Fortune Telling: To Believe or Not

These experiences go back in time to when I was in my teens. My maternal grandfather (Nanaji as we fondly called him) was a renowned palmist amongst his social circle in Delhi and he did give me some insight into his learning's and why he took it up. His wife that is my Grandmother died at the young age of 32 after giving birth to a premature child which also died. Nanaji claimed that she had taken up the study of astrology a few years before she died through a renowned teacher. She came to know of her end quite a few months before and used to advise him as well as my mother who was around 10 or 11 years old at that time, on how to go about their lives after her passing away. My mother also narrated this to me a number of times. It did quite frighten me then. At the age of 18, I was advised by Nanaji to look at it as a science and insisted that I take up it as an interest giving me one piece of advice " Do not be ruled by your stars, but learn how to rule them". He also gave me some books on how to learn astrology through which I learnt a bit on the subject. I soon learnt how to make charts and also how to go about reading them. It certainly helped in my popularity amongst my friends, some of them who even looked up to me with a sort of reverence. As I got more into the subject it got more complex and confusing. I started loosing interest as my professional career that I had just entered gained more importance.

I had two interesting encounters with fortune tellers a few years later, which sort of rekindled my interest. The first was while I was with some friends on a holiday in a hill station in South India. We were at the side of a lake in the afternoon having some fun while waiting for our boat ride, when a person dressed in Orange and white walked up behind us and offered to decipher our future for us at a price of Rupees fifty each. He claimed that he could do it by reading our faces. He gave the impression of being a con man and someone who was trying to make a fast buck. Being curious but cautious at the same time, we asked him to do a sample reading before we agreed to his fees. He started with one of my friends. The first words that he uttered to this friend were" Your face is like that of a cow". That was just too hilarious for us and we all burst out laughing. He was sent packing the next moment. The second encounter was after reading a local community newspaper about a fortune teller who practiced very close to where I lived. I decided to pay him a visit. He turned out be a very pleasant elderly gentleman, a retired Commander from the Navy, who had taken up fortune telling as a hobby and now had started to practice it as a profession. He was into Crystal gazing and Tarot cards. I was quite perplexed by his attire. I vaguely remember the confused impression that I got of someone on a Holiday on a beach and a follower of the Hippie culture of the 70's. He led me into very dimly lit room with a lot of religious artifacts, the crystal ball in the center, and the pleasant smell of incense. He sure knew how to impress his clients. A lot of what he said was relating to what I should expect in life. There was something about me in a boat with two women and having to make a choice. It did not make too much of sense to me at that point of time.

The interest dwindled again as I was again concentrating on the more practical things in life for some time. That was till a few years ago. What has happened since then had me perplexed and trying to make sense of, for a long time.

At that time I was going through a lot of difficulties with having to deal with my mother's demise, a troubled relationship and my deteriorating health condition of Rheumatoid Arthritis. A friend of mine recommended me to an Egyptian lady who does her reading with coffee dregs. She has become quite popular now and has been featured in some national magazines and tabloids.

She did not have any prior knowledge of any of the events in my life. After the exchange of a few pleasantries over my cup of coffee she began to concentrate on the coffee dregs. Within a couple of minutes she was advising me about how to deal with the unfortunate events that included my mother's death, my health and my failing relationship. She then started feeling very uncomfortable and started breathing very deeply .I was wondering if it had anything to do with her health. Those thoughts were quickly dispelled, with her next few words "Someone has cast a spell on you and it is a woman, someone you know". She further advised me to be careful in my future and asked me to do something about it.

I left her place quite dazed and confused, not knowing what sense to make of the whole thing.

A few months later my Arthritis pain was getting worse, so this friend I learnt Reiki from, took me to meet someone he knew. We met this person at his vegetable shop. He gave the impression of being a very simple man and spoke very softly and slowly. While waiting for him to close his shop ,I was given to understand that he was also a social worker a very spiritual in his beliefs and was a staunch devotee of a hugely followed Indian Guru regarded by many as a saint. He would get visions sometimes and try to help people by advising them. At his house, he started off by praying for me and then described a setting, a bungalow, the direction it faced, about me having killed a snake said it was something to do with my past life.. He got a little disturbed and annoyed and then uttered something very similar to what the Egyptian lady had told me. This got me startled, curious and a little scared I must admit. He took us to see his teacher, to get further confirmation on this. Half an hour later, after having this teacher also repeat and confirm the findings, I seemed to be lost in a different world, something that I used to be curious about, but never believed in. I was under a spell!

It did trouble me for a couple of months, but I refused to do anything about it, as I could not get myself to believe in it. The thoughts eventually faded away. Around 2 years back, I went through the most trying time in life, and had more or less given up on it till I was rescued by a close friend. While narrating to him the incidents of the past, the episode on the 'spell' suddenly popped up in my mind and I narrated the story to this friend. He just said one thing, 'Come home and stay at my place, we have a trip to make early in the morning'. The next morning we went to this place about a 2 hours drive into the country side to meet someone, a sort of village head, religious man and more.... I was asked to take some dust from my house which I did. My friend swore by this person and narrated some incidents which he had personally experienced and how this person had helped him. We had a long 1 hour wait, as there were quite a few people waiting to see him. The first thing the person did was to go through the dust and started rattling of something in in a dialect and language I could not understand. I had to take the help of another friend who had come along with us to translate and explain what he had just said. It was very similar to all the things said on the earlier three instances to me. He said the spell was very strong and was difficult to remove and needed him to come personally to my residence. I could not get him to come that day. My friends in their eagerness to help, took me to meet him on six occasions after that. My last attempt to get him to do something, had him in the back seat of my car, but instead of driving him home I was dropping him off at his village as he was rather unwell and tired.

That was it .Spell or no spell, I decided that I could not let this interfere in my life anymore and decided to move on. I've decided to stay steadfast in my beliefs.

The Questions though remain. Coincidence ? Four people saying the same thing ? The last 3 of them do not take or accept money.

This will remain a puzzle, as are so many things in life.