True Blood!!

All this talk about blood these days is bound to make everyb(lo)ody a little queasy… with Sachin Tendulkar marking his biography with his blood in a bid to increase sales of the book, my image of him being the chocolate boy-demi god is slightly in the red. (pun intended!!)

Blood has always been a mysterious, dark yet somewhat sacred symbol. Its been used time and again in literature and other media to signify a variety of emotions, ranging from violence to love, from life to death. Here are a few examples that might interest you…

• The newfound fascination for vampires and the sheer romance in the idea of your ‘Love’ thirsting for your blood ( attention Twilight fans), has been well received and is indicative of a slightly darker shade in today’s youth’s mindset.
• Angelina Jolie promised everlasting love to her (ex!!!) husband Billy Bob Thornton by supposedly wearing a vial with his blood around her neck!!
• The term ‘blood brothers’ is an old term, derived from the act of two friends creating a ‘blood’ relationship by mixing a drop of each one’s blood together. It was a mutual contract assuring everlasting loyalty and brotherly love between the two.
• In Malaysia, a ceratin sect of people believe that drinking the blood of an angry serpent while it is still partially alive will give them a longer life and increase their virility.
• In Shakespeare’s Macbeth the symbol of blood is used to represent honor, bravery,treason, murder and guilt! The symbol of blood is continuously developed until it becomes the dominating theme of the play.
• In March 2010, Thailand’s Red Shirt activists protested against the government by splashing almost 300 litres of collected blood on the Government house gates and the headquarters of the ruling party. Though the act was symbolically powerful, it was deeply condemned by the Red Cross and other health organisations as it wasted a resource so precious in today’s world.
• Blood is a symbol of vitality. In pre-Christian cultures, it was thought that blood had the power of fertilization and contained part of divine energy. Blood (later replaced with red ochre) was rubbed on the foreheads of the gravely ill and women in labor to boost vitality.
• The act of receiving Holy Communion in Christianity by drinking wine and eating bread, symbolises coming closer to Jesus by taking his ‘blood’ and ‘flesh’ into ourselves.

The list of blood related trivia can go on…from scientific, symbolic, religious to the absurd!

For you and me, however, the only practical association with blood, ought to be it’s donation. Us, of able body and sensible mind, should try to donate our blood often, without waiting for a calamity. Our blood banks often fall short of rare blood groups and donating blood can be a small contribution from us towards possibly saving somebody’s life.