I am almost never superstitious. I don't believe anything not scientifically proven. Don't believe in ghosts, have always doubted Ayurvedic medicines, I take Astrology with a pinch of salt, ditto for Vastu, Feng Shui etc.
I read this article many years ago, in Delhi in The Times of India. This article on vastu said "Keeping cactus and succulents inside the house brings death to someone in that house." I was annoyed. How do they allow such rubbish to be published. " He talks about death so simply, it's going to put people off some beautiful indoor plants, frighten them..." I muttered, "Didn't Preeti have such a beautiful collection of cactus..." And then I froze. Preeti, two years my junior, had died in a freak accident a few years ago - she fell from her balcony while leaning out to wave at her husband. She had gifted me some cactus from her beautiful, collection, but my cactus did not survive. There could be no link, silly superstition, I thought. But the next time I visited a nursery and admired a tiny yellow pot of 'kiss me quicks', I did not buy them.
This November my neighbours lost their 23 year old son. They had locked the house in a hurry when they heard of the accident in Bombay and were in no condition to come back home, alone, when he died soon afterwards. Then, one day, their relative came to collect some documents from their locked house and asked if I could take care of their indoor plants since they had no idea when the grieving parents would be back. I asked my mali (gardener) to bring their potted plants out so they could be watered and weeded along with my plants. He did that. Imagine my horror when I noticed the next morning that five amongst their plants were various varieties of cactus.
I did not take good care of these cactus, pushed them as far away from our houses as possible, but they have survived. I may be wrong. How can any plants inside or outside your house indicate death?
Last week when they came back, they collected their plants. They have taken the cactus inside their house again. How do you tell a grieving mother to throw away her cactus...or at least leave them outside her house?
20 comments:
I didnt know about this superstition.Infact I heard cactus should be kept outside the house as it wards off evil eye.Such similar incidents do make us scared.Your story sure is scary.
i am not too superstitious myself...except for the occasional "touch wood", i try and keep away from supersititons.. i have never heard of this particular superstition... i honestly dont think, cacti can cause death.. its just too hard to believe..
mandira
Hey..i came across your post..i know its very difficult to not believe in superstitions..especially when by doing a simple thing you can get your piece of mind...it can be as little as touching wood to ward off evil...tho i dont believe in superstitions either..but if I had been in your place i would've done the same too!
Hmmm....quite interesting. Heard that the chinese also dont like to keep cactus inside their homes. Am not so sure though. Anyway, iam not superstitious and dont give it much thought anyway.
homecooked -I have read on all Vastu sites and magazine articles that cactus should not be kept indoors, only once in Sunday edition of a Newspaper have I read that it brings death. Logically speaking, it just does not make sense.....but?
churningthewordmill I do agree with you. It just does not make any sense. It's just that the coincidences scared me.
Bee - Thanks for visiting and commenting Bee:)Yes, isn't it scary? Of course it's just superstition, and there is no explanation, but, it's reassuring to know that there are other people who would also react like I did!
Oh god! Never heard of this before....I remember when I was growing up we had cacti on our porch, don't know if that's technically inside or outside....
But honest, if someone would tell me, whether I actively believe or not, I'll probably not keep it, thinking, what's the harm in keeping out one variety...ikf it helps in anyway...
liju philip - It's true that Feng Shui and Vastu, both advise against keeping cactus inside the house. I had nearly forgotten about it until this recent coincidence... this coincidence gave me goose bumps.
chandni -That's exactly how I reacted, not believing completely but did not keep any cactus anywhere, inside or outside, after that. I was into aloe vera products those days, but I told the mali to take even that away.
whoa! I've got goosebumps, this is so scary! Cactus on the porch, is that inside or outside..
But quite honestly, whether i believe it or not, I am going to play safe and keep cactus away..
checked with my mum, we have cacti at home and ours is a vastu house, Porch is outside the house and its the cacti with thorns that should not be kept at home.
I was so worried, I just had to know what others knew or thought. I also got all my friends to remove cactus from inside their homes. It sounds so ridiculous, but I still just don't want any cactus in the house.
My mom has always had cacti and so have i. so far no freak accidental deaths! :)
*touchwood*
LOL! A few more comments like this and I think I will go buy some pretty cactus!
IHM : Ohhh why did i read this !!!
I actually had one inside my bedroom,i just moved it outside the house. I am not saying i do believe but there is no way to take chances.
I actually had one inside my bedroom, when i read this article i moved it outside the house right away. I am not saying i do believe but i cant take any chances either.
@Annabelle I understand, I felt the same way!
@Hitchwriter :)
I would rather avoid ....
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