Do you have an answer?


I always used to walk very fast. It had become a habit for me from childhood. Unknowingly, I would also keep my head high and straight. Many have asked me if I had worked in the army! Others concluded that it was because I was so proud that I kept my head high and walked as if I didn’t care for anyone else or the rest of the world. I walked as if I was kept on a cruise control. Even if I tried to walk slowly with all my effort, after some time, I would pick up speed.

Sometime back I was at the corniche for my daily walk. It was a weekend and there were many people perched on the low wall at the sea side, enjoying the sound and sight. The weather was good and I walked enjoying the gentle breeze. I was at my usual speed and suddenly heard a clap and a call

“Sadeek !” (Friend ! )

I was surprised to find it was a young local girl clad in the traditional burkha.

“Shuf ! Minnak phi radar” (Careful! There is a radar ahead!)

I never could believe the girl had such a sense of humor and more than that, the guts. Traditionally, the local girls shy away from outsiders. Times have changed. She had a hearty laugh and so too others who heard it. A group of boys sitting on the other side,probably watching the girl than the sea, clapped and encouraged as well. That was a pleasant evening.


Our hospital was spread out in a very large area. There were long corridors running criss - cross at many levels. I could easily walk about 200 metes from the ward to the out patient clinic. As always, my walk would always be fast and people would think I was running to attend an emergency or the sort. Over time, the staff got used to this, and they would not bother even if I hurried for an emergency.

One day I was on my way to the clinic when I heard the call form Venki. He was our senior male nurse at the emergency. I paused for him.

‘What is your secret, doctor? “He asked as he came near me.
“Of what?”
‘Your speed, doctor, how do you manage to run like a horse at this age?”

I didn’t like the question and specially his mention of my age. That reminded me of my age, which I don’t remember at other times.

He guessed from the expression on my face and just grinned.
“That is a secret I don’t usually share”, I said and walked away

When I reached home, I felt a kind of severe fatigue and tiredness. I went to bed after taking some pain relievers and couldn’t get up from bed for at least three days. Every inch of my body ached and I couldn’t move.

From that day, if I see this guy, I would take a side turn in another direction and escape. Because this has happened to me on more than one occasion.

I don’t know if you would believe such a story, especially from a doctor. But I had the same problem more than once, for it to be a chance. On another occasion he said
“Doctor, you look too young and bright. Look at me, your same age and people ask me why I haven’t retired”
The same day my back ache and kidney stone started giving me trouble and I was forced to bed for a week. My knees started making that crepitus which I had never heard before!

During my younger days, we had some very notorious persons like this in our neighborhood. There was this woman near our home. People would always hide anything good from her. If the mango tree blooms and gets heavily laden and she just looks at the tree and says’ Wow! My goodness, so many mangoes! Can the tree hold them all! And there it goes. The next day you will find all those unripe tiny fruits fallen all around and the weeping tree without a single fruit on it. Or if she looks at a baby and makes a comment “Oh….so cute and healthy looking”, the next day that unfortunate baby would fall sick.

I don’t know how many of you would laugh at this. Last week I made a visit to my old hospital. I met few of my colleagues and then went to the wards. I met someone at the corridor who was notorious for this kind of comments.

“Doctor! You look much better!! You have become ten years younger! You must be happier there? More money...Eh? I am sure there are many good looking girls around as well “

Till this I day I haven’t felt good. Every single day, I have aches and pains. With all my efforts, I manage to go to the clinic and do my work.

Whenever something good happens, I had this tendency to go and tell it to everyone around. I just can’t hold happiness. On one such occasion, a colleague of mine called me aside and said “Babuchayan, there is no need to tell all this kind of matters to everyone. Tell it to only those you think will wish good for you. There will be others in whom jealousy will brew and might think. ..What the hell...how come he gets everything, all goodness comes to him “ , and then the opposite will happen”

I don’t know how to explain these things.A friend tells me it is some kind of bad energy.Well,if you believe in good energy,then there could be bad as well. In medicine,we learn that many illnesses work through the immune system and this system is regulated also by emotional and psychological factors.

28 comments:

  1. You either walk to break the sound barrier or u don't walk at all. Doc any way good that you are back in Blogging two posts in as many days.

    Old grandma's tales these . We all must have grown up hearing all this ( "karinakku" as you may know).

    But perhaps it is true that partaking a joy with an evil mind negates the happy energy. Perhaps it is all in the mind !

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  2. Well doctor, my late mother in law ( also a doctor) strongly believed in this. If anyone asked her how she was she always answered "So.so" She used to get very annoyed if I replied to questions about how I was with the answer "I am fine"! But as you say, there is thing called bad energy which a lot of people believe in..! I am not superstitious about this though I do believe that there is the theory of coincidence ! I hope you continue walking fast. My father is a fast walker.. and so am I. My husband teases us saying that both of us walk as fast as we are thinking - often oblivious to what is in front of us . So hopefully we will have someone call out "Sadeek" to us too :-)

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  3. You pose very interesting questions. You also write extremely well :-). I love to visit here. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  4. Why take chances? Avoid the guy. Who know what is right and what is wrong. Even if psychologically it helps, stay away from negative people.

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  5. Nice read..good to see you back after such a long time..

