A Trip Down Memory Lane

Ten years ago, in Karachi we once drove towards the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in search of a well-known Palmist Siraj Bhai. We were newly married and going through a tough phase of our lives; when the money is short, the in laws are always interfering and the temperaments are high most of the time.

So that particular day Ali and I took a break from all this and went to have a breath of fresh air. We finally met Siraj bhai, sitting inside a Mercedes Benz of a well-known socialite. We waited patiently until he stepped out; the socialite thanked him generously and sped away. With a magnifying glass in one hand and the other holding my palm, he told me that I would be traveling very shortly. He told us that we should invest in food business. We could easily earn money and fame! He also said that later we would be traveling so much that we would begin to hate it.

Next morning over a cup of coffee, I told my best friend about our rendezvous with Siraj bhai. She took a deep puff of her Marlboro and in a profound manner told me that his predictions were music to my ears only because this was all I wanted to hear at that moment. I always valued my friend’s judgment so I nodded my head in reverence, may be she was right and gulped down my coffee.

Now Ten years later, we have fewer worries as compared to that particular day. However, we have not made any investment in the food business. The excitement of hearing all the good news that siraj bhai could find in the palm of my hand that day is still fresh in my mind.

However, my interest in clairvoyants did not end there. Two years ago while in London, I saw a fragile old man sitting in a corner of Covent Garden, with a pack of tarot cards near him. When I passed by, he smiled and that was it! I paid ten pounds to hear what I wanted to hear once again. He told me that I would be near my loved ones very soon. My family will never have anything to worry about and he narrated a happy ending story for me! I got up from his desk feeling a like a princess of a fairy tale who lived happily ever after. Not for a moment, I regretted that I wasted my ten pounds on him. The same old, forgotten excitement came over me once again and I swayed in happiness. The drizzling rain and the music coming from an unknown rock band added more romanticism to my state of mind.

I am happy but I do not owe my happiness to those clairvoyants. As I know that, no one can foresee what is going to happen next. If that was true then we could have saved Iraq from America or many terrorists’ attacks could be easily averted. I am sure there are many people like me out there who like to visit a palmist or a tarot card reader occasionally. But hey, don’t follow their extol blindly. No one can guarantee you happiness except your own self.