[Scene: Morning in a middle-class neighborhood in Madurai. Vikram is locking his house, ready to go to the railway station. Arjun is waiting with a backpack.]
Arjun: (checking his watch) Vikram da! Come fast, we’ll miss the train!
Vikram: (suddenly stops) Wait… wait… Ayyo!
Arjun: What now?
Vikram: My left foot just knocked the threshold while stepping out. Bad omen. We can’t go now.
Arjun: (eyes widening) You’re joking, right?
Vikram: No machan! Everyone in our family knows this. My cousin once hit the threshold with his head before going for a job interview. He got rejected… and slipped on cow dung on the way back.
Arjun: (laughs) Maybe he slipped because he was upset about the rejection, not because his head touched the doorframe!
Vikram: No da, don’t take this lightly. These signs are nature’s way of warning us. Elders say if we ignore them, things go wrong.
Arjun: You mean to say that the wooden or cement threshold has magical predictive powers? Like some AI sensor built in?
Vikram: (serious) Why not? Not everything can be explained by science. Some things… are just beyond logic.
Arjun: Okay. By that logic, if I stub my toe on the threshold and get a good job offer the same day, would that cancel the bad omen?
Vikram: That’s rare! Most people have some trouble if they ignore such signs.
Arjun: Vikram, honestly, we trip on things all the time. I once walked straight into a lamppost while texting. No bad luck, just a bruised ego.
Vikram: (chuckles) Yes, but see… even temples have thresholds you shouldn’t step directly on. It’s sacred.
Arjun: That’s for respect, da. It’s symbolic. But turning around and canceling your whole travel plan because your foot hit a doorframe? That’s giving superstition too much power.
Vikram: You don’t understand… once, when I ignored the threshold thing and went for my semester exam, I got chicken pox that same night.
Arjun: (grinning) And what about the time you carefully stepped over the threshold and still failed in Engineering Mechanics?
Vikram: (laughs awkwardly) Eh… That subject itself was a curse.
Arjun: Listen, I get that tradition gives comfort. Even my mom keeps nagging me to eat curd and sugar before interviews. I do it, mostly to avoid an argument. But I don’t believe it affects the outcome.
Vikram: So you think I’m being silly?
Arjun: No no. I think you’re being careful in your way. But I want you to have the confidence that your day won’t be ruined by a doorframe. You’re stronger than that.
Vikram: (smiles) So… should we go?
Arjun: Yes! And if we miss the train, we’ll blame IRCTC, not your feet.
Vikram: (laughs) Deal! But just in case… let me walk out backwards this time. Purely precautionary.
Arjun: (groans) Oh god, here we go. Don’t fall into the gate now!
[Both laugh as they walk out the gate together, one walking forward, the other backward like a careful crab.]
Science Vs Superstition 
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