[Stanher]

I was told this by the guy from whom I bought my activa- never make any cash payments on days other than Monday or Wednesday! Although its ok to RECEIVE money on these days. Anyone know why?

[madhukar_n]

Hi,
I guess we have seen many people doing various things with not much reason but are just being superstitious. For example, in cricket, K Srikanth used to just walk upto the leg umpire and return back after almost every ball.

So, with respect to cars and driving, there are many things we do. Some may be superstitious and some may really have some reason(which i/we may not know). So lets try to bring that out in this thread. I will name a few which i have seen and I have followed.

1) whenever we start the engine, never take a reverse first. Just go a step forward and then put on reverse.(my dad does this even now, I stopped)
2) when going for a first drive of the day, touch the steering wheel with your hands and touch the eyes(just like you do in temples)
3) before going on a long drive, take the car to a temple and circle it.(pradakshina - what we call)

there may be many things like this.. So bring it to on tbhpians.

Enjoy !

P.S: if mods think this post is for a different thread/not needed, can take appropriate action.

[nandishpal]

i have had some superstitious feeling for long now.though my car has central locking & up module for the windows.i tend to check it again.all the doors & windows.goin forward in the morning & then back is a must touching the steering & then the eyes also done by me.
i tink its all in the mind & when you try to avoid it the mind says why take a chance spmething might happen & you tend do it.

[SS-Traveller]

Intersting topic to say the least. I guess you can call me superstitious. Every time I drive, I prefer to move the car an inch or two forwards before reversing if required. A long time ago, my Morris 8 refused to shift directly into reverse on first start in the morning, so it needed a shift to 1st, and then reverse. I still do it.

I also stop/reverse/switch off and start again for cats crossing the road ahead of me. Had run punctures 3 times at different places soon after a cat crossed the road (once stranded in the middle of nowhere near Dehradun at night). As they say, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but thrice is enemy action!

[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by nitrous

If U drive over a pig, sell the vehicle.

Originally Posted by Raajiv

And the person who buys it,is a lucky soul

There is sound logic to the selling the vehicle after you drive over a pig. A pig is tough. Metal parts under the car (suspension - transmission etc) will get bent.....but the pig in all likelihood will get up, shrug and walk away! I have seen a pig get up and walk away after getting hit at over 60 by a jeep. The bumper of the jeep was mangled.

Originally Posted by RufRoc

Anyone heard of these superstitious guidelines (office related) which I dutifully follow:

1) When you set an alarm for 6 AM and your not out of bed till 8:30 AM, it's not a good day to go to work.
2) When you step out of your home and you look up to see a teeny tiny speck of cloud, why take a risk? You might get caught in a rainstorm, stay at home.
3) If your breakfast turns out to be surprisingly sumptous and you over-eat, stay at home, you'll anyway lose productive time at work running to the loo.
4) When you start your car and the first song you listen to on the radio/CD/iPod is 'Smoke on the Water' or 'Highway to Hell', get out immediately and get back to bed as fast as possible. No one wants to start the day on a wrong note, right.
And lastly, when there you know your manager is eagerly waiting to fire you for what you did the previous day, well, legend has it that your well advised to stay put at home. Afterall, you have to live another day.

That RufRoc, is not superstition, it is pure science evolving into an art form.

[deepclutch]

thankfully ,pigs are banned in my town!(and very less in my state too)

[fireblade007]

While my brother was looking for a second hand 150cc bike he heard of a pulsar which changed hands 3 or 4 times due to death of the owners.Don't know the cause of the deaths ie whether road accident or not. And that it was available in the second hand market for 6000 Rs. The bike was just 2 years old at that time.
one of my friends sold his zen which met with accident about 5 times at the intervals of 3-4 weeks. I was there during two accidents.But the occupants were unharmed. Interestingly while it was parked near a near bus stand it got hit by two huge bulls which were fighting and dented its back.

[Shan2nu]

I was asked to keep a "Saphire" stone with me when driving (some lucky stone crap).

But then again, my whole car is painted Saphire Silver. I've got more luck than i could ask for. Hahahaha....!!!!

