Setting: A cozy kitchen in Toronto, Canada. It’s winter. Snowflakes tap at the window while two longtime friends, Raj (the superstitious one) and Emma (the rational thinker), are having lunch. A freshly baked salmon filet is on the table, steaming and aromatic.
Raj: (carefully cutting into the salmon filet, starting from the widest part)
You know, I have to start from this side. Eating fish from the head down brings good luck. My grandmother swore by it, and she lived to be 97.
Emma: (laughs while shaking her head)
Or maybe she lived that long because she drank green tea every day and walked five kilometers even in her eighties. You ever think of that?
Raj:
No no, Emma. Don’t mock the fish head rule. It’s an old tradition. Even in Chinese and Japanese cultures—starting at the head is a sign of respect and fortune. I’m just doing my part to keep the universe on my side.
Emma:
So you believe the universe is up there, watching how you eat your fish and deciding your fate based on it?
Raj: (grins)
Exactly. Cosmic karma with a side of omega-3s.
Emma: (smirks and takes a bite from the tail)
Well, there goes my lottery ticket. Guess I’m doomed now.
Raj: (gasps)
Emma! You just ate the unlucky end first. Now you’ll get stuck in traffic or something.
Emma:
Raj, I live in Toronto. I’m always stuck in traffic. Even the fish can’t help that.
Raj: (waggles his fork at her)
Mock all you want, but I started eating from the head during my finals in undergrad—and I aced every paper that semester.
Emma:
Correlation isn’t causation, my friend. Maybe you also studied more during those exams? Or finally stopped watching cricket highlights at 3 a.m.?
Raj: (laughing)
Fine, fine, I’ll admit the studying might’ve helped. But the fish was the lucky charm.
Emma:
That’s like saying your red socks helped the Raptors win in 2019. You’re giving credit to the ritual instead of the reality.
Raj:
Okay, Ms. Science. What about placebo effect, huh? If believing in something boosts your performance, isn’t that still a kind of truth?
Emma: (leans back, thoughtful)
Fair point. The placebo effect is powerful. But there’s a difference between using belief to motivate you, and thinking the universe operates like a cosmic Yelp review based on your fish etiquette.
Raj: (chuckling)
Hey, maybe it does. Maybe the universe is secretly a grandma watching us from the stars: “Tsk tsk, Emma’s eating the tail again. That’s three days of flat tires!”
Emma: (laughs hard, nearly chokes on a carrot)
Okay, now I’m picturing the Big Dipper with a rolling pin.
Raj:
Exactly! Tradition adds flavor to life. Not everything has to be proven in a lab. Sometimes it’s about culture, comfort… and maybe a little cosmic insurance.
Emma:
True. I can respect that—as long as we don’t start sacrificing goats or applying fish bones to your Wi-Fi router.
Raj:
Don’t tempt me. My signal’s been terrible lately. Maybe it needs a fish bone antenna.
Emma: (smiles and clinks her fork with his)
To each their fish. Head or tail, I’m just glad we’re sharing a meal.
Raj:
Cheers to that. And remember—if anything lucky happens today, I’m totally taking credit for the way I started this filet.
Emma:
Deal. And if we both get stuck in traffic later, I’m blaming the fish.
[Scene fades with laughter and the sound of more fork clinks, as snow continues falling outside.]
Science Vs Superstition 
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