Paraskavedekatriaphobia - Fear of Friday the 13th

Today is Friday the 13th ... We all have heard about this day and how inauspicious this is. We had a small discussion at office and my reps wanted to know why it is unlucky ... so I resorted to Wikipedia for the answer ... what I found was good information and I thought I should share.

Here is the History:

Both the number thirteen and Friday have been considered unlucky:
In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve recognized signs of the zodiac, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve Apostles of Jesus, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness.

There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.
Friday, as the day on which Jesus Christ was crucified, has been viewed both positively and negatively among Christians. The actual day of Crucifixion was the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew Lunar calendar which does not correspond to "Friday" in the solar calendar of Rome. The 15th day of Nissan (beginning at Sundown) is celebration of Passover.

Despite the onus on the two separated elements, there is no evidence for a link between the two before the 19th century. The earliest known reference in English occurs in a 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini:
[Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring and affectionate friends; and if it be true that, like so many other Italians, he regarded Friday as an unlucky day, and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that on Friday, the 13th of November, he died.

However, only in the 20th century did the superstition receive greater audience, as
Friday the 13th doesn't even merit a mention in E. Cobham Brewer's voluminous 1898 edition of the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, though one does find entries for "Friday, an Unlucky Day" and "Thirteen Unlucky." When the date of ill fate finally does make an appearance in later editions of the text, it is without extravagant claims as to the superstition's historicity or longevity.

Though the superstition developed relatively recently, much older origins are often claimed for it, most notably in the novel The Da Vinci Code (and later the film), which traced the belief to the arrest of the Knights Templar on Friday October 13, 1307.
----

As if this stupidity wasn’t enough … here are some facts that might astound you and open your mind to how destructive Superstition can be. Read on:

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. "It's been estimated that [US]$800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day". Despite this, representatives for both Delta and Continental Airlines say that their airlines don't suffer from any noticeable drop in travel on those Fridays

Link to the Actual Document: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th

Below is an excerpt from About.com http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/historical/a/friday_the_13th.htm

Friday the 13th - The Most Widespread Superstition?
The sixth day of the week and the number 13 both have foreboding reputations said to date from ancient times, so their inevitable conjunction from one to three times a year portends more misfortune than some credulous minds can bear. Some sources say it may be the most widespread superstition in the United States. Some people won't go to work on Friday the 13th; some won't eat in restaurants; many wouldn't think of setting a wedding on the date.

Just how many Americans at the turn of the millennium still suffer from this condition? According to Dr. Donald Dossey, a psychotherapist specializing in the treatment of phobias (and coiner of the term "paraskevidekatriaphobia," also spelled "paraskavedekatriaphobia"), the figure may be as high as 21 million. If he's right, eight percent of Americans are still in the grips of a very old superstition.

Exactly how old is difficult to say, because determining the origins of superstitions is an inexact science, at best. In fact, it's mostly guesswork.

LEGEND HAS IT: If 13 people sit down to dinner together, all will die within the year. The Turks so disliked the number 13 that it was practically expunged from their vocabulary (Brewer, 1894). Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue. Many buildings don't have a 13th floor. If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck (Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names). There are 13 witches in a coven.

Though no one can say for sure when and why human beings first associated the number 13 with misfortune, the belief is assumed to be quite old, and there exist any number of theories — all of which have been called into question at one time or another, I should point out — purporting to trace its origins to antiquity and beyond.

It has been proposed, for example, that fears surrounding the number 13 are as ancient as the act of counting. Primitive man had only his 10 fingers and two feet to represent units; this explanation goes, so he could count no higher than 12. What lay beyond that — 13 — was an impenetrable mystery to our prehistoric forebears, hence an object of superstition.

Which has an edifying ring to it, but one is left wondering — did primitive man not have toes?

Despite whatever terrors the numerical unknown held for their hunter-gatherer ancestors, ancient civilizations weren't unanimous in their dread of 13. The Chinese regarded the number as lucky, some commentators note, as did the Egyptians in the time of the pharaohs.

To the ancient Egyptians, these sources tell us, life was a quest for spiritual ascension which unfolded in stages — 12 in this life and a 13th beyond, thought to be the eternal afterlife. The number 13 therefore symbolized death — not in terms of dust and decay, but as a glorious and desirable transformation. Though Egyptian civilization perished, the symbolism conferred on the number 13 by its priesthood survived, only to be corrupted by subsequent cultures who came to associate 13 with a fear of death instead of a reverence for the afterlife.
---

The more I read, the more I wonder how people are crippled by superstition. Not having a 13th floor in a building is heights, and associating 10 fingers and 2 feet with 12? Whatever happened to the toes?

Anyways … you can read all of it if you have the patience in different websites. To me it is very unfortunate that people are so handicapped by superstition and given in to it so much as to hamper their life and sometimes this leads to them being mental patients. If we have termed (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) as a disease and say it needs treatment? Why don’t we look at curing Superstition?

Monsoon's here ...

