Fortune Teller!

Fortune telling based on palmistry, astrology, numerology, horoscope,etc is very famous in India. Today this has turned to be a profession and a source of income to many people. Since ages immemorial people in this sub-continent are very religious and fortune cautious, so they constantly check their fortune status with the help of these fortune tellers. Just do a Google on 'Fortune Telling + India' to find a torrent of 1,290,000 links.

Today, after a tiring journey from my aunt's home, I was walking back to my flat. It seemed as if someone were following me but I neglected it just reminding myself that I was just one year old in this city and am not hostile to anyone important[hope you recall many movies]. After some time I could not resist and turned back like a hero to see a boy. The boy was about 16 years old and seemed to be very religious with all kunkam and vibudhi spread over his forehead. He had a bag swinging against his shoulder and some books in it. I was pleased and asked him what he was expecting from me and to my surprise he said "I will tell your fortune, please show me your hand". I simply said 'No Thanks' but he was following me like a shadow. I repeatedly tried to convince him that I don't believe in all those but he repeatedly conveyed that he was an expert and everything would happen as he predicts. I was fed up after some time and smiled at him as a sign of willingness. He said me to sit on the pile of sand on the road side but I insisted him to come to my flat and surprisingly he was crazy enough to walk half a kilometer.

I started walking towards my flat accompanied by him. Meanwhile I asked him 'Where do you come from?' and 'Is this your profession?'. He said that he was from Maharashtra and fortune telling was his family profession. Next I asked him 'Did to study?' He conveyed that he didn't study fortune telling and he practiced it from his grandfather since he was young enough. He even said that he never attended a school but knows only to read Tamil but cannot write. He even said that their mother language had no written script but was only used vocally. After a while he got tired and said why don't we finish it here since he has to walk all the way back. I felt it reasonable and sat comfortably on the pavement adjacent to the road.

He starting with 'Please open you palm wide enough that every mark on it would appear.' I did so and he started saying that my hand would take 21/- service charge[I was happy that it was tax included]. I don't believe in all this but anyway thought of helping him. He explained me that the cost was determined with the number of points[both +ve's and -ve's] he was about to convey. His predictions include:

a. My hand represents a 'Lotus Flower'. As lotus flower slides away any water drop, I do not care about what others think and won't face any complaints or hostility from others.
b. In next 21 days something very special is going to happen. :-D
c. He said that I must have got married at 21 otherwise would only get married at 29 :-(
d. Don't believe your friends. People around you are as poisonous as snakes are. Don't stand as a surety for you friends.
e. Just don't declare before an action is done.
f. You are going to fly abroad very soon.

These are some of the positives I remember. Interestingly he explained me that good things and bad things must not be said at the same place. So we shifted our location to the opposite pavement. There he said that something serious was going to happen in your life, so just think of a number below 500. I thought and said 365 and he said that was a very good number and I have to give it to god. He then continued asking me to keep that amount in my hand and close my fist. Fortunately[u will know it further] I didn't have so much and said that I had only 80/- and I closed it in one fist and closed the other fist also. He asked me to think of two god's against each fist and I followed him. He tried to predict the god and fist combination but it failed. To my surprise he said that there is something serious going to happen in you family and I need to do some anna danam[nice idea]. He then shocked me saying that I can even give that amount to him as 'kanuka'[gift] and they would do the relavent puja's[prayers]. I was unmoved and said him that I will take care of anna danam and prayers. He repeatedly tried to convince me and at last even tried to frighten me saying some bull shit predictions.

I candidly said him that I am going to pay only 21/- what I promised. He again tried to frighten me about misfortunes but I remained unmoved. Then he came down to 20/- 'kanuka' in Indian style and even went down to 10/-. I handed him 21/- and I said that if some prediction turned true I would give you the total 365/-. I pointed out my flat and asked him to comeback after 21 days to know if some miracle had happened. He left silently talking to himself[not really].

Waiting for those 21days to complete. Now I understand why 'fortune teller' profession is always at momentum.

This happens to be a very common scene in the sub-continent. Everyone would have at least one such context, just recall!!!!

Unsolved Puzzle till Yesterday!

I had solved many puzzles which appeared in various examinations I attended but never faced a puzzle in my own life. Yesterday we solved a big puzzle which was troubling us since last 6 months.

We live in Pearl Jaya apartments which has 10 flats . The flats had a staircase running through bisecting the apartments. These flats was aligned such that ground floor and first floor had 4 flats and each floor had 2 flats on either side of the staircase while the terrace had 2 apartments one on either side of the staircase. It had 3 empty and 7 occupied flats. Every flat has its own meter and an electricity card corresponding to it.

Don't panic if someone is getting the feel of the puzzles they have solved in their entrance exams, infosys exam, aptitude tests or higher education. I am not trying to test you but just wanted to make the scenario more clear[becoz I don't like cross questions ; ->]. So here continues.......

