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When Soaring Relationship Turns Sour - contd

by Bala
(Mumbai, Maharashtra)

Rangachari welcomed him with a smile and said, “I was expecting you any time.”

More than two years back, both of them had met in connection with the marriage proposal of Sharan and Nirmala at the request of Krishna Kumar.

When Nirmala told her parents that she was interested in getting married to one Sharan Mathur, they naturally were a little shocked and wanted to find out all the information about him since he was not a Tamilian like them.

To their queries about how she met him and why she wanted to marry him etc elicited similar reaction from her like that of a dreamy teenager getting carried away with the line “and they lived happily ever after”. She was not a teenager; she was 28 years old then.

Even though her parents were not backward in thinking, they wanted to be sure that she chose her life partner with due diligence and would lead a happy life with him. They asked her to invite Sharan to their house at the earliest so that they could talk with him and judge whether he would be a good match for her before they could decide whether to accept this marriage proposal or not.

She agreed to the idea and soon enough Sharan visited their house alone initially and had a very friendly meeting with them.

Later on both the families met in a nice hotel for a lengthy dinner session for a heart to heart discussion on the marriage proposal.

Even though each party was suitably impressed with the other party, Krishna Kumar and his wife had many vague and unnecessary fears about what could happen in future if Nirmala actually married Sharan.

After the meetings were over, when Nirmala asked her parents whether their green signal is ready for the marriage, Krishna Kumar said, “Let me check up whether your horoscope matches with that of Sharan before we can decide about it”.

Nirmala was furious about it but she had to calm down since she knew that her parents were somewhat orthodox and she had to go along with them for the time being.

She told Sharan about it and asked him whether he was ready for such horoscope matching. He had a hearty laugh and said that he had no objections. He handed over his horoscope to her to be given to her father.

Nirmala’s father contacted his old college mate’s younger brother Ramachandran, who was the accounts manager in an MNC. He knew an experienced astrologer so that he could be asked for his opinion about whether this marriage proposal would get through astrologically and whether the marriage would be a success.

Ramachandran did not have any belief in astrology and horoscope matching. So he laughingly asked Krishna Kumar why he was going through such age old practice in these modern days.

Krishna Kumar replied that it was his test for Nirmala to find out whether she was firm in her resolve to marry Sharan only.
Surprised, Ramachandran asked him, “What do you mean?”

Kumar laughed and said “If the astrologer says that the horoscopes do not match at all and so the marriage will not work out, I would like to find out how she would react to that”.

“If she loses confidence and agrees to drop the idea that will be good for us. If she stands firmly and says that irrespective of whether there is horoscope matching or not, I will marry Sharan only then let us go ahead”.

“We have nothing against Sharan or his family, but being our only child it is natural that we are concerned about her welfare”.

Not having thought of this kind of an idea about horoscope matching for the purpose of the marriage, Ramachandran agreed to consult the astrologer.

Ramachandran met the astrologer Rangachari, handed over both the horoscopes to him and told him about the background of Sharan and Nirmala. He asked him to advise them about the marriage proposal.

Rangachari was an expert astrologer holding a master’s degree in the subject!

Ramachandran had a lot of respect for Rangachari, since he did all his astrological consultation work for his customers totally free of charge as a labour of love and due to his deep interest in the subject.

Since he did not charge any fees, his customers were sure of his sincerity in his suggestions, especially since he spent a lot of time with each of them, explaining to them the various aspects of their astrological aspects in detail wherever necessary.

He went through both the

horoscopes for a long time making many complicated calculations and then said, “Sorry, this marriage will not work out. You can tell Mr. Kumar not to go through it”.

“I will prepare a very detailed report on the matter but I will not show it to you now. I will seal it in an envelope. Let both of us sign on top of the sealed envelope with today’s date marked on it. I will keep it with me in safe custody.”

“After a year or two or more, as per your convenience you can ask me to open it so that you can see the report.”

Ramachandran could not control his laughter on hearing this!

“What is so secretive about this horoscope matching report that you have to seal it without showing it now itself?” and continued to laugh.

Rangachari smiled and explained, “You don’t believe in astrology or horoscope matching. Many other persons also do not have any belief in the subject, which they think is unscientific.”

“Secondly, no human being can predict the future with certainty and accurately, however experienced an astrologer he or she may be. So, if I prepare my report now with my predictions about their marriage and you see that after the lapse of a year or 2 as per your convenience, you can compare my predictions with the actual happenings of their married life, correct? That is the reason.”

“Every astrologer wishes to see that their predictions come true, but many times, the results are totally unbelievable. My predictions had flopped a few times and I earned a bad name, that’s why, all this Sherlock Holmes mystery.”

Ramachandran said “OK, but what should I tell Mr. Kumar?”

“Tell him that their marriage will not work out, so let them forget it.”

But it was not easy to convince Nirmala to forget Sharan with the argument that their marriage would not work out. So, angering her parents, she went ahead and married Sharan and presently found herself in this difficult predicament.

Presently Rangachari took out the sealed and signed envelope from the locker and opened it in Ramachandran’s presence. He said, “Go through the report” with a smile.

Ramachandran started reading it, but did not go through the report in detail. He glanced at a few sections only.

When he came to the section which said that Sharan was likely to be a jail bird and that was the reason why he advised Ramachandran to tell Mr.Kumar to dissuade his daughter against the marriage, he could not believe it.

“Were you already aware of Sharan’s shady character when I met you the first time?” Ramachandran asked him.

“No, I came to know about it only a little later. If you carefully read through the report completely, you will understand it.”

Ramachandran started reading it thoroughly but still he could not understand it. Rangachari then explained the position in detail to him.

It gave various yogas of the planets in his horoscope and the results of such yogas.

One was ‘bandana yoga’, which can be loosely translated as ‘confinement’ yoga, meaning the prospects of him getting arrested and convicted, resulting in a jail sentence.

Yogas are nothing but relationships between different planets in a person’s horoscope, which give indications about human relationships. If the yogas are good the result will be good, otherwise it will be bad.

Astrology practice and research were only his extracurricular activities since he was deeply interested in the subject.

For his living, he was running a very successful private detective agency helping corporate clients on various matters including industrial spying and also individuals for their own problems, which included keeping tabs on prospective marriage partners and spouses!

After he realised that Sharan might be a shady character, he started doing detective work on him quietly without informing anybody else.

Once he got the scent of the money laundering scandal of which Sharan was a foot soldier, he informed his police contacts about him. They took over the case from there on and arrested him when the evidence against him was very strong.

If the horoscope was somebody else’s, he would have simply forgotten about the bandana yoga, since he believed that criminals must be punished, but since it pertained to the life of one of Ramachandran’s friend’s daughter, he wanted to help her.

Another strong reason for him was to do research to verify whether the astrological theory on bandana yoga holds good in a real life case.

Alas, the theory was proved right in this case, but he could not save Nirmala from disgrace.

***

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