This one's been with moi for a coupla months now and it still cracks me up every time I see it in my collection. This feller was standing tall next to my home in Bangalore atop a new house being constructed. I am not sure if this happens in other parts of the world, but every new house being built in India sports one to "ward off any evil" that might potentially sabotage the builders' best laid plans, architecturally or otherwise :) The idea is that anything new attracts the attention of the evil eye and hence an ugly mask will prevent the new house catching the attention of the Devil.....I'm one to cock a snook at superstitions but the creativity of this one amuses moi. Note how the paint-can is casually thrown in to draw the face. What's the superstition from your part of the world that you find fascinating???
"We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw................"
30 comments:
I was shocked ! No its not me, i was wondering how I climed up and got myself photographed ?. Moi, I look something like that. Believe me, the chap in the picture is better dressed. People take me to be a scare crow when i am taking pictures in a field.
but this not a field, this is a building under construction, the only fear is crow or pigeon droppings.
You can fool the crows, but can you fool the devil ? Is he so dumb ? If I am Evil, I'd say look whom are you fooling haha and I would go and sit there. THIS IS MINE !
This one is not good, just a tin can can't scare even a junior most devil. You get lots of interesting ones, have quite a collection of them,in pictures. Dreadful faces painted on poosnikaa, kaddoo ? what is it in English a vegetable as big as a water melon ? Dreadful faces with tongues lashing out ??
Papa, is he showing his tongue to a doctor ? is he sick ?
Now you get ready made plastic ones.
The most depressing was in Madras, I had a slide of it long time ago,
a newly constructed bunglow, a name board of a doctor with degrees running to two lines. and next to it a dreadful face showing his fangs and tongue lashiong out. So what is the use of all the education and all his degrees ?
Wudnt it have been easier to just get nimbu-mirchi? Thats the evil-eye-fighter in Mumbai anyway :)
I am getting attracted towards this new building which is being built.
Rauf : :)and yeah what's the use of his degrees running upto two lines ???? :)
radha: they do that too....but thats mostly for shops and autos
666 : and to think of it, i led u there!!! Commission plz!!! :DDDD
Well, having been born on Friday the 13th (never mind the year ;-)), I am a bit superstitious...I never walk under a ladder, I never throw a hat on a bed and my kitchen floor is gritty with "over the shoulder for good luck" salt grains ;-)
Isabella : :DDDD that's a whole lot of them!!!!!
I think I'm not superstitious.... In France we have , Black cats, ladder, Friday the 13 th....
i didn't realize you lived in india.... cool!
this is a very interesting superstition. appalachia is riddled with superstition..... here is a whole site full of them:
http://www.angelfire.com/tn2/ScottCoTnMemories/superstitions.html
Interesting. It's good to learn something every day. I didn't know that. I'm not supersticious at all, but if it makes them feel more secure to do that, well, who am I to disagree.
And I thought I had a bucket head; his is most definitely a bucket head.
Yo, what a dude scarecrow :)
BTW, me posted a whole bunch of snaps of flickr... From Kumarakom and California... Do take a look...
http://flickr.com/photos/atticusdiaries/tags/california/show/
http://flickr.com/photos/atticusdiaries/tags/kumarakom/show/
still : the regular ones!!! :)
bluemountainmama : :) every now and then when I miss home, I put up pics from India.....and chked out the link..there's a whole lot of them running the gamut from fascinating to downright hilarious...my fav:
To cure a sty, stand at a crossroads and recite:
"Sty, sty, leave my eye
Take the next one coming by."
haha!!! :DDD
JAM : as long as someone's blind faith does not hurt one, guess it's fine by moi too!!! :)
Atticus : yay!!! u liked it :DDD
chked out the links....as always u r up there on my all time fav. list :)
one of my favourite poets (one of those whose poems can change your life) whose name is T.S.Eliot wrote "We are the hollow men, we are the stuffed men, leaning together headpiece filled with straw [...]"
I can't avoid to think about it while looking at your shot. A very good shot I can say. Very, very impressive.
HAhaha!!
sahi hai!
really well clicked too!!
Moi,
When I saw the picture and before reading the text, I thought it had to do with last Saturday. On the Saturday before Easter, people here would make dummies like that representing Judas, and at Noon they would "malhar o Judas" (maul the Judas). You can imagine what that meant: people would beat the dummy, and if it was still in one piece after a while, they would burn it. Very violent and anti-Christian, I think... Today this costume still exists in some places, but is much less popular, and more violent, than it used to be...
As for constructions, what people do here is to place a tree branch on top of the roof and throw a party when the roof is finished. Apparently this costume was brought from Europe and is also aimed at warding off evil spirits...
Nasten'ka : those are beautiful words.....and i can always expect you to stump moi with ur sensitivities......thanx for sharing them..I think i'll add them as an update to the post....love u!!! :)
abhishek : thanx a ton!!!! :)
Geraldo : yes it sounds very violent....back in India, they burn effigies of Ravana (an Evil figure in Hindu mythology)before a major Hindu festival called Diwali....It depicts victory of good over evil....now that u ve set me thinking, am wondering if that can be classified as violent too!!!! and thanx for sharing the superstitions from ur part of the world......:)
Can he walk?
superstitions are fun :) and most of them are pretty harmless, they add a mystic flavour to life, my lucky coin, mascot, t-shirt and breakfast are things I can't do without :)
hmmmm u didn't capture the demonic head that is usually put up in most houses around bangalore???? they are rather the norm there.
Sarad: shall ask him when i meet him next.:)
Suramya : :) I know of some frds who'd not remove their lucky t-shirt till exams were done with!!..the demonic head is the norm all across the country .....even in North! this one seemed more pic-worthy!!! :D
We are small people. We need to believe in something. God, luck, whatever...
Moi,
The scarecrow thing happens in other parts of the world too.. I saw it n an English movie too.he he..
Darn, I just threw out four old and empty paint cans. Now I see how I could have used them to create some interesting yard art. I like that character, even though I'm not superstitious.
Very interesting.
Nice new profile pic.
HOLD ON,
I have to get some salt and throw it over my shoulder....
OK, IM DONE...
:)
These images are interesting indeed. I like the new pic you have too!
You've got an amazing blog going here yourself Moi! You should seriously join us at GT. I am sure you have some good Antique snaps yeah?
www.globalthemes.blogspot.com
g help me : :)...that was so cutely and wisely said...:)
diya : scarecrow in fields is not really a superstition..but did u see atop a bldg??? that wud be cool, if u did!!
annie: u will not next time..throw paint cans, that is :)
chad : thanx :)
anna : haha!! and am glad u liked the profile pic....
SS : can I?? I'd love to....i will have to dig my treasure of pics, to look for that antique snap:DDDD...but on a serious note, I'd love to contribute to your future themes...:)
Moi, there are so many superstitions here... like if you are walking and an owl flies over your head, that means bad luck and others like walking under a ladder etc.
I remember hanging a demon face outside our newly built house long time ago.
These nazarbattus are indeed quite a cimmon site in India. There are a lot of varieties of these including a face with a tounge hanging out painted on a matka, an old shoe, an old tire, nimbu mirchi and so on
moi,
lol yeah thats superstitious.. n hey congrats on ur award..
Scarecrows . . . nope, they're real, and they do walk. I did a piece on them on my blog where that scarecrow did walk :)
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