These men and women use their special gift to reveal the hidden twists and turns of the path ahead

Pinky Singh looked at the tarot cards in dismay. The wealthy agriculturist sitting in front of her lived on the outskirts of Pune; his wife was expecting their first baby. And the cards revealed the worst that could happen: delivery problems so acute that the baby may not survive. But how could she give such a devastating piece of news! She decided to word it carefully, and told the young father-to-be, "Since this is your wife's first child, there is always the chance of some complications. It would be advisable if you brought your wife to the hospital well before the due date." Serious complications did arise, but the couple having taken the tarot reader's sound advice, were prepared and already at one of Pune's leading hospitals. Both mother and child survived.

Astrologer-counsellor Kavita Mishra had gone to London on business, while her husband and two little daughters remained in Pune. Suddenly, she was overcome with a sense of deep unease, sure that she was about to lose something precious. She rang up her husband and asked about the girls, and insisted that he never let them out of his sight. When Kavita returned a few days later, she found that all her jewellery had been stolen. "So I did lose something precious, but it would have been worse had anything happened to my family," she says.

Tarot card readers, tantriks, astrologers, numerologists, face readers…At one time, not many sought them out unless they were utterly dejected, when life seemed to be handing out a raw deal. Today, many people turn to these 'mediums and mystics' for career guidance, choice of home, advice about a romantic situation, children, financial issues…not just when things go wrong, but even when they are about to embark on something new.

"Sometimes it helps just to be told that you are wasting your time investing in a relationship that is going nowhere…or that a knotty career issue is about to be resolved, and you need to hang in there," says Pratima, who meets an astrologer as well as a tarot reader every couple of months. Pratima is a software engineer in a Pune company, and has often taken foreign clients to her astrologer too!

The 'mumbo-jumbo' tag that was once attached to such activity is fast disappearing. Of course there are skeptics too, who simply will not even glance at the horoscope page of their newspaper, but overall, the occult sciences, as they are called, are gaining greater popularity and credibility.

There seems to be one essential quality common to all of them: the presence of an inherent 'gift'. Numerologist Anupam Kapil, Vedant Tantrik Guruji Mukhopadhaya, Tarot card reader Pinky and Astrologer-counsellor Kavita Mishra share some interesting insights.

Most of them feel that they are blessed with the gift of prophecy. Says Mukhopadhya, "Even as a child growing up in Bengal, I was made aware by others that I had certain divine powers. Later, I travelled to Tibet and other places, spending time with monks and sadhus, to hone my skills and sharpen my perception. Tantra is a spiritual science for peace and prosperity. It is not black magic as many think, but a belief in good thoughts and action."

Anupam Kapil also believes that he is only a medium and whatever he foresees is by the grace of God. "There are psychic forces at work and one can feel them intuitively. The power flows through you only if the intention is good."

In a similar vein, Pinky explains, "It is a gift. One should be able to connect with the cards. No amount of reading up and training can help, if you are not involved with the cards. The cards speak to me; I am a medium." Kavita too realised her potential as a child, when she would make certain predictions about family members, which would ultimately come true.

Is it emotionally demanding work? Says Pinky: "Reading the cards requires intense concentration. One needs to get beyond the superficial image that your client may at first convey. Some people then break down and reveal their deep vulnerability. One has to be extremely empathetic, a good listener too." She keeps a gap of at least an hour between each session, so that she can rest and re-charge herself.

Mukhopadhya becomes at times so emotionally involved that he cannot even eat or sleep, he reveals. He then relaxes, has a massage and takes a bath. He also meditates and sometimes performs a havan to get back his spiritual balance.
Anupam narrates how in the initial stages, he would invariably get a rash on the ears after a session with a client. It took a while before he understood the significance of this. "I take God's name before I start and make sure to sense what kind of person I am dealing with. After all, I am not here to take on everyone's karmic garbage."

While they all agree that it is a God-given gift, the way that revelations come to them are different. For Kavita, "Most of the time, it is just a matter of minutes. Sometimes my overseas clients may even wake me up with a call at two in the morning. And my answers just come on the spur of the moment. The words just come out of my mouth. I may have planned to say something, but the words, which ultimately come out, are different - they seem to have a power and life of their own. For me too it is a mystery. Sometimes it scares me," she says.

What happens when they foresee that something drastic is going to happen to a client? How do they convey this? Most of them prefer not to bluntly reveal bad news. As in the case that Pinky related, you choose your words carefully and convey that something needs to be done to avoid or lessen the impact of an impending calamity.
Do they also foresee the future for their near and dear ones? Mukhopadhya gives a wry grin as he admits; "My wife accuses me at times that I do nothing for the family. But what I do keep advising my family members is to think good thoughts and do good to people."

Kavita finds that she experiences a certain mind block when it comes to dealing with her family. She might sense something bad is going to happen, but cannot exactly pinpoint it. Pinky however says that her family and friends were the ones that she first practised on, and then took the big step of doing it for others.

As for Kapil, over the last 14 years, he regularly performed pujas and mantras for his ailing father (who recently passed away), and even doctors who had given up hope were surprised at the results.

One common thread that runs through the lives of these intriguing men and women is their humility. They remain constantly aware that any hint of arrogance or misuse for personal gain can alter the balance completely. Indeed it is a rare and precious gift, which they treasure with all their heart.

Mita Banerjee