Friday the 13th!!

I guess I’ve always been slightly paranoid about train journeys (not unnecessarily, I’ve had my share of rotten experiences) and hence I never travel alone. And I realized today is Friday the 13th!! And I’m going to be on a train tonight!
Well I don’t usually believe in superstitions.. naah.. they’re just stupid.. though I might believe in jinxes and ‘touch wood’ n all.. (they’re REAL!!)..
But couldn’t help Googling abt ‘Friday the 13th. As usual found a cornucopia of stuff..

So many legends behind one superstition.. Ctrl+Ved from Wiki..

The most interesting and easily the most gruesome one was about the Knights Templar.. (sounds familiar?? Yeah yeah Da Vinci Code).
The Knights Templar were a monastic military order founded in Jerusalem in 1118 C.E., whose mission was to protect Christian pilgrims during the Crusades. Over the next two centuries, the Knights Templar became extraordinarily powerful and wealthy. Threatened by that power and eager to acquire their wealth, King Philip secretly ordered the mass arrest of all the Knights Templar in France on Friday, October 13, 1307 - Friday the 13th! And probably massacred them all..

Another interesting but kinda silly legend goes like :
The actual origin of the superstition, though, appears also to be a tale in Norse mythology. Friday is named for Frigga, the free-spirited goddess of love and fertility. When Norse and Germanic tribes converted to Christianity, Frigga was banished in shame to a mountaintop and labeled a witch. It was believed that every Friday, the spiteful goddess convened a meeting with eleven other witches, plus the devil - a gathering of thirteen - and plotted ill turns of fate for the coming week.

LOLZ.. Can’t blame her.. poor thing was named Frigga!! Frigga?? Hehe..

And there’s a truckload of folk-lore revolving around this.. Google it up.. it ranges from fascinating to mildly interesting to down-right mundane.. (there was something about a stock-market crash .. that Black Friday one that we all kno abt.. but still, after stories of Witches and Kings , this one sounded lame.. )

But this little para made me sigh in relief..

For many, the number 13 was considered a lucky number (such as 13 lunar cycles each year), but with the efforts of Christianity attempting to degrade all things Pagan, they promoted 13 as an unlucky number, with Friday thus also being considered a bad day of the week.
(Btw,Pagan is a term given to nature-worshippers.)



So, today is actually lucky for Pagans.. I’m soooo Pagan.. (at least for today) well I believe in ‘touch wood’ n all.. This started off as an old Pagan ritual – the ancients used to tap or knock at trees for invoking tree Gods and tree-dwelling nymphs and fairies to bless them with good fortune and that slowly turned into the ubiquitous ‘Touch Wood!’.

Nyways, bottom line.. though it’s Friday the 13th, I’m safe..

uh..Touch Wood!!

Dirty unwahsed Jeans..

Bangalore’s heaven these days .. Been raining the whole week.. not the mad pouring kinda yucky rain; the nice, musical drizzling rain- the kind that makes you smile as soon as you wake up, a nice lazy smile and crawl back into bed, snuggle up into the lovely warmth of your favorite blanket, and go back into the world of dreams….
The kind that makes you want to listen to MJ’s ‘heal the world’ in full volume.. makes you miss your coffee-buddy ( every one has a coffee-buddy- somebody with whom you have awsum coffee conversations, lazy banter about nothing and everything, without a care in the world.. my coffee-buddy is a certain freak called Ezzy)

I was walkin to work today, in the cold morning, where everything seemed to be bubble-wrapped in misty damp dullness, with miniscule rain drops kissing my face and MJ crooning in my ears, very happy with the world.. I was fantasizing about bunking work and playing dirty sloshy football in the rain with my friends (BUT that fantasy will never materialize coz my friends here would NEVER bunk work!! ) .. nyways I have an extraordinary imagination and somehow the smile never left my face.. and my grin got wider when a cute somebody on the road returned the smile!

I was wearing a dirty unwashed pair of jeans today ( the rains prevent you from washing clothes u kno!) and while I was walking I slipped my hand into the pocket and hey presto! The unmistakable feel of money! There’s something extremely delightful about finding money in your old jeans .. a childish joy akin to finding a sunken treasure.. lolz..
Hmmm..This mention of treasure brings back a certain old memory..

Long long ago, when I was little, I read these books where kids go n find an ancient treasure in the middle of an adventure (remember Famous five and Tom Sawyer??) and obviously I used to fantasize about it .. the adventure held my interest more than the money( I was a silly child) ..and one summer I went to my grandmother’s place..
She had this beautiful puja-room which I loved to visit. One day I found this tiny little cupboard kind of a door in one dark corner of the room. That minute was the best, most thrilling one in my life so far!! I slowly approached it , to prolong the glorious moment and opened it with trembling fingers.. Stuck my head in and peered into it.. and got the biggest fright of my life!!!!! It was full of cockroaches.. hideous ugly scary creepy crawly absolutely disgusting ..cockroaches…

Nyways where was I? yeah.. old jeans.. That gives me an idea.. go home hunt in your old cupboards for discarded old jeans, trousers, ..whatever .. and turn the pockets out.. you might find something. ..an old love note, leftover pocket money, faded photographs.. unwanted marksheets… lots of interesting ‘maybe’s.. if u do find sumthing.. plzz lemme kno.. just scribble it in a comment here…

Adios!!