![]() ![]() ![]() The absurdity of the whole thing made me laugh, but I was eager to read the instructions and glad they were in English so my parents would not be able to skip the bad parts. Instead, they had let these two mischief-making planets have their way with me. My parents explained that the astrologer had predicted a bright marital future for me once an obstacle was removed.Īpparently, the position of two Vedic planets in my chart - Rahu and Ketu - was troubling, and my parents should have done a prayer ritual to rid me of the effects when I was born. I had always pitied the desperate fools targeted by those ads. Contact us and all your problems will be solved.” My heart sank as I remembered ads from some other matrimonial counseling outfit that had appeared constantly on Indian satellite television: “Love life not working out? Health problems? Everything going wrong? You may be under black magic. In red typeface on the upper left corner were the words: “Matri Vision, specializing in matrimonial counseling and rituals.” It was addressed (with my name misspelled) to “Ms. “It’s expensive and rare,” my mother chimed in. I told myself I had been trapped in a choose-your-own-adventure book in which all paths led to the same sad ending.Īnd in this way, I finally managed to peel myself from the couch and return to my life in New York, where I had to study for the bar exam.Ī few weeks later, I was back in New Jersey for lunch with my parents, where they presented me with an envelope and a small plastic bag containing a pendant with a translucent blue-tinged, tear-shaped stone. Instead, I tried to relax into the great comfort that none of our behavior had mattered. I couldn’t silence my inner voice, which kept nagging, “If only … ” and “Maybe if you hadn’t. I had grown tired of replaying every wrong move and angry word. I couldn’t make sense of the fact that despite how much we loved each other and how well we got along, we had not ended up together. It was simply our fate, which had been written long before he and I met. She reassured me that none of this was anyone’s fault: not mine, my fiancé’s, his family’s or ours. She had wanted to tell me earlier, when things weren’t going well, that it may be better to break it off, but that was one of the many times she had hoped the astrologers were wrong. As she stroked my hair, she told me there always had been a prediction that I would have a “broken relationship” at this age. When I was 27, my fiancé broke off our engagement after two years of us trying to buoy our relationship, which sank not so much from a lack of love but from a comedy of errors involving suspicions of “black magic” by members of our feuding families that led to distrust between my fiancé and me, ultimately unraveling our plans and dreams.Īs I lay catatonic on my parents’ couch in the aftermath, my mother, heartbroken, tried to comfort me. One of the many stories that my parents - and eventually I, too - wanted to change with each telling was that of my marriage. It’s just that some astrologers are better at telling your story than others.” My father would say: “Ami, it’s not that your fate changes with each reading. Over the years, they would return from their annual trips to India with updated readings in Gujarati or Hindi about my siblings and me from astrologers boasting famous clientele. When my parents came to America, they brought their astrological beliefs with them. I have read that India may be home to more astrologers than the rest of the world combined because so many people there seek astrological advice on questions large and small: When is an auspicious time of day for the wedding? Should I take this job? Will I win the case? WHICH JATHAGAM MATCHING DO BRAHMINS FOLLOW SOFTWARESome astrologers are naturally gifted, while others rely on software programs to do their divining. Based on the positions of the stars at the exact time and location of my birth, my janmakshar provides a map of my life that Indian astrologers can use to predict - for a fee, of course - everything, including my temperament (“She will be sharp-tongued and stubborn”) and my career (“She will have great success and be well respected in government”). I have what we call a janmakshar, a premium personalized horoscope. Not in the subtle ways that some believers in fate know, but in the very unsubtle way that many Hindus know. Ever since I was a child, I have known my destiny. ![]()
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