Shan2nu

[sudharma]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Well, i'll disagree with both of you on this one

"God bless you" from Wikipedia.:-
Several possible origins are commonly given. The practice of blessing a sneeze, dating as far back as at least 77 AD, however, is far older than most specific explanations can account for.
A legend holds that it was believed that the heart stops when you sneeze, and the phrase "bless you" is meant to ensure the return of life or to encourage your heart to continue beating.

One explanation holds that the custom originally began as an actual blessing. Gregory I became Pope in 590 as an outbreak of the bubonic plague was reaching Rome. In hopes of fighting off the disease, he ordered unending prayer and parades of chanters through the streets. At the time, sneezing was thought to be an early symptom of the plague. The blessing ("God bless you!") became a common effort to halt the disease.

A variant of the Pope Gregory I story places it with Pope Gregory VII, then tells the common story of Ring Around the Rosey being connected to the same plague.

Another version says that people used to believe that your soul can be thrown from your body when you sneeze, that sneezing otherwise opened your body to invasion by the Devil or evil spirits,or that sneezing was your body's effort to force out an invading evil spirit.Thus, "bless you" or "God bless you" is used as a sort of shield against evil.
Alternatively, it may be possible that the phrase began simply as a response for an event that was not well understood at the time.
Another belief is that people used to see sneezing as a sign that God would answer your prayers or an omen of good fortune or good luck.In this case, "Bless you" would be in recognition of that luck.
Tibetan Buddhists believe a sneeze (like meditation, falling asleep, preparing to die) can provide a moment of "clear consciousness," when people are opened to greater understanding.

[Edsel Rulez!]

Originally Posted by A S H V I N

everyone has totally neglected the most common and classic superstition. when you take the car out in the morning (of for the first time that day) a lot of people tend to take it front first and then proceed to reverse!

Well, when I take my motorcycle off the centre-stand it has to necessarily roll forward a few inches, so clearly I don't have to make any further efforts to ensure my safety.

On a serious note, I don't do this with cars. At the same time, I can't bring myself to "respect" other people's superstitions -- it would be more honest to say that I merely tolerate them, and intervene only when there's danger involved. For instance, I would certainly try to dissuade anyone from breaking a coconut on their heads. A friend actually attempted this at some temple down south as some kind of penance, and I thought it's a crazy thing to do.

Actually nobody knows where the belief ends and superstition starts. I have not done these in my car-

1. keeping a god's idol/photograph in my car. The idols given by the dealers are decorating my show-case. Xylo's DDAS has an option to display the selected god on its panel!
2. tying a black rope in the grill to ward off evil spirits
3. tying a baby's shoe/chappal on the axle [many autorickshaws in Bangalore sport this]
4. pasting sticker on the windshield invoking a particular god's blessings
5. stopping by a wayside place of worship and pray the almighty before climbing up a ghat road. I observed most of the truckers do this.

[Wolfheart]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Sneezing once whicl you re going out; A Lizard falling on you; A crow flying touches on your head; A dog barking (crying) in night etc. These are supposed to be the bad omens (which our people feel).

There is atleast one incident where a lizard falling on a person almost led to a disaster. This is a cutting from a newspaper check it out:

My view on falling lizards on humans: If a lizard falls on me, I am certain nothing will happen to me. But, if I fall on the lizard, the poor creature will be no more to know the result!

[Wolfheart]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

My view on falling lizards on humans: If a lizard falls on me, I am certain nothing will happen to me. But, if I fall on the lizard, the poor creature will be no more to know the result!

Unless the lizard that you fall on happens to be a Komodo Dragon

[triedeverything]

I had gone to Chickpet along with my wife and her mother. We had gone to purchase some embroidery, etc stuff that is used for stitching clothes.

It was about 6.45 PM and they asked the shop keeper for needles. The shop keeper looks at his watch and announces that since 6PM is over, no needles will be sold! Anyone any ideas? None of them would sell needles after 6 PM. Any ideas?

Don't give me Cinderella stories!