The Indian Albatross

We often come across a brown coloured bird with a bright yellow beak and feet swinging on a twig of a tree or an electric cable. I am not talking about any exotic bird, but a common bird called Mynah. It holds a special place in kids’ hearts. When they see the bird in a pair, they go ecstatic, as if they have hit a jackpot. They celebrate this fortunate sight with jubilation and shout,”Two for Joy”. They prepare themselves to welcome some unexpected good news. If their day begins with a sight of an innocent Mynah, they steal their sight from the bird. This ominous sight chocks their voice and they mummer, “One for Sorrow”. One - is a celestial message that some unforeseen event is chasing their way. They get terrorized and make a futile attempt to prepare themselves to face an unprecedented tragedy.

For some, these childhood superstitions stay with them even after they cross the threshold of the university. It’s interesting to note that many years ago; a famous poet called Samuel Backet Coleridge wrote a poem “The rhyme of the ancient mariner”. In his poetry, he narrated a story of a few sailors who killed a harmless Albatross, a sea bird, with a hope that the ship would sail through smoothly. But they couldn’t touch the shore.

We claim to be superior to the rest by the virtue of our ability to give reasoning. But often, superstitions outwit our analytical capacities. You never come to know; when this devil called “Superstition” enters our mind, occupies and starts ruling it. In its clout, we prove ourselves to be the most vulnerable and meek creatures on the earth.