{"id":7567,"date":"2014-04-17T23:19:24","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T13:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourowncorner.com\/poohsden\/?p=7567"},"modified":"2014-08-13T11:55:25","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T01:55:25","slug":"o-omen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourowncorner.com\/poohsden\/o-omen\/","title":{"rendered":"O: Omen"},"content":{"rendered":"

He looked at the mirror and a stranger stared back. \u201cGod help me! I have become the dreaded caricature of the sibyl \u2013 a soothsayer\u201d he muttered taking in his appearance. Receding hairline showing off a wide forehead perfect for the vermillion and sandalwood paste dots dutifully applied. Shock of unnaturally black hair peppered with white with a mustache to match. A white shirt and dhoti. Stiffly starched and ironed.\u00a0 He added the final touch, a gold-rimmed spectacles now sat neatly on the tip of his nose.<\/p>\n

He was morphing into the character like a well-attuned actor. In fact he had been turning into the character since the phone call came last evening.\u00a0 He wished there was someone around to mock him. Laugh at him and to tease him mercilessly. Like those days from the past. He could hear Mayank mocking him \u201cOh! Panditji! All this stars and planets and positions and crap \u2013 to attract girls na?\u201d Well it did attract the right girl. His wife. Sita. \u201cRest in peace dear\u201d he whispered. She would have laughed at his attempts to look more like an astrologer. \u201cBe yourself\u201d she would have chided him.<\/p>\n

He wished he could be himself – the retired schoolteacher with a passion to plot the journey of the planets. He had always been interested in astrology. \u201cA divine gift\u201d his grandmother had proclaimed. \u201cMy prodigy\u201d his uncle, a renowned seer had declared. He grew up balancing science and pseudoscience. He continued doing it for years. Classroom physics during the day, special tuitions at home during the evenings and passionate encounters with planetary positions at night.<\/p>\n

He calculated and predicted the probable path life can take in the future based on birth time and location of birth. He was able to foresee things he did not expect. He didn\u2019t consider it a special gift \u2013 it was just logic and a detailed knowledge of planetary powers and positions.\u00a0 \u201cIt is not reading tealeaves and I don\u2019t predict things\u201d he had declared more than once. A few members of the family and some friends came to him every 2-3 years, at the time of births, marriages, hardship and death to see if there was hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is all about hope. What is life without hope?\u201d he advised them just like he would do to kids who had failed their exams. \u201cTry harder. Ofcourse there will be bumps along the way but you will end up in a better place. Pray to God. Believe in him but special charms or pujas are not the way\u201d he always said giving the much-needed shot of confidence.<\/p>\n

Over the years, his fame in accurate predictions had grown and there was always someone asking him to read their horoscopes and he always did it. He enjoyed the process. It filled up those empty hours between sunrise and sunset. It was fascinating. He had pulled out his horoscope last week to take another look when something popped out \u2013 he was in a zone of transition. Jupiter had entered the 10th<\/sup> house and it meant change. A career change. He had laughed at it.<\/p>\n

Trrrrring trrring. <\/i>The sound broke his concentration. He thought about not answering the phone and immersing himself in the calculations that seemed to predict doom. \u201cMaybe it is an omen to put away this horoscope\u201d he thought as he grabbed the phone. \u201cHello Panditiji, how are you?\u201d boomed Maynak\u2019s voice \u2013 a voice he hadn\u2019t heard in over 30 years. \u201cMaynak Sir! How are you? Still going strong with TV production I hear?\u201d. \u201cYes Panditiji . Listen \u2013 I wanted to talk to you about this astrology stuff. You free tomorrow evening around 6? I can come by your place and we can catch up in private\u201d. An omen \u2013 a sign of things to come he thought as he said yes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This post is a part of the\u00a0April A to Z challenge<\/a>. 26 days, 26 letters and 26 short stories. Come back tomorrow for more.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He looked at the mirror and a stranger stared back. \u201cGod help me! I have become the dreaded caricature of the sibyl \u2013 a soothsayer\u201d he muttered taking in his appearance. Receding hairline showing off a wide forehead perfect for the vermillion and sandalwood paste dots dutifully applied. Shock of unnaturally black hair peppered with white with a mustache to match. A white shirt and dhoti. Stiffly starched and ironed.\u00a0 He added the final touch, a gold-rimmed spectacles now sat neatly on the tip of his nose. He was morphing into the character like a well-attuned actor. In fact he had been turning into the character since the phone call came last evening.\u00a0 He wished there was someone around to mock him. Laugh at him and to tease him mercilessly. Like those days from the past. He could hear Mayank mocking him \u201cOh! Panditji! All this stars and planets and positions and crap \u2013 to attract girls na?\u201d Well it did attract the right girl. His wife. Sita. \u201cRest in peace dear\u201d he whispered. She would have laughed at his attempts to look more like an astrologer. \u201cBe yourself\u201d she would have chided him. He wished he could be himself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1259,1274],"tags":[1343,1260,697],"class_list":["post-7567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-april-a-to-z-challenge-2014","category-writings","tag-april-a-to-z-challenge-2014","tag-short-stories","tag-words"],"yoast_head":"\nO: Omen — PoohsDen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ourowncorner.com\/poohsden\/o-omen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"O: Omen — PoohsDen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"He looked at the mirror and a stranger stared back. \u201cGod help me! 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