sugar – supposed to bring ‘good luck’ – are very common in films. So every successful job-aspirant can say ‘dahi-shakkar’ did the trick for him. This is baseless,” says Pushpa Gupta from Jharsuguda.
Pinki Mohapatra is an activist from Padampur in Bargarh district. She says, “We are surely familiar with the practice of putting black spots on toddlers’ faces or foreheads. Especially during pregnancy and parenting everyone comes up with some totka or the other. I don’t want to enter to the debate whether the practice is a superstition or not because it is a small issue. If we are really concerned about society there are plenty of other urgent issues to be taken care of.”
“There are many totkas that are still followed in the 21st century. It is believed that a lemon, chili and coal together can avert the perceived-to-be-existing evil eye. Many people put them up at the top of the threshold or on their vehicles. Maybe it is the sourness and the spice in the trio that keeps the evil eye from coming closer and bringing bad luck. But I analyse it in another way. Some people earn their livelihood out of these totkas. Like small lemon and chilly vendors can get some money by selling their stuff. So I think there is nothing wrong in these harmless beliefs,” says Dr Nibedita Mohapatra from Nabarangpur.