I’ve been snapping those small flowers on the roadside that one normally doesn’t notice, but which sometimes just brighten up the day, sort of feisty flowers that hold their head high above boring dried grass and nods at me when I am walking past.
Some days ago, I saw a flower that reminded me of my school days, when this particular flower was much sought after while we waited for the school bus. We called it the “he loves me, he loves me not” flower. We would scour the grass and find one, and even squabble about who would get a turn at “using” it. Whoever finally got the flower would pluck off the petals one by one, chanting something like, “he loves me”, “he loves me not”, “he loves me”, “he loves me not” till all the petals were plucked off and the last statement uttered was deemed true.
We used to use it for every sort of prediction. “Surprise test today”, “no surprise test”, for one. Or “Hindi Sir will come today-yes”, “no,” and so on. Our basic premise seemed to have been that some cosmic arranger would match the flower we picked up with the question we had (and the answer we should get):) We considered the flower sort of believable and quite useful, because it was right sometimes ЁЯЩВ (Just as those astrology columns are, I guess).
I wonder whether kids today use such simple games? I suspect not; they must have mobile apps for this by now.
This is a left over from our Colonial days. “A person playing the game alternately speaks the phrases “He (or she) loves me,” and “He loves me not,” while picking one petal off a flower (usually an oxeye daisy) for each phrase. The phrase they speak on picking off the last petal supposedly represents the truth between the object of their affection loving them or not. The player typically is motivated by attraction to the person they’re speaking of while reciting the phrases. They may seek to reaffirm a pre-existing belief, or act out of whimsy.
A humorous twist on the game is “She loves me, she loves me lots.”
Source Wikipedia.
Indians do have variations but rarely using flower petals, ahimsa and all that you know!
Try:
Akkar bakkar bambay bo
Assi nawway poora so
So kalota, titter mota
Chal madari paisa khota
Paisay wich janj khaloti
Janjoo pucheya kerha raah
Peer muhammad wadday shah.
Or,
Titli hoon main titli hoon
Phoolon se main nikli hoon
Thanda paani peeti hoon
Upar phankha chal ta hai
Niche munna sota hai
Munne ki amma MOTI
Khaye doubble ROTI