I have always looked at fortune tellers with curiosity and fascination. The art of “predicting the future” always left me in awe. Generally, the art is passed down generations, with some families known for it.
During our childhood, fortune tellers would travel to villages to predict the future using cowrie shells, which have religious and cultural significance. These practitioners, dressed in a simple dhoti and an overcoat with a long handbag dangling over their shoulders, would throw the shells three times to come up with a number and make the prediction based on the figure. As parents would want to know more about their children’s education, health and so on, the cowries would go up in the air again and again, adding to the charges.
When I moved to a city, I found fortune tellers not visiting homes, but wandering on the streets and pavements, not with cowries but with parakeets and a pack of cards. When the fortune teller calls, the parakeet would come out of a small cage and pick a card from the pack. The card contains pictures of gods and demons. He or she would then go on to explain the significance of the card and how it explains the future waiting for us.
Some years ago, on one night when I was wandering on the vast shores of the Marina beach, I came across an old woman who came up to me offering to tell me my future for ₹50! I said why not! We sat on the sand and with a lantern in hand, she studied my palm for a few minutes. She then went on to say many things among which was that I would soon be able to buy a vehicle which I have been dreaming of!
What look like an irony, however, is that most fortune tellers remain poor, while they go on predicting a bright future for others.
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