Hindu Customs

Anilk222

India is a varied country and our customs differ by states/sects. Lets begin attemptempting to list customs just to educate ourselves on the same :

People dont cut hair in bangalore on Tuesdays .

etin

I dont think its a custom. In the south (or all over ?) all the barber shops are closed on tuesdays. They work on sundays. Its their day off!!!

Regarding hair cut; people try to avoid haircut or nail cutting in the night. This too, I believe, is of hygenic reasons.

cyberhippie

Buy steel products on Saturdays!

Nick-H

Tuesday is an inauspicious day for doing many things, certainly for making purchases.

Many small shops take advantage of the chance of loosing the least business by making this their holiday. You will often see "Open Sundays: Tuesday holiday" outide shops.

Due to the lesser crowds I regard Tuesday as my auspicious shopping day!

Here's another for you:

Cut your finger nails outside the houseand on a Saturday!

batistuta

Some of them are just superstitions and not customs Imho.

1> Never ask anybody where they are headed when they are leaving the house.

2> Many people don't eat non-veg food on Monday.

3> Stop when the cat passes your vehicle

Anilk222

As I understand because of this custom, and business thinning out most barbers decide to shut shop on tuesdays.

rajiveanand

All the shops are closed in Thimpu, Bhutan on Tuesdays.

R.

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kalyani68

After getting one's hair cut, one must immediately come home, take a shower and put on clean clothes.

Nick-H

...that one (which I hadn't heard before) feels kind-of right to me!

I often feel like a hair cut is getting rid of unwanted stuff.

But then, I always leave it far too long between haircuts...

(of course, there's always the boringly practical aspect of the hairs down the back of your neck...)



.

soumya_mukherjee

That one is definitely a superstition and can be found allover India.

This reminds me of a great Bengalee short story. One old highway tea stall was going through bad times because of some new town/stop that came up somewhere near, so that cars/tracks were not stopping at that old stall but enjoying at those new places.

The owner devices a plan that involved a cat gifted to him by a Sadhu. He trains the cat to cross the road anytime it sees a car passing. The driver will stop and take a break, then he/she'll find a tea stall nearby and obviously order a cup.

It was possibly 15 years back when the story published in Bengali Children mag "Anandamela". The name of the story was "Jangee" (the name of that protagonist cat), writer Samaresh Mazumdaar.

nayan

soumya...
I remember this story too.... Funny how one remembers things . I used to be a regular subscriber of anandamela. your post bought it all back. Thanks

anindya911

I too remember the story...
Back when I read it, I found it quite depressing, specially the ending. It's been still etched in my memory after all this years. Any desolate dhaba or tea stall along highway reminds me of the story.

Thanks Soumya

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soumya_mukherjee

Yes the end is pretty depressing. The Sadhu comes back and takes away his cat, along with the newfound hope of the owner. The story was written with a grim aura.

[ Off Topic comment: Remembering a lot of such good stories from Anandamela is really easy because of remarkable quality of writers Anandamela enjoyed in those years ('80s and especially '90s). When I read recent Puja-editions of Anandamela or Desh, I can't but sigh. ]