There was a time when the media and newsprint weren’t as savvy as they are today. In my growing years in Sri Lanka, we had one newspaper which we as teenagers devoured for our favourite columns. Apart from earth shaking political diatribes and appealing ads, there was a column for which we hunted as though we were looking for the treasure map to the gold mines of pharaohs.
It was the daily astrological predictions. It was sacrosanct to us teenagers. We looked forward to our day according to the predictions. We went to school not only armed with bags and books, but cushioned by the predictions for the day. The predictions were like magic casements opening on our perilous school days. Even days of prediction gone wrong for some didn’t deter us and we always looked for the good penny that would turn up one day.
Yet, I never thought that grown-ups in my world would be as fascinated by the daily forecasts as we teenagers were. One time, our family was gearing up for a short holiday, a rare occurrence as my father normally couldn’t leave his patients. So we set off, with bags packed, all doors and windows locked. We got back after three days of sun and surf only to find our shipshape home ransacked. Every nook and corner, shelf and cupboard had been searched, down to pins and powder puffs.
The mayhem stunned us. My father sat calmly while we bemoaned the loss of a few gold earrings, a chain or two and some bangles. He quietened us and, reaching behind a hanging photograph of Uncle George, produced the lost gold. The euphoric outpourings were enough to think of a celebration. The whys and wherefores of father’s foresight in tricking the housebreaker was revealed in hushed unbelievable tones. It appears he had read predictions for the day of our departure.
The cryptic message conveyed that somebody’s apple cart would be upset, and it was under his zodiac sign. Though a neurologist, averse to non-scientific theories, he had taken the precaution of salting away our few prized ornaments from the predatory eyes of unwelcome intruders. We shook our heads in assent and poured over the predictions more assiduously than before. But we grew up definitely not aligned to the influence of astrology for there were other things to occupy our minds beyond the rainbows.