There’s superstition. And then there’s smart superstition. Take the notion of smiling even when you don’t feel like it – to induce happiness. Essentially, the plan is to fool the brain (yes, it has its foolish side) into thinking, ‘Oh, the face is smiling! Maybe I was caught napping – I better start firing happy-making serotonin pronto!’ This can result in that happy feeling enveloping you even when you weren’t feeling that happy – until you replicated a smile. Now, parts of the country are waiting eagerly for the rains to arrive. Not the drizzle that’s nothing but god’s spittle, but the real deal, the genuine McMonsoon.
Now, you don’t have to read Meghduta to know that khichdi is your go-to dish when the rains have come-to. The delightful mush – with mandatory ghee and pickle – is already being had, like there’s no climate change, in places where it’s already started to rain. It is, after all, the rainy day dish. Now, why not flip the cause-effect and try and cause it to rain by having khichdi anyway? You really think any cumulonimbus can resist that smell? If mass synchronised banging on utensils chased the pandemic away, surely, mass khichdi consumption can act as a rain-seeding mega exercise. Hot khichdi doesn’t need rain. Rain needs hot khichdi. And, if that fails, what the hell, you still get to have a smacking good meal.
