Because God willed it so

I have vivid childhood memories of people deeply rooted in superstitions. When I grew up and joined university to pursue law, I had the chance to meet students who were sophists in nature. Later, when I joined the Bar as a lawyer, I came across clients whose such beliefs were very strong.

When I was pursuing law, I met a friend who would swear by the talisman he used to keep under his cap for writing his exams. He believed that without it, he couldn’t have earned the engineering degree which he otherwise is still incapable of using.

When superstition coincides with victory, for those sophist clients, it seems destined and has nothing to do with the skill of lawyers or judicious hearing of the case. A few incidents are worth sharing.

The case was regarding the challenging of a high court order which decreed the opinion of the Foreigners’ Tribunal that my client, a 60-year-old woman, was a ‘doubtful national’. The first hearing before the Supreme Court coincidentally fell on the first day of Ramadan. Detailed arguments followed; the court accepted the plea and protected her from coercive police action. Happy family members told me that my skill was a mere tool, what saved her was actually the blessings of the holy month.

My colleague who hails from a temple town in South India, happened to offer prasadam to a lawyer, coincidentally a day before her elevation as a judge, a fact he was unaware of. Later, when I shared the news of her elevation, he immediately said he was not amazed at all. The prasadam did the miracle, he claimed.

Before the start of the winter holidays, in the first week of December, I had filed a case before the Supreme Court, referred by my colleague. The complexity of the case alerted me to the prospect of getting the stamp of dismissal from the court. But my colleague was worried for a different reason. He said if the case was listed in the New Year and dismissed, it would bring a bad omen for the entire year, so he wanted the matter to be heard before the court closed. Despite efforts, the case was listed for hearing after reopening of the court in the New Year. My colleague exclaimed that the chronology of the numbers showed that there would be a miracle and a historic order would be passed. As I logged in to start my virtual hearing, the judge was annoyed and didn’t even allow me to speak and threw the file… ‘dismissed in limine’. We started our New Year with a rejection order. My colleague was extremely upset. But to my surprise, during the lunch break, he took me to a restaurant and ordered a feast. ‘God will bless me for the entire year if I start the New Year by offering food to someone,’ he said. My New Year started lavishly. I won’t mind being a holy cow again.