Yes, she screamed starry eyed and blushy cheek; flipped the newspaper aside. With surprise I asked her, what happened. She replied, well I have five stars in my horoscope. With a smirk and a fishy smile, I replied that the horoscope is going to determine the rest of your day, or month or probably a year.   It’s not that I am completely ignorant of horoscopes, even I love checking my sunshine, but it’s just for fun and nothing as a concrete guidance of my life.

It’s a question to whether to believe it or not. Many times in my family my aunts, cousins and sisters claim that the prediction the “The priest - Jyotish Bajey - made were accurate on many things. There are certain rituals right from the birth that makes ones perception to tilt towards astrology when we are not aware of the world. The ritual of “Nwaran” nine days after birth is when the baby is given a name referring to the astrological charts - which will have their birth time and day. So, a priest is hired to perform the ritual where he puts the name of the baby.

However, it is not mandatory, that the baby is supposed to be called with that name. And the significance of the name during “Nwaran” is brought up in later stages of life to check his or her astrological charts like for marriage purpose, or if something is going on the wrong track in life. We are only open to welcoming changes just in terms of attire, eating habits and agreeing to late night socials. However, still the society lags behind and runs to the “Priest - the Jyotish Bajey” when it comes to marital ties.  A marriage is fixed based on the influences of the celestial bodies on the bride and groom based on the dates and times of their births!

Astrology is taken as a science and it says the universe was created of the five elements: water, air, fire and sky. The time period of one’s birth determines his or her future.  Well, there are certain things mysterious about the universe like why we are born to a family where everything comes up easy and some to a family where they struggle all their life to have two-day meals and survive.

Again faith is stronger than anything. When nothing works people get mental relief if they have someone or something to blame. In this sense astrology can act as a healing therapy, as we can blatantly blame the sun, moon and the stars for the things going wrong in our life and be relieved. May be we can take it as a Nepali way – traditional mental therapy. But let us not be blinded completely!