7 Myths Bengali Mothers Swear By

With Mother’s Day coming up, I am bracing myself for all the clichéd blog posts and campaigns that are going to flood the internet. I have a Bengali mother and all Bengali mothers are 70% alike. True story. Anything they say seem to be copied from a ‘How To Scold Your Children For Bengali Mothers’ book. Also, they perpetuate myths that have no basis in reality whatsoever. Want to know some myths my Ma swore by? Here goes.

1. If you eat too much salt, your blood will turn into water

 

Science be damned. My mother swore that if I eat too much salt in my food, I will die due to my blood turning into H2O.

 

2. If you eat the seeds of fruits, you’ll have a plant growing out of your skull

 

Yep. A whole live plant would grow out of your skull if you happened to swallow the litchi seed or maybe the watermelon ones.

 

3. Too much coffee or tea darkens your skin

 

Apparently caffeine not only harms your system, but also affects the melanin count in your skin.

 

4. Street side popsicles are made from drain water

 

Remember the popsicles we used to get for Re. 1 when we were younger? The worst thing to do to a kid is to tell her that essentially you would be licking sewage. Urrghh!

 

5. If you sit on the pillow, you get a boil on your bum

 

The simple science being that your posterior should not be touching the space that your face would touch at any point of time. So, kids beware! You might get a throbbing pulsating boil on your bum if you ever happen to sit yourself down on a pillow.

 

6. You will immediately get a zit/boil on your nose if you lie

 

Well, didn’t you know that lying immediately affects your dermatological state? Next time you get a zit on the tip of your nose, think about what you lied about.

And the classic…

 

7. If you make faces, it will remain that way

 

 

Every time I made faces at my brother, my mother reminded me that my face would permanently be lopsided if I did that too much.

Well, trust me, neither of these things happened. I tried (not in front of Ma). However, I am sure my kids will hear some of these too. I just hope they are as scared as I was.