He was a career counsellor of a different kind. He did not study the profile of the candidate. He examined the horoscope of the subject instead. He did not merely suggest a suitable vocation. He predicted the career path with certainty.
I cannot say for sure when father’s casual interest in astrology turned into a serious pastime. It must have happened sometime post-retirement. For, I do not have any recollection of his studying the horoscopes of his children to pick a course that was “right” for each. Those days neither the horoscope nor the heart of the student was consulted. Decisions were made entirely from the head, by the family’s head. As such, father entered us into fields that seemed right, under the circumstances.
Everybody loves a prediction, especially when there is no charge. Casual visitors to the house noticed books on astrology and papers with calculations, strewn on the living room centre table; and they came back with a folded sheet in hand. Mother alleged that once a linesman came in to attend to the faulty telephone and strayed to provide his young children’s birth details. “What will they become sir?” he had asked with palpable anxiety.
Initially, father was surprised that there were as many queries related to the career of the wards as their marriage. He was quick to accept the new trend and enthusiastically took up the study of this aspect of astrology, in greater detail.
Once we overheard him tell a boy that his destiny was in computers. While we elders in the family, out of respect, stopped with just raising our eyebrows, the youngsters refused to let their grandpa get away with that. “How could you predict such a modern line using ancient science, thatha?” they quizzed.
“It is all in the interpretation,” explained father in earnest. “I get an idea of the kind of work the person will do, on broad lines from the horoscope. Then I make an intelligent guess by taking in the background of the person and the social trends.”
Once in the course of a conversation, a friend was mentioning that her uncle in the village lived an enviable life of comfort and never did a day’s work in all his life. While his wife struggled to run the house, he chose to remain unemployed right through.
“A life of total leisure must be written in his horoscope,” she said.
It was too much to resist. I wasted no time in getting hold of the blessed soul’s horoscope and presented it to father for his comments. After some ten minutes of study, father put down the paper and announced his findings.
“Government service,” he said crisply. “No high position of power or responsibility, steady, easy life.” That was close! Probably there is something in those twelve squares after all!