Well ... summer's over and monsoon is in ... It kind of has a UK shift (like in BPOs) ... Every evening it rains ... goes on in spells till around 10 pm or so ... weekends sometimes it rains and sometimes it doesn't ... very regular and time bound ... Isn't it nice?

It could be better without the muddy roads and all the digging by BBMP, but what am I complaining about? In the most developed countries like the US of A and the likes, the winter and the snow causes the same distress if not more.

There's an amazing element to Bangalore showers, the other day while I was driving to office, out of the 10 kms I have to drive, the first 2 kms were pouring, the next 3 kms or so absolutely dry, and then it was pouring again until I reached office ... very distinct demarcations. In fact I saw one biker stop his bike around 100 mtrs away from the rain, wore his waterproof jacket, and then rode into the rain. This has always fascinated me ... yesterday it was the best though. I was driving towards Lingarajapuram and I couldn't believe it when I my car passed through a very short-length shower ... just around the length of my car ... Freaky huh?

Well ... I like monsoon, I miss my bike sometimes and the times when I could go riding in the rain with Madhu ... just for fun :)

The Rail Track Photos

We were headed to Nandi hills but as usual on a holiday we started late ... we wanted to get the Sunset, but it was dusk halfway to Nandi hills, so we dropped the idea and stopped near a rail track midway ... the good part is I got some really good shots of Madhu and Manisha that day.


The rest of them can be found here:
My Flickr Album

The Land where Looking Away ensures Safety ...

Imagine you are driving on a busy road, lets say Airport Road, or even better - Outer Ring Road, at a speed of around 60-70 kph ... not REALLY FAST, but speed enough for you not to be able to stop with emergency breaks within 5 metres ... suddenly, out of nowhere a middle aged guy is on the street, walking to cross it, pretty much in line with your car, he is around 10 meters away. The best part is he is not in a hurry to cross the road, you are at a considerable speed, there's traffic behind you, this is not a place someone should cross the road, but this guy is right in front of you and you are losing microseconds to make a decision to stop or dodge to save this guy ... but you are wondering ... "Whose responsibility is it?"

What answer did you get? This guy is crossing the road where he is not supposed to, he is the one who chose to jump in the middle of fast moving traffic to cross the road, for no emergency at all, so this guy should be responsible for his actions? Sounds about right? ... WRONG!!!

Did you observe that he "didn't look at you, your car or any of the traffic that is moving towards him" (which could possibly run him over)? So that is the catch in this situation, he looks away so you know he is not "technically" aware that there's a car or a few cars, a bus and 2 trucks moving towards him. Hence the responsibility of saving him (or not running him over) is yours. He has looked away so he is not responsible anymore.

Don't you love it when a total stranger trusts you with his life? This technically proves we have been able to achieve the best form of co-existence in the history of mankind ... where one doesn't think twice before entrusting a stranger with one's life.

For the one's who have accepted this as a way of life and are moving on, and love this passing on of responsibility ... Congratulations!!! You have attained Moksha... you have happiness at your feet ... Nothing can shake you ... I bow in Thy mighty presence :)

For the more worldly ones, like me, who tend to get hassled by the burden of this responsibility of saving another person's life, who himself doesn't care about it much ... you need to know why you shouldn't run this guy over. Here are some reasons that kind of convinced me ... might help you as well.

• You have a conscience that will not let you breathe easy if your car even touched this guy and he got some bruises and cuts
• If you hit this guy just because he was too close and you couldn't dodge or break, you are the one with the car so it's your fault ... there are no two ways because the mob that would gather would only see who has the bigger vehicle, and compared to a man that's walking, you are the clear choice of who the mob will lynch.
• If these 2 reasons weren't enough, consider what would happen if the police come there before you could escape with some cuts and bruises, you will have to shell out huge sums of money to direct them elsewhere, which is possible because money is why they would come too ... but will set you back quite a few thousands

So my friends, the moral of the story is ... don't expect any sense responsibility from anyone on the streets of Bangalore, you are responsible for their lives and yours too. You cannot expect to convince anyone with logic or the traffic rules, because lets face it, the Traffic police aren't aware of these rules much. That's a different story altogether.

Anyways so lets take an oath that we would live and die for the mankind that has entrusted you with their life. Always remember that with Great Responsibility (like this) comes Very Little Power :)

One more in the Group - National Geographic: Are you good enough?

One more of my photos is invited to be posted in the Discussion where everyone posts photos with more than 5 invites. This is great!!!

The first one that got invited to this thread is:



and the second one is:



I am so happy ... one more reason to celebrate the weekend :)

To Begin With ...

Well ... I guess it had to happen someday ... So here I am with my first Blog. I have named it Celebrating Life ... while it sounds really positive for this day and age with Global Warming, Coalition Governments and Inflation going thru the roof ... my goal is to keep it as positive as possible. However, sometimes I am sure I am allowed to rant about the dug up roads of Bengaluru or the left killing West Bengal or just me not having enough money to Buy the Olympus E-3 or the Zuiko 12-60 SWD lens.



Anyways, I am not sure how a Blog should be written, and I guess I will figure it out as I go ... feel free to let me know what you think of my posts.



More to follow soon ...