Dr. William Kitchiner suggested taking 40 winks to have a perfect nap! ''Forty winks'' has become synonymous to a very short nap, especially during the daytime when we really can’t sleep. Anybody remember Dr. Viru Sahastrabuddhe from 3 Idiots? Ooops VIRUS here also !
Na, I am not writing this because I have my forty winks in the afternoon. I am one for switching off the alarm to get more hours of sleep in the morning. The unusual number of references to ‘40’ this morning caught my attention. Today, 14th April 2020 , our lock down was extended to 3rd May, making it a total of 40 days of quarantine. Interestingly, the Italian word for 40 is quaranta—hence quarantine.
Quite a few stories about 40, here are some that I found!
In Hinduism, some popular religious prayers consist of forty shlokas or dohas (verses, stanzas). The most common being the Hanuman Chalisa.
In Christianity, when God destroyed the earth with water, He caused it to rain 40 days and 40 nights, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness being tempted by the devil; the great flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights.
Islam has the 40 companions, believes the universe is supported by 40 pillars; the mourning period officially lasts for 40 days.
If we delve into psychology, researchers have found that personality can be changed through handwriting exercises over a period of 40 days.
And finally, in physiology, a baby’s gestation period is for 40 days, our skin cells on average take 40 days to renew.
A Google search on ‘40’ and one would probably be tempted to believe that 40 isn’t just a superstitious occurrence that seeps into so many realms. It actually appears to be duration of time that allows transformation (repair, regeneration and rebirth) to occur.
A RARE phenomenon that finds commonality in religion, science and mysticism!
Well I do believe that some will find hope in number 40 not being just a happy coincidence and that it will extend to all the seemingly "feel good" things we have been doing this quarantine. The clapping of hands, lighting of lamps, the meditations together, the positive vibrations everyone talks about; hope it somehow mystically carries us through a period of transformation while science creates cures in laboratories. While banking on the mysticism to work, I also hope in these 40 days, we find within ourselves the optimism to relook at our lives individually and societally.
Are all these Philosophical? Well blame it on me being in my forties :)
BTW, there are 40 spaces on a standard Monopoly board may be just telling us that life is still a gamble.
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