Karakoram Conversations II
“Let him read your palm.”
“What for?”
“He has good eye and he come from family of palm readers. Tlee generations!” the palmist’s publicist piped persuasively, thrusting three fingers triumphantly up in the air.
“OK – but I no pay money, understand?”
“No, No – no money, my friend. Only for fun. No money.” he assured.
“For fun OK,” I smiled and opened my right palm up for inspection.
The palmist spoke no English at all and his friend translated for us. “He say you very lucky - very VERY lucky,” the friend clucked as the palmist eyed my lines seriously, studying them from various angles in a manner more scientific than any fairgrounds quack I’d seen before.
“You will not have money problems in this life,” he winked, making me wonder if the earlier proclamations about all this being nothing but simple non-commercial fun were in fact extremely naïve of me to believe. No matter – I was in a public place in broad daylight.
“What about marriage?” I asked, “Will I marry and when?”
There was a long pause and much twisting and prodding of palm, “Mmmmm, difficult to say, my friend. Not clear answer.” This left me a little dejected.
The two of them then started a flurried exchange in Urdu and there was much hmmm-ing and not a little scowling even.
“What is it?” I asked, feeling more uncomfortable at this point.
No answer was forthcoming – only more frowning and a quick reference glance, it seemed, at my left palm. Finally, the friend said, “There is one warning you have to take with you always.”
I took a deep breath and prepared myself, “Y-y-yes?”
“Electricity.”
“What?”
“You know – electricity. Switch. Power.”
“What do you mean?”
“He say you must be careful of electricity. Maybe when you take bath, don’t touch switch or when you fix machinery, be careful the wire, that kind of thing.”
“Ahhhh…..I see” though I was no less comfortable at this point.
The palmist put my hand down and looked me in the eye expressionlessly as if trying to siphon out more insights known only to him. He turned away and mumbled to himself as his friend followed after him. “Very lucky. Very very lucky…..” I think he said in halting tones.
All I could think of was electricity.
“What for?”
“He has good eye and he come from family of palm readers. Tlee generations!” the palmist’s publicist piped persuasively, thrusting three fingers triumphantly up in the air.
“OK – but I no pay money, understand?”
“No, No – no money, my friend. Only for fun. No money.” he assured.
“For fun OK,” I smiled and opened my right palm up for inspection.
The palmist spoke no English at all and his friend translated for us. “He say you very lucky - very VERY lucky,” the friend clucked as the palmist eyed my lines seriously, studying them from various angles in a manner more scientific than any fairgrounds quack I’d seen before.
“You will not have money problems in this life,” he winked, making me wonder if the earlier proclamations about all this being nothing but simple non-commercial fun were in fact extremely naïve of me to believe. No matter – I was in a public place in broad daylight.
“What about marriage?” I asked, “Will I marry and when?”
There was a long pause and much twisting and prodding of palm, “Mmmmm, difficult to say, my friend. Not clear answer.” This left me a little dejected.
The two of them then started a flurried exchange in Urdu and there was much hmmm-ing and not a little scowling even.
“What is it?” I asked, feeling more uncomfortable at this point.
No answer was forthcoming – only more frowning and a quick reference glance, it seemed, at my left palm. Finally, the friend said, “There is one warning you have to take with you always.”
I took a deep breath and prepared myself, “Y-y-yes?”
“Electricity.”
“What?”
“You know – electricity. Switch. Power.”
“What do you mean?”
“He say you must be careful of electricity. Maybe when you take bath, don’t touch switch or when you fix machinery, be careful the wire, that kind of thing.”
“Ahhhh…..I see” though I was no less comfortable at this point.
The palmist put my hand down and looked me in the eye expressionlessly as if trying to siphon out more insights known only to him. He turned away and mumbled to himself as his friend followed after him. “Very lucky. Very very lucky…..” I think he said in halting tones.
All I could think of was electricity.
posted by jngah @ 3:12 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home