The cat crossed the street and sat wagging its tail on the steps of the house just opposite to us as though it was mocking at me. Gayathri, my mother began slapping her cheeks with both her hands, looked up to the sky and began praying as foolishly as she has always remained. I knew it is going to take a few more minutes before I can finally leave for college, which is a couple of miles away from my house.
"What a bad omen!" my mother panted as she rushed inside the house and returned with a glass of water.
"Take a few sips of water while I will keep an eye on the street," She began looking out for any more cats; widows; people who never had issues; anything which she considered as a bad omen if they came across me while I stepped down from the house. It was then that some of my classmates went past our house looking at me standing on the steps, glancing at the cat which was still sitting in the opposite direction and smiled as they knew what was going on.
"I am getting late," I groaned at my mom impatiently.
"Wait," She replied without even bothering to look at me. "It is your annual examinations; I don't want you to take any risks."
Luckily for me, a woman emerged from the corner of the street walking in the direction towards our house. Immediately my mother's face began glowing in delight.
"Rama! You can leave now," She hurriedly said. "Mrs.Anajaneyalu is coming in the far. What a good omen! She is a complete woman with plenty of children."
I felt just short of banging my head against the pillar in disgust getting fed up with all these superstitions. I began walking down the streets towards the bus stop but not before listening to some words of wisdom from my mother about how I should fare in the day's examination. The days when I used to sympathize with my mother for all her idiotic superstitions are gone for all reasons; nowadays I tend to get irritated with her behavior which sometimes hurt others.
I have always remembered my mother as a very religious woman although my Dad wasn't particularly interested in any spiritual activities. He did go to temples but never bothered about any blind beliefs much to my mother's disappointment. He was justified in ridiculing some of the strictures my mother used to enforce in the pretext of good and bad omens. My mother never ventured outside on Tuesdays; she always followed the spiritual calendar while buying new things; she fasted once in a week; she never allowed certain people to enter our house beyond the first enclosure citing several reasons. In short she was a pain in the neck for me as well as my father. It was a strange coincidence that my father was run over by a truck while he had gone out to meet somebody during some 'inauspicious time' which only reinforced my mother's faith on these superstitions more strongly. Since then, our family had become a sort of a topic of discussion in the entire village for all the nonsense my mother did in the name of belief.
I felt slightly relaxed to see my close friend Gopu waiting for the bus. I smiled at him friendly for which he did not respond. For a moment I thought he hadn't noticed me but as I got closer I was convinced that he did see me coming although he looked the other way as if he wasn't interested in talking to me at all. I somehow managed to conceal my confusion, went up to him and patted on his shoulders.
"What is the matter with you? Why should you be so angry with me?"
He did look at me this time but preferred to keep silent. I was growing anxious to know what could be the cause of his indifference but as I could see the town bus approaching, I decided to speak to him inside. I boarded the bus and sat next to Gopu and smiled again, determined to make him speak.
"What is wrong with you?" I queried. "I had wandered all over the town to get the book you needed. I don't know why you did not turn up to collect that. I even don't know why you are avoiding me today."
Gopu turned at me and smiled wryly. I was getting irritated about his impertinence and felt as though I was about to run out of patience. I quietly bought the tickets for both of us discarding his resistance and kept talking to him before he finally exploded.
"I came to your house yesterday," He began speaking in a disturbed tone. "Your mother insulted me on the door steps and I returned without collecting the book."
Immediately after listening to what Gopu said, I felt hurt, humiliated and soon I was furious.
"Insulted?" I looked straight into his eyes and questioned. "What for?"
Gopu looked through the window for a moment before he answered.
"She told me that I am an untouchable and was not supposed to have come to your house," His face went rigid as he spoke. "She said that I needed to wait till at least one month passed after my grandmother's death before I could visit anybody."
I slammed my forehead in disgust while some of the passengers looked at me hearing the slapping noise sending me deeper into further embarrassment. I was grinding my teeth in anger listening to one more episode of my mother's superstition hurting somebody else.
