Kaala Teeka – The Black Dot

I want to ask you all ladies a question.

Are you superstitious?

Most of you will say “Nah, no, never”.

Let me now reframe my question.

Did you become superstitious after you had a baby?

Let me know your answers!

Our protagonist Madhu, a well educated and truly modern woman, got caught in a similar web of confusions when she had baby Siya!

A big party was thrown to welcome baby Siya in Madhu’s in law’s place. Siya looked the most adorable baby ever in her pretty light pink frilly frock, matching tiny socks and a cute ribbon. Madhu didn’t even finish admiring her baby when Badi Bua, who was the oldest member of the family, asked with concerned eyes,

“ Nazar na lage…. but where is the black dot on her forehead?”

Madhu said sheepishly, “ Err… Is it needed?… She is looking good anyway.”

Madhu’s innocent response acted like a magnet attracting all the iron women in the house. As a result a few more concerned eyes joined the conversation and she was bombarded with questions.

“Needed? Don’t you know? The black dot on the forehead of a baby saves them from evil eyes.”

“ Are you not concerned about your baby’s well being?”

“These so called educated young girls…”

Madhu being a new and first time mom felt guilty most of the times thinking she could take care of her baby much better than she already did. All these accusations directly hit her in the soft spot. She hurriedly stamped a big black dot with her kajal stick on the baby’s forehead which she kept making bigger and bigger until the onlookers were satisfied.

Around three hundred guests came to give blessings to baby Siya. Although it was a staggering number but Madhu observed one funny thing common to most of them. The guests weren’t satisfied giving mere blessings and gifts. They wanted to shower their love to the baby in the form of hugs, kisses and cuddles.

Although Madhu knew that their intentions were noble but being a mother she couldn’t stop herself from worrying about the germs her dear baby was getting exposed to. But she was helpless. Saying anything to the guests would be rude.

So for the first time Madhu prayed her baby to cry when anyone tried to show their umpteen love. But no. The little doll kept jumping from one arm to another flashing smiles and even posing for selfies with all!

And then the very next day her worst fear came true. Siya fell ill. For the first time in her life, which was merely six months long, she was down with fever, cough and cold. Madhu’s heart broke to see her baby in pain. But this time she didn’t blame herself as she always did. She very well knew the reasons. She was confident that the unintentional ‘love coated germs’ from the three hundred or so people had attacked her delicate baby. What else could it be?

But to her utter amazement, the people around her had another theory in place.

The lady next door who was a big gossipmonger said, “ Evil eye I say… These modern day girls don’t take anything seriously. She was even hesitant to put the kaala teeka on baby’s forehead. Now see..”

The rest had similar beliefs which they expressed in their own way.

Madhu defended herself, “ I did put it! But definitely it didn’t work. Anyway that can’t be the reason of her falling ill. How cheerful she was yesterday…my beautiful baby… playing and having fun.. Everything changed overnight…”

Badi Bua pitched in again. She said chewing her betel leaf,

“ Do you know Madhu, who is the biggest witch?”

Madhu was taken aback by this sudden question. She decided to keep mum.

Bua continued making paan picking condiments from her tiny silver box and said with a hushed tone accompanied with dramatic eyes,

“The Mother….”

Madhu was bewildered. She didn’t know how to respond.

“ Yes she is… Mother’s eye is the most evil one… Whenever she thinks something good about the baby, it turns bad… Haven’t u noticed it yourself?”

“When you think you baby looking chubby and healthy, it falls sick…”

“ You feel happy thinking baby is eating well, the very next day it stops eating altogether..”

Madhu didn’t want to believe this weird logic of Badi Bua but couldn’t stop herself from thinking about it. Actually such things have happened now and then and she had thought them to be mere coincidences.

Whatever maybe the reason but she definitely was not ready to consider herself a witch for her baby. That was too much for her.

So she asked sarcastically, “ So what do I do?? Should I always say bad about my baby? Will that work Bua?”

