Like other Indians, we too are a paradoxical lot; in part
tribal, in part urbane perhaps a little more tribal than others. Think about
the tradition of ‘parnaam’, the touching of feet of elders and the toll it
takes on a child. Marriage or a ‘puja’
gathering; a child is submerged in a crowd of old people mechanical touching
feet of anybody who has wrinkles on his face. There is absolutely no sense of
recognition nor respect, it is just a chore for him and the immediate urge is to
get over with it. We have no compunction adopting western attire, eating
habits, table manners blah blah but wouldn't let go our tribal mannerism. This
tribalism manifest is several ways; existence and awe that a ‘Bakki’ evokes is
one such instance.
Bakki is gender neutral i.e. it can be male or a female.
Given the power they have on our psyche you would think they are a successful
people like the doctors leading an economically successful life but you would
be surprised. There is always a caveat in our system; good things come with a
price. Bakki probably is corrupted derivative of ‘bak-bak’ or ‘bakwas’ having
an Arabic-Persian root meaning idle gossip. Bakki as you can guess speaks,
speaks rapidly, sometimes coherently sometimes incoherently which then is left
to others to interpret. Bakki lets you into secrets of past and tells in advance
future outcome of some tricky issue very important to you. If the out outcome
is not favorable then they also suggest means to amend the outcome suitably. In essence Bakki is a witch doctor providing remedy for sometimes explainable diseases or persistent issues that bother us etc.
There is a Bakki somewhere near Kotdwara, a Kala woman you
can access her services through the courtesy of Manyawar Diwakar. Sir
Prabhakar, Master Brajesh are regulars there. If you ask me, I am skeptical
about this whole thing, I doesn’t quite gel with our rational thought.
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