Superstitionsby Shamim

Madhavi was working in an ICT company and was struggling to move up in position for the last two years. She gave her best shot and worked very hard in the hope that one day she will be given her well deserved promotion. 

"Mom, is the food ready?"

As soon as she entered the house, Madhavi straight away went to the kitchen.

"Yes dear, I'm just garnishing the pulav but I haven't had time to clean the house, especially the living room."

"Don't worry, I'll do that. Only thing is my boss must find all the dishes tasty and should go back licking his fingers."

Keeping the ice-cream packet in the freezer, Madhavi picked up the broom and ambled into the drawing-room. Her granny had a rosary in hand and was engrossed in her chanting. 

While she was dusting the furniture, granny peeked at Madhavi through her glasses and remarked,

"How come out of the blue your boss plans to pay us a visit?"

Madhavi huffed,

"God knows dadi! He was angry at that point of time so I was scared to ask. He just commented, I want to meet your mother."

And so saying, she began sweeping the floor. Granny growled and glared at her annoyingly,

"Aree! After sunset you mustn't sweep the house. Goddess Lakshmi will not bless our family. She'll turn away from us."

For a minute, Madhavi stood looking at granny.

"Dadi these are all superstitions."

"People have been following this belief since ancient times. So it possibly can't be wrong."

"Dadi, in olden days there was no electricity, so everyone tried to finish their work before dark. And by the way, my boss is gonna come. How can we keep the house untidy?" 

Granny became upset and averted her gaze.

"Hope we don't get to hear any bad news!"

Madhavi finished her cleaning without any back answering. Some beliefs die hard!

* * * * * 

"Miraben, there's magic in your hands. The food was delicious."

Madhavi's boss declared whilst he accepted the ice-cream. He was yet to disclose his reason for coming but then, who'll bell the cat? After a while, he opened his briefcase and taking out a fat envelope handed it to Meera.

"Your daughter is extremely hard-working and I'm proud of her. Here is her Diwali bonus and promotion letter. I want you to give it to Madhavi with your blessings."

Good luck comes with hard-work, not with beliefs and superstitions.