What’s Your Rashee ?

The Grand white colored Indian Museum is a famous tourist point in Kolkata. With Green Mou trees surrounding the iron periphery, one small elevated wooden platform is hard to overlook. Sitted on a blue colored plastic table cover laid on the platform with his trained twin parrot is Mahendra Pandey, the astrologer. His milk white dhoti-kurta and the deep cataract contracted eyes tend to attract the attention of the onlookers. 

Placed right in between the shop that sells colored glasses and the old Currency coins is the place where Mahendra Pandey sits with trays filled with colorful gems and stones, faded rudraksh chains and bracelets. “I do not sell these gems without the need. If somebody is facing any Sankat , only then I ask them to take up respective stones or gems,” Mahendra says stretching the sacred thread that he wears inside his vest which kept on irritating him in the scorching heat.

“I came to Kaalkatta in 1972 from Jharkhand. Somebody had promised me a job in the city but he vanished once we reached Howrah Station. Bheer mein kaha gum ho gaya who aadmi ,” murmured Pandey ji. Soon he realized that he was not even apt to work for any hotel or factory in the city suburbs and that is when he landed up doing puja paath in one of the temples in Ram Mandir area. “There is no fixed salary for us but yes I charge rupees ten or twenty per prediction. Even if I don’t get to eat myself I need to feed the parrots every day. Who log mera pet chala raha hain,” added the astrologer.

The sad scenario of the job market does not scare Mahendra Pandey as he continues, “I don’t force or ask anybody to come and get their future predicted but most of the people who come asks about their success for jobs, married life or business.” He has got no one at home and therefore he considers the hawkers placed around his seat as his family. Putting up at a rented place in Ram Mandir area since 1972 followed by the years of struggle and livelihood through reading out predictions and advising on making the future better has become a daily routine for the old man.

Mahendra Pandey in front of the Indian Museum

The old man who is quite famous in that area as Pandit ji says , “ very less number of people come to me, some just wants to get their predictions done out of curiosity and others come here to hire me for puja paath at their places.” On talking about  this aspect his eyes widens and sparkles , “all kinds of people come Khushi se bbhi aate hain dukkhi ho ke bhi, and my job is to advice them towards right direction without playing with their belief and emotions”.

He makes it a point to start his day with a dip in the holy Hoogly river and chanting Holy words for his God and Godesses. Wearing a dark orangish-reddish vermillion Tikka on his wrinkled forehead is also one of the unforgetable signs of his devotion and  belief in the almighty. “I take a bus from Ram Mandir every day at 9:30 a.m and sit here from 10:00 in the morning till five in the evening, and then if some family asks me to visit their house for some puja I go there directly from here”. “I charge around rupees 10 per prediction but that depends on the customers, not every day I get people who wants to know their future,” he adds while feeding soaked sprouts from a steel bowl kept beside the green colored cage .

Science dominated society with its one click away solutions does not seem to make any difference for the old man, who slowly adds small minced betel nuts in his paan while discussing about his profession. Chewing slowly on the mouth refreshner he continues, “ Initially there were less hawkers on this pavement and less people walking but now even this scorching sun doesn’t seem like a problem.” Pandey ji murmers while looking randomly on the passers by. “Although my area has been shodowed by the big shops like the Sunglass Kiosks and Books seller’s over empowering stall right next to my small area,” adds Panday ji in a complaining tone.

“I will always stick to my job that I have been doing for the last forty years. Even though I don’t earn much but this is what I do best.” When asked about his family he looks little taken aback and replies laughing , “ we don’t have families , we devote our lives to the Almighty and these two parrots are my family”. It takes him around six months to train the parrots and there is no bluff in the methods while choosing the cards. “Some cards may hold good news and some cards may hold bad but there are solutions for every problem”. With increasing heat and burning sensations turning the city in to furnace, the seventy year old Panditji never forgets to re-fill water for his fellow two legged beings.

Upendra Pandey is a similar character who sits in front of the Kanak Building. With the red bricked walls and one of the Multinational Bank’s corporate office as the backdrop ,he  seemed unconcerned about the fast life in the city. “People comes to us out of belief pura vishwas ke upar hain madamji.” With a faded red colored Gamcha wrapped around his collar area he looks little bemused as to why people would get interested to know about their profession all of a sudden , “ nowadays young people uses computer and technology to know their luck and future, but I am hopeful for the future for people using traditional ways”.

“Mahendra Pandey ji is very famous, he was invited by Aparna Sen and Moon Moon Sen for some party in Taj Bengal and he has come on television too.” Added Pramod Prasad Gupta one of the hawkers who is also one of the customers of Mahendra Pandey.

It’s a tough job to survive in a metropolitan city like Kolkata where people like to splurge on luxurious items. Even though science and technology have captured the mind set of the majority it will be really interesting to know how these archaic and traditional ways of roadside astrology persist .