When we rented Pearl Jaya flats we were provided with a false electricity card with wrong electricity reading. At the initial days we did not bother about the card until we got our first bill which seemed way ahead of our usage. Reporting this to our owners they always sent back the same card saying that it was the only card that was left and surely that must be yours. We lost interest and said we are not going to pay the bill until we got our exact electricity card. The same scene was iterating every 2 months for the past 6 months. In between the card we were holding had the meter number which was not ours so one flat was suffering from current disconnection every now and then. They were claiming to the electricity board that they have already paid the bill and would regain current in next 24 hours. We were never close to those people, never even uttered Hai!, so we were never told about this was happening becoz of us and they also did not know that we were not paying the bills.

Fed up with all the reporting, I was around 7.30pm yesterday when some of the flat owners united together to resolve this issue. Everyone had their problems regarding electricity bill mismatch. We asked the watchman to get all the electricity cards from everyone to cross check the meter readings and card numbers. Meanwhile we were making jokes/comments of the apartment owner and the watchman. He bought back 6 cards and reported that one house was locked up.

We went ahead exploring each meter switching of and on the main again and again to check first which meter belonged to which house. This may sound simple but took more time to switch off and switch on the lights/fans in house to check whether the meter was working properly first. This tedious process took around 45minutes. We concluded the show when we confirmed and marked each meter against their owner.

As the next step we went ahead checking the electricity card. To our surprise all the cards tallied except two cards which had the same meter number of it. Personally I observed that their card has a number scratched and a rewritten number. Now everyone knew why the other flat people suffered from current disconnection regularly. The house were angry on us for a second. I said them there are two things to observe,
a. Two cards having same number.
b. The number was units before 2 months had already exceeded the present reading.
c. Our number was scratched on your card and you put your own number.

They softly admitted that they were given the same card and they have not scratched anything. Later after a long discussion we didn't find any solution except changing the card numbers and informing it to the electricity board. They said they would do all that relevant for the name to be changed. Hence the problem solved.

This is just one among the very common scene's that people living in flats/apartments face. If anyone want to share their experiences, don't hesitate becoz that can make entry into the checklist of people who are newly renting/owning flats/apartments.

Share links/comments about your experiences!

Walking On Current

Every summer vacation our family would visit our 100year old Grandfathers house[bungalow sounds better] at Chennai to make the holidays more exciting. It was my 5th standard summer vacation is when there happened to be ice rain at Chennai which I could still remember as the 8th wonder. It was the vacation where all our cousins united togather to hanky panky. Everyday our enjoyment was filled with games, comments, fightings, crying and our favourite cartoons. Days passed by and it was only a week for everyone of us to depart to their natives, so we thought of having lot more fun. From then on every evening we enjoyed flying kites and betting on kites for choclates, fruits, toys and goli's [famous indian childhood play item]. One afternoon, suddenly out of blue moon, it drizzled for some time and we found no bounds of enjoyment dancing and playing with the rain drops. Since it was hot out at Chennai we spent that night chitchatting and palying at the terrace of the house in the moon light enjoying the chillness that was hugging us from every dimension. Soon everyone were tired playing under twilight and continued to sleep with sweet dreams.

Some of our cousins including me woke up very early that morning listning to birds cherping and vehicles move. We were actually lazy to get up and start the day so quickly. I started recalling many events that happened in my school and everyone continued to have their turn and time passed very quickly. Slowly the sun came stright into our eyes and thought it was time for everyone to get ready and started to wake up everyone. Everyone as an usual tradition playfully started maching one after the other to reach the terrace door. There was one long passage which we need to cross and it was wet but it did not bother us atall.

As we stepped on the wet passage we felt as if our legs were pulled by some external force and everyone ran back to safer dry floor. Finally after lots of pep talk on this we concluded that there was mild currect passing by the floor which was very usual in that old house. We had no escape but to cross the wet passage to get into the house. First I tried to be brave and said that its nothing but mild currect flowing and it does not harm anyone in anyway. I was weak at heart but always liked to show off and this personality of mine got me into trouble. I put my first step on the wet floor and I felt as if something was tickling me and continued with the next step. With my both foot of wet floor I could feel something pulling me into the earth. My heart was very cautious but my mind said me dont panic. After a second could not bare the fear and stepped back. All my cousins were looking curious at me and I said I was just showing you how easy it was. They all said, is it so easy then why dont you cross to the other side. I felt in my heart that it was a nice question but didn't really know the risk involved.

Encouraging myself, I prayed god for a second and started moving towards the wet passage. I closed my eyes and started running ot the other end by stretching my legs as much as I can. I could feel that every foot I laid was influenced by some force pulling to bury me under the earth. Since the passage was only 5meters I managed to cross it in 12steps[approx.] taking around 5 seconds. When I reached the other end I opened my eyes slowly hearing my cousins clap and shout hurray! I suddenly felt that I have succeeded the greatest risk of my life and stood stiff smiling at my cousins. Soon everyone knowing that it had nothing serious crossed the wet passage running one after another reaching the other end safely. Each one after crossing were smiling as if they also have achieved the life's greatest event.

This happened in the last few days of your summer vacation. With all the sweet memories we departed to our home towns leading our usual school life, recalling the deeds among friends. I hope everyone of my cousins still remember those courageous moments.

Have you any experience like this????