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Kathmandu Thursday February 14, 2002 Falgun 02, 2058.
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Fortune-telling machines: A
threat to roadside palmists
By Ranjan Rijal
KATHMANDU, Feb 13 : Laxmi Kanta Gautam is one
among the many palmists who sit near the Tundikhel ground in the heart of the city waiting
for their clients. But increasingly, these men are facing a challenge from the
future-telling machines.
But Gautam still passionately believes in the
power of his art, and says it’s more accurate than the predictions made with the help
of a computer. He says he can accurately predict the future of those who tell him the
whole truth about themselves.
"There are plenty of people who come to
show their palms, but those who don’t tell me the whole truth end up getting all the
wrong predictions and then they call me a fake," says Gautam.
Even as he says this, a client, Ram Prasad
Sharma, drops in. Sharma is a staunch believer in the predictions of palmists, and
dismisses computerised astrology. He says, "I frequently visit palmists in this area,
and till now their predictions have never failed."
Every day, hundreds of people visit the
Tundikhel palmists wanting to know about their future, their health and wealth. These are
the die-hard believers who would not depend on the many future-teller machines that are
now doing brisk business in the capital.
New Road-based Central Media Private Limited is
the sole distributor and operator of the machine for Nepal and India. A year ago, it
bought from Italy eight more machines which arguably can read a person’s horoscope.
These machines are also supposed to tell one’s height and weight.
A salesman at one machine stall at New Road,
says that one machine costs around 400,000 rupees. The cost of the machine is recovered
within a short time as some of these outlets make as much as 1000 rupees in a day. Says
the salesman, "This is definitely great business and on a good day earnings go up to
1000 rupees."
He also says that more and more people are
visiting his stall as belief in roadside palmists is on the wane.
But those who visit the roadside astrologers
call the machines a "21st century fad". A Tundikhel palmist says these machines
are no threat to his profession, and that he is continuing to earn what he did before.
Another astrologer says that the machines,
unlike the palmists, are known to offer different predictions on the same person’s
future. "That means these machines are not dependable and the science of palmistry
will continue to survive," he says.
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