~ Unfathomable Faith...~

 He has a peculiar job in hand and that seems to be strewn across a street lane which this gentleman visits on those special occasions – ‘Saturday is one of the day when he surely visits to certain shopkeepers in the marketplace – these shopkeepers take his ‘Services’ on this special day to ward of evil – such is the tumultuous faith on the power of the unknown that ‘Babu’, as he likes himself to be called fondly, has found himself a job for more than a decade.

From where does he outsource the necessities to make a bunch of lemon and green chili and jumbled them up with a string and thus makes his ‘Sell’ possible to be tied to the front doors or entrance of shops and showrooms he visits. Considering the cost of lemons in todays world, this seems to be a costly affair – but not so as the magnificence and the positive vibes this act of pacifying the gods bestows much generosity on the psyche of the meek shopkeepers.

Ask Babu if he believes on this practice truly and that it will ward of evil effects of negative forces – he smiles but does not say a word – his smile has zillion meanings but to my mind it means a big farce!

Living in this part of the world with our opinions and belief systems, Babu are the best keepers of faith for many of us – be it giving alms on special occasions to obligate the mercy of Gods or offering un-quantified goodies to Gods for our own benefit, we do it all – such are we, that we believe that all hell would break loose if we wont do a gesture which other are doing by rote! 

Coming back to the basics, Babu was tying the knot of carefully weaved lemons and green chilly bunches in quick fashion as if he was in a hurry – as my observations came true, he indeed was busy today as I saw another pack of knots which were qualified to be tied to showrooms – it was well past afternoon and he indeed had to finish his task quickly to accomplish his objective – as he steered passed me, I asked him the price of one set of his “Sell” – he smiled and said “Rs 20/- only!” – “Do you want one?”

Without wasting any time I was quick to answer a big “No”, but definitely asked the purpose of him tying these to the main gates of shops – he was equally quick to respond in a timely fashion – “It is to ward of any evil eye on the shop!” – I had no further questions as I deemed understood that Babu wont be engaging in a long conversation, considering his state of mind and gesture – he left many questions in my mind which I still gives me a restless upheaval – these may be quite sensitive to many and emulate strong faith systems which many of us quite follow without a wane but to me it certainly defies logic to my finite mind…. the quest follows…