A stye in the left eye signifies good luck, breaking a mirror is bad luck and an itchy palm brings money are superstitions that worm their way into our thoughts before we know it. The world is a baffling place and sometimes we cling to preternatural beliefs in order to tame our fears. I don’t know what gullible entity lurked in my sub-conscious for a while but it really fed off this hocus pocus and became insufferable. I’ve been a sitting target for all sorts of psychics and seldom skipped a chance to have my fortune read. In an able astrologer’s hands, astrology, which studies human affairs through the position of celestial objects, has succeeded in making a precise assessment about my character and past milestones. There is something terribly exciting about having soothsayers gaze at a line-up of cards or a diagram (drawn according to the planetary position at the moment of birth), while I wait for their prognosis as though they are reading a factual report. I concede, here, to the possibility that sixth sense is at play because they can be right without having any prior knowledge of my life. Then again, they have also proven to be wrong so it leaves me bewildered. Yet, many of us are attracted to foreseers like moths to fire.

I have often sought guidance in daily columns by various interpreters of the zodiac. George Clooney and I share the same zodiac sign but I highly doubt if we face the same circumstances on any given day. Unless, ‘The New Moon in the deepest part of your chart requires you give yourself space to ponder,’ can be considered an accurate forecast of the upcoming week. It’s natural to entertain the idea of supernatural possibilities, especially when on some days the most exciting thing that happens is the early arrival of a parcel from Amazon. Then there are phases when the future looks dark and we go in search for a glimmer of hope. Sometimes, if everything is going well, we look for assurance that our good fortune will not run out. Either way, we rely on an abstract method to make a decision that would be best reached by using logic and intelligence.

To make matters worse, people relay anecdotes, about mystics and omens, the success of numerology and spiritual healers that provide miraculous solutions. It only magnifies our expectation from an intangible force that is (for some odd reason) open to manipulation. Aside from a psychological benefit, I fail to see the usefulness of such theories. We can be tempted to try them all, leaving us with little time to spend on practical effort. I had to exorcise habits that had become second nature to me such as the desire to walk into a fortune telling booth at an exhibition, worrying about jinxing a happy occasion if I forgot to touch wood or feeling happy that a bird shat on my shoulder. A prediction can be useful to motivate one to go through a stressful period but prayer can do the same. It can also act as a guide to one’s character but meditation will just as easily bring us in touch with our intuition. Out of the 700 verses in the Gita, not one alludes to destiny. The Gita speaks about duty and action and the benefits of right action which can transform one’s journey for the better. This pragmatic advice, if followed diligently, is enough to take one’s mind off magical cures. The kinship between stars, planets and us will remain a subject to philosophise over. As for me, I’ve chosen to enjoy the twinkling sky, without prodding it for answers.