[Setting: A sunny afternoon at Mani’s house in Madurai during Pongal. The friends are sitting in the courtyard, watching the clay pot of rice boiling over on the woodfire stove. Banana leaves, sugarcane, and turmeric plants decorate the background.]
Mani: (clapping) “Pongalo Pongal!” Look at that boil, da! Straight up, overflowing beautifully! This year is going to be super lucky, I tell you!
Suresh: (chuckling) You’re judging your whole year’s fortune based on how a pot of rice boils?
Mani: Not just me, da. My amma, my paati, everyone does this. It’s tradition! If the rice boils over nicely, it means prosperity is coming. If it doesn’t… well, bad omen. Better to be warned early, no?
Suresh: Come on, Mani. It’s just physics. You’ve lit a fire. The water heats, the rice absorbs it, and eventually, it boils over. The rate of boil depends on the heat and how much rice and water you put in. Not your destiny.
Mani: (grinning) Aiyyo Suresh, you and your science! Then how come in 2016, when the rice hardly bubbled, our shop had that big rat infestation and the freezer broke down? I’m telling you, the signs were there!
Suresh: Or maybe your wiring was faulty, and your storage hygiene needed work? Correlation is not causation, da. I once wore my “lucky shirt” for a job interview and got rejected. I didn’t blame the shirt. I blamed my overconfidence and bad answers!
Mani: Hmm, but still… the old people knew something. These beliefs didn’t come from nowhere. Even the cows are decorated and worshipped today. There’s a divine pattern in nature. You can’t explain everything with logic.
Suresh: True, culture has beauty. I’m not saying the rituals are wrong. I enjoy Pongal too — sugarcane, family, the holiday mood. But interpreting a boil as fate? That’s giving too much power to chance.
Mani: What if it’s not about the science but about the symbolism? The overflowing pot is like abundance, happiness spilling over. It’s like starting the year with a positive mindset.
Suresh: That’s a great way to look at it! I can totally support that — a ritual that makes you feel hopeful. But the danger is when people fear the opposite. Like if it doesn’t boil well, they expect bad things, and that anxiety itself causes problems.
Mani: (pauses) Hmm… you’re saying the belief can become a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Suresh: Exactly. Like my cousin Ravi — he thought a crow flying over his bike was a sign of doom. He canceled his exam that day! Lost an entire year. If he hadn’t been so paranoid, he could’ve aced it. Instead, he sat at home watching Mahabharat reruns.
Mani: (laughs) Poor Ravi! But okay, I get your point. Maybe we shouldn’t fear the boil… just enjoy it.
Suresh: And hope the rice doesn’t burn. That’s the real bad omen — for your taste buds!
Mani: (laughs loudly) True da! My appa once got distracted chanting mantras and forgot the pot. Smoke everywhere, pongal became charcoal. That year we were prosperous only in takeout food!
Suresh: See? Science wins again! Pay attention to fire control, not fate control.
Mani: Fine, scientist saar. I’ll make a deal. I’ll still cheer when it boils, but if it doesn’t, I’ll just say, “Next time, bigger pot.”
Suresh: Perfect! Celebrate the spirit, not the superstition. Now come, let’s eat before your mother scolds us for philosophizing while the pongal cools down.
Mani: Agreed! Let’s argue again next year — same pot, same time?
Suresh: Only if you promise not to bring up that crow again.
(They both laugh as they serve each other hot pongal, the sound of temple bells ringing faintly in the distance.)
Science Vs Superstition 
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