"Irugu dishti porugu dishti" My mother indulged
herself in the act of cleansing my auras which were polluted by the so called
evil eyes. I looked at her through groggy eyes which were no better than my
desktop processing a forced shutdown. A pumpkin cradled in her pudgy hands with
a cake of camphor icing it. Little does
the poor pumpkin know that it is going to have a crash landing at the end of
its giant wheel ride.
It is hard to ignore the tongue of flames licking the camphor
even with my eyes closed. Flickering and dancing images of what looked remotely
like a five headed snake materialized on my retina. I cursed my entoptic
visualisation.
"Under suitable conditions
light falling on the eye may render visible certain objects within the eye
itself. These perceptions are called entoptical. They are different from
optical illusions and visual hallucinations as the observer cannot share a
direct and specific view of the phenomenon with others."
I choose not to share my visions with my mom cos I am drop
dead tired for picking up one of those science vs religion wars tonight. She
would let me win the war but nevertheless coax me (well! coax might be an
understatement .....beg, threaten or emotionalize me to the point I could no
longer resist) to pay a visit to the anthill and offer some eggs and milk to
Nagraj. So I pressed my upper lip tightly against the lower in an effort not to
yawn...you see my mum is a pioneer in 'Aavaliste pegulu lekkapette' batch (ability
to count the intestines through a wide open mouth- A Telugu metaphor to
describe extreme intelligence.)
"mee office valla dishti, Face book dishti" she
ended her long list of possible evil eyes. I stepped over the turmeric smeared
threshold with a sooted face to make an exit.
"I am not yet done" she blazed angrily. She took a
fist full of salt and repeated the whole act of spinning it around my head. On
any other day I would have enjoyed this.
Not that I believe in it but I consider it her way of displaying her
affection. But today I am too tired for it. She is already through a round of
red chillies, slaked lime water, lemons, a broom and a sickle. what not!
"Stop this charade mom. Let me go to bed. It is dumb of
us to believe these evil eyes in the days of I-pads and I-fones" I lose my
temper.
"There is perhaps a scientific basis to this which is
not yet in the lime light" dad intervenes. I roll my eyes and say
"Don't you kid me dad. If you need any favour from mom try praising her
culinary skills"
Dad gives me a saintly smile and says "chill. Let's call
it a day. There is always a tomorrow".
I finally make it to my cosy bed and have one of those roof rattling
snorty sleeps. I wake up to a brighter sunrise and fix myself a cup of green
tea.
Dad pushes a Russian magazine towards me as I munch on my
cornflakes. The title reads "kirlian photography".
I never realized he is up for a duel without wands and arrows
but armed with the thing that can beat me for sure. Evidence. "wotz
dis?" I ask genuinely puzzled. "Read it" he says with his eyes
smiling the same saintly smile.
Kirlian photography is a
technique for creating contact print photographs using high
voltage.
"You mean a photo without a camera or a lens?" I
wondered aloud. Dad nodded his approval.
Kirlian believed that images
created by Kirlian photography might depict a conjectural energy field, or aura, to surround living things. These images
showed a life force or energy field that reflected the physical and emotional
states of their living subjects. They thought these images could be used to
diagnose illnesses.
"Whoa! so they believed this aura thing. Really? U me
and Mom. All of us have a little halo of a moon behind our heads...like in
those paintings and pictures of gods and goddesses?"
"If a key can have a aura, a leaf can have it then why
not her highness have it?" he winked like Dumbledore. I had an urge to
read on.
Results of scientific experiments
published in 1976 involving Kirlian photography of living tissue (human finger
tips) showed that most of the variations in corona discharges can be accounted
for the moisture content on the surface of the living tissue.
"But how does one clean it?" I fired my next
question.
"salt is a hygroscopic. Remember? It pulls out moisture
from your aura by osmosis and the impurities along with it" he concludes
to a floored me.
"That's totally fundoo. I never knew there is science
behind these petty rituals" I could hardly conceal my amazement. "I
thought mom's head is hollow...now I learnt to spell it right...It's a halo".
"so next time when you fight with your mom, just
remember that she lets you win bcos she loves to see you win. Anything is fair
in Love and war...especially if the war is with the one you love" he adds
and I swear I could see his halo glowing extra bright as he exudes gyaan (knowledge).
