1973 - Astrologer from Kerala
My best buddy at school was Kariat Subramaniya Narayan aka Muthu. After school our ways parted as he went on to do a degree in Chemistry at Vivekananda College and I ended up at IIT doing Civil Engineering which I hated but was forced on me by Acha who wanted me to build his house one day not that we had land or the money to build a house. But that was his Dream as a Retired Govt Servant who refused to take bribes.
On Completing my B.Tech I joined my friend Narayanan and set up an Electro Plating unit at his fathers watch shop in Mount Road, Carat Watch Company where Carat stood for Kariat. He was incharge of the operation being a chemistry graduate and I did the sales and marketing. It was at this time he told me one day that an elderly relative of theirs was coming to Madras from Kerala and that he was a great astrologer and his dad had asked him to come and give his astrological predictions as the watch business was in dire straits. Narayan told me come to my place to night and lets put this man to test.
I asked my mother to give me the book containing astrological charts of family members that were
A Typical South Indian Horoscope looks like this
written down by various priests at the time of birth and cradling ceremony. My mother hesitated but gave in.
This relative was elderly in his late seventies. A frail man soft spoken and spoke only Malayalam. So my friends Mom and Small Mom meaning his aunt sat down at the table with us as interpreters. They explained to this uncle (Let me call him Kerala Uncle or K-Uncle for short) who I was and that I had brought the family Jatagam (horoscope) Book for him to see and give his predictions.
K-Uncle had with him seven sea shells we call Sozhi or Soli or Cowri, which we used for many Indian Checkers games as kids. K-Uncle had no clue who I was until that minute when we met.
On the first page was my eldest sister Pedda Akka Pramila's horoscope chart. K-Uncle threw the seven shells on the table and said must be the eldest child in the family and now married and skipped to next page without telling me anything about her. I found it strange and we chaps were skeptical any way as we were brought up to believe astrology was bunkum.
On to second page was my sister ChottaAkka Nirmala's chart. K-Uncle tossed the sea shells on the table and kept looking at it without saying anything. My friend interjected and his mother sushed him and said K-Uncle is thinking so no talking until he says so.
K-Uncle just kept looking at the sea shells without saying much.. he then mumbled and said I see this person has some disability. He was not sure of the gender. This made me sit up and listen as he had no way of knowing this
Small Mom explained to K-Uncle that my sister Nirmala had polio at age 13. He kept looking at the sea shells and said "She Has to be a teacher"...at that time she was a lecturer at Queen Marys College. She will not get married K-Uncle stated before moving on to the next page.
Next was my Sister Chammakka - Sharmila.. He went through the same process again looked at her astrological chart and then shuffled and threw the sea shells on the table and started to talk.
He said Maruttuvam meaning medicines. Yes Small Mom told him she was a doctor and heart specialist MD Cardiology from MMC.
K-Uncle said in malayalam not married now but can get married soon. At that time an engineer had proposed marriage and the families were in discussion about the wedding.
For some reason he stayed on the page and kept looking at the sea shells and said right now she is at cross roads of her life and has to choose between career and marriage. it has to be one or the other K-Uncle said.
We did not pay heed to what he was saying as at that point of time marriage was definite.
The next Page in the book was me RamChander Krishnaswamy of course. K-Uncle had no hesitation in saying he is a Numbers person and small mom told him he was right and that I was an engineer and a clever one too pinching me and having a giggle. I loved Big and small Moms. they were both adorable and could not call me RamChander but called me Raamendran. Both have passed away. The last I heard of Small mon is that when Big Moms Grandson Karthik told her he was migrating to Sydney she said Dont worry You will be safe since Ramendran is there to look after you.
By 1973 I was a Junior Engineer in Tamilnadu Highways dept but I was desperate to go to USA to do my masters and also join so many of my classmates who had migrated to US but my mother was against the idea. I still kept applying to many Universities and I had secured admission for Masters at Purdue, Ohio and Kansas Universities but had no assistantship and was hoping I'd get one. Not easy as I was competing with my juniors who had just graduated
K-Uncle spends extra time on my chart, since I was there physically with him. He says let me look at your palm and I stretched out my right hand. he looks at my hand and then looks at the shells and closes his eyes and says. You are leaving the country and crossing the seas but not until after your birthday in 1975 and you are going South he stated.
Smart Alec me said No way I am going South to Sri Lanka. He said Young man you may want to go West but you will end up going South.
