The Prime Minister of Tawa – 68

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The astrologer had a large mop of extremely curly hair on top of his head.  Mash could smell his bad breath as he held both his hands and peered at the lines that dictated the future course of his life. On the table in front of him were various charts and diagrams of planetary movements, which the astrologer had drawn after enquiring Mash’s place of birth, date and time. It had been Vikan’s suggestion that Mash pay a visit to this astrologer, who was an ethnic Seeda, but was the most sought after astrologer in the whole of Tawa. It was not easy to meet with him, if one was an ordinary mortal. But for the Prime Minister, the astrologer had set aside an entire afternoon and made sure that none of his other clients were around when Mash arrived.

‘Saturn and Venus are playing a dominant role in your life. Saturn’s influence is not very good, but it will decline after another three or four months.’ Mash continued to be sceptical about the whole thing. However, having gone to the astrologer, he decided to play along. ‘Your enemies are quite powerful now. That’s because Mars is dominant in your chief enemy’s orbit. Again, you need to wait for three or four months before you make a move against them. Do not make a move at this stage.’ The astrologer then went into a detailed explanation of planetary movements and the influence of stars in Mash’s life. Then he came down to more practical matters.

‘Which direction do you face while you are in your office?’

‘I don’t know.  Vikan, any idea?’

‘Maheshdas-raan, you face east.’

‘That won’t do. You must change your seating arrangements. You ought to face north. That’ll reduce the chances of Saturn ruining your day. Also, if you face north, Mercury will be able to push your magnetic energy in the right direction.’

‘So you want me to face north when I work?’

‘Yes Maheshdas-raan. In fact, if you have made any crucial decision while facing east, it’d have run into difficulties by now.’ That was not too difficult to believe. Almost all his decisions had been made while he faced east. No wonder he was having so many problems. Did he face east when he gave the go-ahead to that botched rescue operation? He must have. Only one engineer had survived that rescue attempt. Five of the commandos and fifteen other soldiers had been killed as well.

‘When you sleep, does your head face West?’

‘No, I don’t think so. It is on the other side of the window. So, that’s ..’

‘You ought to make sure it faces West at night. If you have a nap in the afternoon, it ought to face east.’

The astrologer gave Mash a large green stone which was to be worn around his neck at all times. ‘It will reduce the chances of Saturn being too dominant. It isn’t possible to blanket out Saturn altogether. But these little things will reduce its influence,’ the astrologer said.

Mash wasn’t too sure if he ought to believe all that the astrologer told him. If someone had told him three years ago that he would be sitting in front of an astrologer and listening to such poppycock, he would have laughed at that person. But now he wasn’t too sure. There had to be a reason for everything. If things went wrong, there had to be a reason for that as well.  Very few things seemed to be under his control. No matter how much ever planning went into his projects, they were coming undone. There had to an explanation somewhere. Who knew, maybe the astrologer had the answers. What did he have to lose by wearing that green stone around his neck, or laying his head towards West while going to sleep or moving his chair so that it faced North while he worked in his office?

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