OMENS

Omens always fascinated me. Well.. still i do not know whether should i believe it or not... More often than not they put my mind in dilema. As far as my mother is concerned she is a firm believer of omens. So obviously, i was brought up how to observe omens & interpret what's going to happen next????.......Before i touch my horrible encounter with one of these omens, i would like to share some of the omens over the yeras my mother taught me to interpret.....
Throbbing of right eye for men considered as good omen, while the left eye is construed as bad omen...for women vice versa believed to be true....
Hearing a dog howling at the moon fortells the death..
Single sneeze before begining of a jorney or intended good mission or task interprerted as trouble, failure ahead...
Cat sneezing is considered as a good sign while if cat moves across your way then it is considered as bad omen.
Crow croaking construed as bad omen...
Itching of right palm forecasts money & wealth on your way, whereas left palm predicts expenditure.. itching of nose fortells impending quarrel... & list goes on & on.......
Recently one of my friend told me that bees are considered messengers of god, he said if a bee enters a home it's thought as sign of good luck, whereas killing of bee is considered as bad luck..Now let me share some very interesting omens believed onboard ship( my workplace!!!). Sailors firmly believe that if all the rats leave the ship then it is destined to sink on it's very next voyage. To sail on friday considered as bad luck. To step aboard with left foot forward foretells bad luck.
These are just vindicating that omens exists througout the world. To be honest i never tried to find out the veracity of omens in my life. I always shrugged off my shoulder by saying " superstitious thoughts" untill this incident happened to me when i was studying my engineering at hassan.
Once in our college strike had begun on some complex issue & continued for two weeks. During this time i had decided to visit my native to attend family function. Since the deccision to attend the function was taken on the spur of the moment , i did not inform my family about my impending journey. I thought i would give surprise to family members.
With this intent, i had planned my journey in such a way that , i would reach my native only few hours before the function started. I packed my bag, finished dinner, left my room from hostel & reached hostel gate. Security person at the hostel gate began opening the gate while he sneezed, it was single sneeze!!!! I didn't bother about single sneeze omen & it's interpretation. My legs proceeded towards auto-rickshaw stand, where i was hoping to catch an auto-rickshaw to reach bus-station. To my surprise there was not a single auto-rickshaw in th stand. So i waited for sometime but still there was none.....Then i decided walk my way to reach bus-station.
During that long walk to bus station some of deeply burried thoughts about single sneeze & it's interpretation began to prop up.. These thoughts were trying to correlate single sneeze omen interpretation with the fact of myself not catching an auto-rickshaw to reach bus station in time & trouble ahead of my journey.By the time those thoughts began to grow bigger & bigger , i reached bus station in time. At this point of time those thoghts slightly subsided...
Though i reached bus station in time, there was no clue about the the bus. After i waited for a while in the bus station, i went and enquired about the bus. I had been told that due to some technical snag bus was cancelled. So i began to wait for subsequent buses. To my dismay.. many buses came to bus station but i was unable to get a berth for my journey. Astonishingly all buses came there were running full...After my long wait at the bus station, one of the conductor came to me & told the ugly little truth. He said " Sir, no point in waiting anymore, you could catch the next bus which leaves around 5'o clock early morning".
At this point of time, two streams of thoughts sprung up. One stream of thought favouring superstitious thoughts convincing me to believe single sneeze omen & it's interpretation.These thoughts asking me to stop my journey & go back to hostel. Another stream of thought hell bent on disapproving superstitious thoughts. These two stream of thoughts fiercely battling in my mind. For a moment i thought if i decide to go back & cancell my journey, it would be a mere acceptence of superstitious thought. As an individual i was supporting counter superstitious thoughts. So i decided to wait at the bus station & continue with my journey.I knew that i would be reaching late by few hours to that function, but i was satisfied with the fact that i would still make it to the function.
It was around 5'o clock in the morning bus had arrived to the platform. Soon i embarked the bus & occupied a seat for myself. Within few minutes bus was jampacked. Still some time was left before the bus commenced it's journey, I was casually talking to my adjucent co-passenger. Our talk continued for few minutes. During this talk he sneezed. It was single sneeze again.!!!! Frankly i was expecting him to sneeze again!! but he did not!
Bus left from the station , i closed my eyes & slept. Few hours after the journey had commenced suddenly bus stopped. I woke up from my deep sleep... There were some noisy talk within the bus. I just got up to see what it was ?? I could see a big queue of vehicles standing ahead of our road. Soon i learnt that there was one tanker(carrying oil) had overturned in the middle of the road. It was estimated to take few hour to clear the blockade. At that point of time, i had realised i would not be able to make it to the function. Obviously at that moment superstitious thoughts had gained an upper hand. These thoughts compelling me to believe single sneeze & it's interpretation. But i was in no mood to buckle. I said to myself it could be a mere coincidence...
I reached my destination in the evening. I was horribly tired with my journey, both physically & mentally. As i was walking on my way to home, i met one of my good old friend. Since we met after very long period, he offered me to have a cup of coffee at a near by hotel. Myself gracefully accepted that offer. While we were sipping our coffee, we recollected our past times... After a while bearer presented the bill. Each of us eager to pay the bill & we were fighting on this issue.. while he sneezed!!!! it was a single sneeze again!!!!!!!!! I said not again!!!!!
Already i was battered with thought of single sneeze omen, this particular single sneeze added fuel to the fire. My mind started to think about the hidden message trying to convey by this single sneeze!!!! I tried to put the things in to perspective. My task was to reach home & take rest. My legs proceeded towards home. To my bewilderment our home gate was locked. I had no clue where my family members had gone. I enquired my neighbours. But still i could not get any answer. Now i had to wait for them!!! After i waited for an hour or so my mother arrived. She started to bombard several quesstions.. But i was in mood to answer....
Next day i narrated my horrible journey experience ,along with single sneeze & it's interpretation. I asked him many questions like....
Should i belive superstitious thoughts???
Was that a coincidence 3 times?????
But he replied firmly & said " if you believe superstitious thoughts they always follow you!!!!" For a while i was satisfied with his answer....
Same day evening i strated to question my mother. I said to her " I know how you interpret single sneeze omen, But what if a person sneezes twice????? "
She replied " nothing bad"
Again i asked "what if a person sneezes thrice & how do you interpret??"
She gave long face & replied " he might be catching cold!!!!!!!!!!! "