These ubiquitous lime and chilies on a string contraption seem to hang off the oddest places, not just in Mumbai but throughout India.
Inquiries into their function and purpose revealed a belief by the Hindu’s that the contrivance serves to absorb the negative influence of covetous people with malicious intentions, thus protecting the prized object it hangs off.
The list of prized objects that need protection I have seen thus far are as follows: Homes, Cars, Trucks, Commercial photocopiers, computers, sugarcane juice machines, fish market display tables – seemingly anything that generates a livelihood.
Why the lime and chili and not an onion and potato remains a mystery. Perhaps it’s the metaphors for the heated and sour expressions on a covetous person.
Keep watching this space for photos of my collection of these cute little “Evil eye catchers”. http://tash007.smugmug.com/gallery/7935659_bBzxB
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