Hindus, coconuts and religion

[aadenny]

I have an English canal boat, and recently from the canal near Southall I picked a coconut which had a string tied around it. I gathered from an Indian on the towpath that this string was religious, and he showed me a similar string tied to his arm. However, his English was poor, and my Hindi is non-existent, so I couldn't understand the details.

My question: Why do Hindus throw coconuts in the canal, why do they wear these strings around their arm, and why do they tie the string to the coconut?

[FP]

I did a google search and found these references:

http://www.camden-canals.demon.co.uk/pages/NEWS2.html

http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Wrap/Plastic-Wrapped-Hindu1jul02.htm

I couldn't find the significance of the strings around their arms.

[diana.m]

Probably so some idiot english person will wonder what he is doing.