சிதறல்

On a relaxed lazy sunday noon after the meal, we as children were playing in the mud outside our home not worrying about the hot sun. Grandma shouts and calls for a fun hearing the parrot astrologer’s Call in the road. The excitement spreads like a wave and we all assemble in front of the house at the thinnai (a small veranda that used to be built in those days for visitors and strangers to sleep/rest).

The man settles by spreading the towel and arranging the pack of cards(that holds our fortune) and looks at us and ask for the first volunteer to predict. As usual there would be some who volunteer first and some like me taking a safe step for going after some one’s experience. He calls the parrot in Tamil(!!) and request it to pick one for my grandma (i guess she had a ambitious long haul future plan to accomplish things), the parrot would pretend to pick one and grandma will touch her heart and pray that it pick lord ‘Muruga’ her favourite deity. Promptly it picks up a “Amman” (Parvathi) and grandma consoles herself now, that it is the mother of her deity. He reads aloud all good things ahead and it is such a fun for others to make fun and others now fighting to get the next chance..

2008…

I came across a related poem which was nice and many times I see a parrot, thoughts gets anchored on above mentioned incidents. I am trying to recall if anyone of us ever had a bad prediction by the parrot, like if it had ever picked up a demon or bad character - to the best of my knowledge ‘No’ it was always some Hindu Gods and the only sad feeling that we could get is - not getting the God which each of us wanted, but then, it is so nice in Hinduism that one way or other many of the Gods are related to each other..and overall it just used to be so much of fun.

Deeply thinking my own inferences from ‘parrot astrologer’ would be that by keeping away bad(demotivating) things and by presenting the positive side possibly people would be more excited.

Tags: English, Children, India, Life, Flashback, Incidents, Past, Remenisence, Sout-India, Childhood
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