Bua completely ignored her sarcasm and said, “ Bite baby’s left pinky finger lightly the first thing in the morning, but in empty stomach mind it…that will work.”

Madhu didn’t know what to say.

Baby Siya kept coughing and sneezing whole day and had fever. Madhu remained worried and prayed to God for her baby’s recovery.

In the evening her mother in law entered her room with a handful of dried red chillies. Before Madhu could ask anything, she rotated the handful of chillies around the baby seven times anticlockwise and then immediately turned and went to the kitchen, switched on the gas burner and threw the chillies in fire.

What Madhu witnessed next was nothing short of a miracle. The red hot chillies burnt without any of their pungent characteristic smell.

She remembered having a bout of cough accompanied with teary eyes when the same red chillies were used in tempering the daal the day before.

But today nothing!

Then her mother in law sighed and said, “ So it was an evil eye…”

Madhu asked, “Means?”

“You saw yourself Madhu… The chillies burnt without any smell… It means that the baby had caught a bad eye … Now before you bombard me with your how’s and why’s let me tell you…. These are the saying we believe in from ages… there is no explanation for it… And time and again they have proved right. ”

Madhu kept mum again.

The very next day the baby felt better. Whether it was the body’s natural recovery system working or the red chillies she didn’t know.

But she knew that no science could prove why the red hot chilies burnt without any smell. It made her believe that there are many things in this world yet to be discovered. Many hidden theories and behaviors human kind is unaware of.

Maybe there is such thing as an evil eye. If one wants to give it a scientific bend then it can be thought that some radiations are emitted from a person’s eye when they see some good thing which in turn is controlled by the brain. So when they either appreciate or feel jealous of that particular thing, then they also develop the capability of destroying it’s goodness. And possibly this theory doesn’t even spare a mother …

That night all these thoughts clouded her mind. But as the temperature of the baby became normal and Siya slept peacefully, Madhu also felt at ease and slept off.

The next day they had to return back to their home. Baby Siya was much better and so Madhu’s spirit also rocketed sky high and as it happens in such situations, the new gen woman surfaced. She felt very positive and confident.

They had to catch a flight. She got her baby ready in a nice outfit and intentionally missed putting any black dot on her forehead ignoring the advices of all the family members. After all she was a new gen woman. She believed things which could be proved scientifically. There was no place for superstitions in her life. That was a thing of the past, just a weak moment.

But Madhu lost this bold avatar of hers as soon as she entered the airport. There were huge number of people hustling bustling around in a hurry to catch some flight or the other but they didn’t miss giving a quick glance, a smile and even a pat on the cheek to her baby who was in her arms giggling all the while.

Madhu imagined a hundred radiations emanating from various prying eyes and hitting her baby directly. She felt tensed and suffocated. She held baby Siya tightly in her arms but she felt that her arms weren’t capable enough to protect her baby from what she feared.

She couldn’t help anymore and the superstitious mom took over. She immediately opened the small makeup kit in her bag and grabbed her kajal stick and in a hurry, plastered a black dot on her baby’s forehead, which by the way looked like a black distorted map.

Next she grabbed and bit Siya’s left hand pinky finger lightly although her stomach was stuffed with the heavy breakfast she had in the morning. But she thought that even if this act works half and not fully, that was also okay.

Siya smiled at her mother maybe wondering what her Mom was up to!

Finally Madhu let out a sigh of relief.

After this antic of hers, Madhu was confirmed that she was definitely suffering from a dual personality disorder. She was a new gen woman but a superstitious mom!

Nonetheless her head felt light and she now breathed freely. She realized that most of the moms must be feeling more or less the same way. So one should never judge a mom. Their freaky behavior at times in relation to the baby may be because one thing is common in all of them. They love their babies dearly and are ready to do anything for their well being. Be it following an age old superstition or some new technology gimmick.

Madhu boarded the flight with baby Siya flashing a confident smile on her lips as if saying,

“Come on world do what you can… I’m there to protect my baby!”

The box of red hot chillies in her kitchen cupboard back home also had a big contribution to this confidence of hers… In case….