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  6. Well Doc I agree..N I do the same...
    Stay aWAY from evil eye ..dats wht it means!
    not everyone has heart of gold or noble intentions ...and I think we should go by only our natural instincts..rest is fate..
    Cheep up ,smile!
    and ignore the rest!
    :)))

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  7. Heard of that thing which goes on all the time on TV? Nazar Suraksha Kawaj !

    We received the thing in courier one day free with a product, we threw it in the dustbin. Eternal life to the dustbin. :-P

    C'mon Doc !

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  8. I believe in it, people call it "Nazar"...or the evil eye...there has to be some logic to it coz it works quite well, when we ll wish it won't.
    Let's break the bad omen...Hope you be healthy and happy all your life :)

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  9. Even my family also believes in all this, and though I try to be so called progressive one, I have seen it that whenevr I praise anyone, that person changes and for the bad.

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  10. I do not believe in the 'evil eye'. It is probably coincidental that things appear for the worse.
    Hope you are feeling better so that you can still walk your normal fast pace. Keep the creaks away!

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  11. good to see you back Doc. Its true, the evil eye makes a lot of difference in our life..!
    Better to stay away from it.
    Tasty Appetite

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  12. I do believe in vibes. For some reason you take to a stranger in the train have a pleasant journey and part after having taken down the person's phone number. You may or may not contact him/her. But the vibes are good. At other times the person may be a colleague/a neighbor or even a distant relative. You don't even feel like saying a 'how do you do?'

    They say negative vibes produce negative results. I haven't had the experience touch wood.

    BTW, I take measured steps, walk with a peculiar gait and my photographs from childhood shows my head tilted to one side. I too am called proud. Why? I would not know.

    I am feeling fine.

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  13. Doctor Anthony: I'm not sure how to even process this one. I remember having strange things happening to me, and when I asked my son's dad about one of them, he said "Sometimes unexplainable things just happen." I guess I can apply such logic to your experiences. Great read.

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  14. Dr Antony nice to see you are active posting blogs again.

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  15. Forget the evil eye and the rest of it; What I will take away from this post is the scene at the beach - 'Sadeek! Shuf ! Minnak phi radar'. Thats all I want to know about humans, about relationships. In that fleeting moment, you, the girl and the clapping young men were one; that's how life should be...

    Thanks for that image, Doc!

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  16. I remember in our village we have this guy, whome the whole village avoids if they are going ot do something that day.
    Not sure if its to do with that guy or just co-incidence ..

    and I use to walk slowly but since it has become compulasory to do half your shift on FOOt, I guess have become more active and walk fast too :)

    Good to see a post from you

    Bikram's

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  17. Nice to hear from you again! Now, however hard I tried I couldn't decipher the picture you have in there - what is it?!

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  18. Hi, Came in through Keats Sunshine Girl.Your post made excellent reading. The evil eye effect or bad energy is nothing new. There is no logical explanation. Initially I was a non believer in such matters.I used to skoff at my wife whenever she mentioned evil eye. But when I actually saw bad things happening to her after appreciative comments by certain persons I have started believing in this phenomenon!

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  19. Who is the top commentor of your blog? To find out, visit http://mybloggercomments.blogspot.com

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  20. Nope, I never laughed at your story at all because I do believe in such things.It has happened with me too.The moment I let out a good news or anything of the sort in front of others , the next minute the opposite happens.I believe in this thing, very well described by your friend as 'bad energy'. Medical science will never belief in such things but I think such things do exist.I think you should keep your personal life to yourself,share your happiness only with those on whom you have 100% faith.But now you may ask,what's the control on compliments given by others?Well in case you get compliments from such people and you sense something wrong, just don't reply and walk away,better still do not let them talk to you !
    CHeck this if you like -
    How Superstitious Am I?
    Natural or Supernatural? What do you think?
    http://www.3smartcubes.com/pages/tests/superstitious-test/superstitious-test_instructions.asp

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  21. All are telling me as a unlucky girl. If I come in front of them they will return to their house and drink water and after 15 minutes they will start. When I was 8 years old, our neighbor told me in front of my face don't come in front of me. I am going for some important work. I cried a lot. Till now I didn't understand why I am not lucky to others. Once I told the neighbor son he looks so beautiful, immediately he fell down and got injury in his head. Now a days I am not opening my mouth. I just kept quite and telling god's prayer inside my mind. Till now I am thinking bad about others. I do not know why me. My strong believe is wherever an action there must be equal and opposite reaction. After reading your post I recalled my experience.

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  22. At last, I was beginning to worry you had stopped blogging. As always a thought provoking post, my its good to have you back.

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  23. I know, even if you are a non-believer, you tend to think of it when something goes wrong! we had a friend who would tell us all about their child's achievements,and tell us that they do not share it with everyone, and they know we are few of those who share their joy! It makes me feel good every time I think of it. You will always find some people who are not happy for others. Negative vibes perhaps? Anyway, no harm in sharing good with people who care.

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  24. thoughtful question
    like the narration

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  25. What Happend to you Dr? We are Missing You. Are you not even getting your weekend OFF now to spare some time for your followers? So Sad.

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  26. Hi,all
    Thanks for all your comments. As usual,we cant agree on everything.It might sound absurd when you look at it scientifically,but then,we don't have explanations for many things that happen around us!
    Hepzibah, That is the evil eye at the centre of the broom stick!
    Petty
    Thanks for checking !That is stimulating!

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