Superstitious Blues

I hate superstitions. Especially when forced to follow them. I do agree that by the time I cross 50, and see the ups and downs of life and luck, I'd probably turn as superstitious as any other. But with the luxury of youth now, I choose to be a disbeliever.

So I was rattled when I first encountered 'Aashadha Maasam' phenomenon which directly affected my life. Till then, all I heard of it was "Aashada Sale". Apparently it's a bad luck period and not many people enter into major contracts such as fixing marriages, buying major goods, moving into houses etc. In A.P. ( at least), during this period, the daughter-in-law is not supposed to stay in the same house as her mother-in-law, and the son-in-law is not to share the roof with HIS mom-in-law.
So my in-laws tentatively suggested that my wife be sent back to her 'maai-ke' for a month.

Of course I raised a stink over it. Hey, we were just two months married, and I was still waiting for my joining offer then. Why the talk of judai between two jobless lovebirds ? As it is, once we start working, god only knows what free time we'd get.

My in-laws took it nicely. As my wife confided to me later, they'd have been much more worried if I had agreed to it happily.

I finally get my job offer. The posting is Madurai. When I arrived in the city, the very first thing I was told that the Aashada Maasam is still going on ! The damn thing kept following me - actually, the Tamil calendar is one month later than the Telugu one.

So, nobody would vacate the houses in this month. Ashubh hai. My foot !

Luckily, I had a godsend in the form of my pa-in-law's good friend. We'll refer to him as "the good doctor". He hammered on my hostel doors early in the mornings, jolting me from my sleep ( I almost fell out of my bed hearing the racket), took me round the town searching for houses. His favourite refrain was "it is only 1 km away" for any and all distances covered. He stopped his car regularly to offer Madurai speciality mixed juice, and took me to the best places for breakfast and dinner. Despite the hectic schedule and my lack of sleep, within 2 days I had 4 houses to choose from.

And here's where the superstition helped. For the same reason (it's called Aadi Maasam here, btw), the locals postponed their dates for MOVING INTO houses too, leaving me a clear field. As a Telugu, I had no issues moving in immediately ( even if I happened to be superstitious). As a result, I had virtually no competition while searching for premium flats.

I guess even superstitions have their uses sometimes.