The Astrologer

The central character of the Astrologer is a bluffer who successfully pretends to be a purveyor of astrology. He is actually a villager who had fled his home and is now happily married with a child In the city.

His daily routine involves going to work at midday with a bag filled with a dozen of cowrie shells, a mystic chart, a notebook and a bundle of palmyra writing. He has very carefully cultivated the personality of a mystic, holy man with sacred ash and vermilion on his forehead, dark whiskers down his cheeks and a saffron coloured turban on his head; his searching eyes provides for an enlightened spirit, drawing the attention of curious bystanders. His guile is based on the understanding of normal human yearnings like job, prosperity, love, health etc; the unsuspecting customer is led into revealing a few details about himself. The astrologer follows the clue and comes out with general predictions, which are likely to please the customer. For his clairvoyance, he charges 3 paisa per question.

He sits under the boughs of a spreading tamarind tree which, being flanked by a pathway running through the Town Hall Park, is a crowded place and naturally generates a great deal of customers. After the sunset, he continues his trade with the help of the light of a flare nearby. The dim light further accentuates the aura of the astrologer.

It is revealed in the end that the astrologer was unruly in his youth and once had a quarrel with his friend; in inebriated condition, he stabbed the friend with a knife and pushed him into a well assuming him to be dead. Guru Nayak, however, is alive and looking for him with revenge in his lips; when Guru Nayak consults the astrologer without

being able to detect him due to the relative darkness, the astrologer is horrified to discover him. Now a changed and responsible man, he deals the matter with maturity and manages to convey that his old enemy is no more alive and that Guru Nayak should go back to his village and Guru Nayak obliges to the relief of the Astrologer.