I am working on some very smart things to say here. Really. Meanwhile, there's 
News from 'Weird Panditji' Department. (Pandits are the folks who interpret religious text and perform ceremonies in India, usually North India, in south they are called by other names).
The wife was talking to her friend and I happened to overhear.
Friend: (angry at something) I have to tell you this otherwise my head will explode. I called up Mrs D who used to be my neighbor a year back. She told me she has a 2 month old baby. That was news to me! I have been speaking to her regularly for the past year and she never told me she was pregnant!
Wife: That's odd. Why didn't she tell you?
Friend: Apparently, a Panditji told her that the baby's birth must be kept secret because he noticed in her astrological chart that there'll be ill effects if people talk about the baby before it is born.
Wife: (laughing hysterically) oh..I am sorry.. but this is so hilarious!
Friend: She had her mother over from India, and when I asked she told me her mother was just visiting, nothing special!
Wife: (eyes watering by now) People do strange things when they are pregnant.
Wife's friend is a believer and even she seemed to be miffed by his holiness Mr Panditji. Such strange effects superstition has! This dude is surely the glorious King of all Panditdom.
Comments
And, of course, "pandit" is the source of the English word "pundit," a similarly questionable designation.
Posted by: JBL | September 7, 2007 3:05 PM