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SOCIETY
Eating Arowana fish to enhance their luck
Bangalore:
Residents of Bangalore have fallen hook, line
and sinker for the exotic Arowana species of fish.
Sworn Feng Shui followers are being increasingly lured
to spend exorbitant amounts on the fish to be blessed
with good luck. Asian Arowana comes in many exotic
hues from red to gold to purple to green to silver,
but the most sought after is the Super Red variety.
An 18-inch long Arowana may cost up to 60,000 dollars.
It is even more expensive if its scales are glittering
with pinkish gold. The Chinese believe that they are
reincarnations of the mythical dragon and symbolise
luck, wealth, prosperity and strength. "If there is
something bad that is going to happen to you and if
it is especially life threatening you will be saved
in a strange way. If you have an Arowana at home and
if you believe in the power of this good luck bestowing
fish, only then you will notice that instead of you,
the fish dies. You may not know what kind of a problem
you got out of but you can be definitely sure that
there was some problem in your life that got solved
due to this fish," Pramod, a software professional,
said. Businessmen prefer to keep the gold variety
in the office for prosperity and the red variety is
said to be good for warding off evil spirits. The
fish grows to a length of upto 3 feet and lives as
long as 40 to 50 years. The South East Asian Arowana
fish called the Feng Shui fish are imported from Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines.
Rajaram,
an expert on Arowana, claims that the pedigreed Arowana,
once an endangered species, is now traded on the Internet
from Singapore and costs anything between Rs.500 and
Rs.200,000. Arowanas are by far the most coveted fish
ever, that are not a delicacy but subject to near
reverence. Their owners go to extreme lengths to ensure
they are well taken care of and maintained, their
care bordering on near obsession. People who cannot
buy the real, read live, Arowana, go for the Golden-scaled
Arowana figurine crafted cleverly by artisans after
the real one. One need not worry about tending to
its daily needs of food and safety from cats, only
a light dusting and a short prayer of thanks will
do! "They are expensive basically in South East Asia
because they are believed to bring luck and there
have been instances of people having won millions
in a lottery after reading certain Chinese characters
on the sight of this fish. So, there is a new trend
in India where the Feng Shui consultants advise you
to keep the Arowana," Rajaram said. Feng Shui, pronounced
"fung schwee", means literally "wind water". It is
part of an ancient Chinese philosophy of nature.
-Nov
10, 2005
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