K-Uncle said I can only tell you what I can see and not what you want. You are definitely crossing the oceans going South, will study further, meet your future wife there marry and settle down and have a very good and comfortable life and you will not come back to India.
Man to be honest I did not like what he was telling me about my future and as such did not believe him either. Astrology is bullshit I told Narayan before I left to go home.
K-Uncle flicked to the next page. It was my Younger sister Urmila. K-Uncle had no hesitation in saying also a medical person, very smart and must be married by now. She was married in 71. Her husband must also be in the same Profession he said. Small Mom Confirmed yes the husband is a doctor too.. K-Uncle shook his head and said bad marriage they will always be fighting. He was spot on as there was problem in the marriage already
K-Uncle then looked at the last two horoscopes and said too young. He pointed at Manjula's and said Medicine and Sheela's and said Numbers and got up abruptly and said he had to go to bed
Today is 5th August 2019
46 Years later
Today is 5th August 2019
46 Years later
I can now sit back and review all of K-Uncle's predictions in 1973 based on what has transpired in the last 46 years of my life.
My eldest sister Pramila stayed married with three wonderful kids who have turned out to be wonderful human beings.This sister is no more she passed away in 1986
My second sister Nirmala Continued as Professor of Zoology at Queen Mary's college until retirement. In 1983 she underwent an orthopaedic surgery in Sydney to correct her posture and scoliosis of the lumbar spine so she could walk with crutches. We lost her too to heart attack in June 2011 from pulmonary embolism.
What happened to my 3rd elder sister Chammakka - Dr Sharmila, the Cardiologist since I saw the astrologer K-Uncle is just not believable. Even today I just sit here and shake my head.
Later in 1973 Chammakka came home from hospital one day very excited. She told the family that another doctor Dr.Mani at the hospital had attended a Medical Conference in Sydney and he met an Australian Professor of Nephrology ( I forget his name Dr. Edward I think) was looking for an assistant to join his research team at Sydney Hospital. Chammakka wrote to him and next thing we knew she said no to marriage and flew off to Sydney Australia. We were a bit skeptical as Australia still had the white Australia Policy and very few Indians thought to migrating to Australia.
She pursued her career as predicted by the astrologer, moved to Sydney Australia and then to New Castle; in 1976 she packed up and left for USA, did not like it there so moved to UK to become a Nephrologist but decided to become a General Practitioner of Medicine and settle in Lowestoft in Suffolk. Has retired now and settled in London. Never got married. (Mind you she did not know anything about the astrologers predictions)
In 1973 I continued in my Job as Junior Engineer in Tamilnadu Highways. My Colleagues nick named me the Bag Man as I always carried a leather bag, that contained nothing but application forms to Universities in USA. I was still focussing on admissions from Ohio, Purdue and Kansas Universities but no assistantship was guaranteed. they all said come join and we will help you find something. I was not game as I did not even have the money required for my airfare. Time just flew. 1974 came and went and we were into 1975 already.
Around June 1975 Chammaka calls me and tells me Rai Bab, why don't you come and study in Sydney. You will love this place and we can meet at least once a month (as by that time she had moved to New Castle). I was not happy as I had to start the application process all over again.
I applied to do Masters in Building sciences at Sydney University and Masters in Acoustics at University of New South Wales. BY end November I had been guaranteed admission in both Universities and it was upto me to decide where I was going. But I had to apply to the Australian High commission first for Student Visa. Everything was done through snail mail and I relied on my dads old portable Remington Type writer to type my letters with one finger.
10th December 1975, yes it was my Birthday and I was still in India as K-Uncle had predicted. My courses at both Universities were starting end February and no Visa was in sight.
I decided to take up the fight with the Australian High Commission. I took photo copies of admission letters from OHIO, Purdue and Kansas Universities and told the High Commission here is proof of admission to Unis in USA but I prefer to go to Australia as my Sister is already there. "Just say Yes or No, so I can decide. I am not going to cry over your shoulders" I wrote. The following week I received a telegram (much faster than snail mail) saying my Student Visa had been approved asking me to send my Indian passport for Visa to be stamped.
I thought to myself "You fool you were only thinking of Sri Lanka but never thought of Australia or New Zealand".
On 16th July I was on my Air India Flight to Singapore, my first flight ever, with 50 Australian Dollars the only foreign exchange I could get from the Reserve Bank of India plus another $50 from a good friend.
It was a late night flight and the entire family and extended family were there to see me off with garlands galore. Once on the plane all I could think of was K-Uncles predictions about me crossing the ocean and going south.
Sydney here I come
