Sunday, December 02, 2007

Marriage to a tree?

Yes I do realize that all the stuff about Aishwarya Rai getting married to a tree was well in the past. But I started thinking about it yesterday thanks to a friend who seemed to find the idea completely fascinating and was wondering what happened to the tree that she married. Apparently he read somewhere that being manglik means your spouse will die within the first year! (though a lot of people define it more as something that could lead to problems within a marriage - and in extreme cases death). Either way, so the root of the curiosity was wanting to know if the tree that Aishwarya Rai married was still ok - and he thought there should be someone tracking the tree!

So I did a little reasearch on it last night (yes i seriously have nothing better to do - and no exams are not nearly as fascinating) - and it turns out that she married 2 trees...but unfortunately noone has had this brilliant idea yet of checking up on these 'husbands' of hers! The more interesting bits I read were that since Ash did it, it has become more prevalent - manglik girls marrying trees or something...seriously! anything can turn into a fashion in India!

On a more serious note, what could lead educated people to be so superstitious. I argued with someone once about this during the Abhi-Ash wedding and they said - its not that people believe in it but they want to be cautious 'just in case' there is some truth to it. Isn't there a flaw in that argument - if you dont believe in it, where does the 'just in case' come in? And if people who are so high profile indulge in such customs, what does that mean for the less educated population who look up to these people. Are you telling everyone that there is some truth in the belief that just cause a person was born at a certain time, she is unlucky?? Like there wasn't enough crap like this going around anyway!

And what of the people who dont really know anything of astrology? And what of non-hindus...since its all about what time you were born and how the planets were aligned(?!) - they could be manglik too?!

I've never had any charts done for me, so Lord knows what curse I am carrying. Perhaps i should marry the tree outside our building and find out?

3 comments:

amit said...

So are you gonna track the trees for us? :-)

Infinitum said...

superstition? umn, the last time i checked, astrology was a part of hinduism and is a way of life for some people. it actually takes a lot of education to be well-versed in astrology; education and astrology don't have to be mutually exclusive things.
and most "educated" people seem do it "just in case" because they are born in to the hindu faith and follow a tradition even if they can't explain it logically.

'Tis a beautiful life! said...

if people are well-versed in astrology - i'm all for that...i may not be a believer but perhaps there is some truth to it - and having no knowledge, it is not up to me to question them.

but when it comes to the mangal dosh thing - pray tell me what greatness it is to tell a girl she is unlucky for her spouse based on the time she was born?

and i refuse to believe that this is what being hindu is about - because i'm hindu too - and i refuse to believe that God created something that would allow us to differentiate against others based on things that were completely out of their control