I come from a family where people run to a baba , swami or an astrologer for any problem, starting from cold of a child to robbery in the house. Oh yes, they trust them more than a doctor or police. It was more than natural for me to be interested in knowing my future. So I once asked my grandmother to take me along and I wanted to know how well I will do in my 10th standard and my granny said yes. The day we had to go, it rained so bad that the town was flooded. My grandmother was upset because she was going to find out about the snakes she was seeing in her dreams.

Another time, my mami was going to find out an auspicious date to join her son in the school. I asked if I can go with her, I still had not given up my desire to know my future. She agreed. We got all dressed and were about to leave, she fell and broke her back!!!

I was in my early teens and my aunt was around 23 and everyone in the family was worried that they weren’t able to find a suitable boy for her, 'Do something. she is getting old' my grandmother told my grandfather. Now what could he do, he must have thought hard before doing what he did. He knew there couldn’t have been a better solution to this problem.

Next day early morning, my grandfather, grandmother, my aunt and me (I was included because 3 was not a good number), went to baba. He heard them out patiently and was nodding as if he knew it all. Then in his very typical I-Know-it-all style, looked at my aunt, and then at my grandfather and said "Buri balaa ka saaya hai...but aap phikar mat karo". And he closed his eyes , murmured something unintelligible, then he went in and got a parachute coconut oil bottle and a comb and he gave it to my grandfather and said, ask the girl to apply this oil and use this comb and before the oil finishes she will be married . My grandfather was more than happy, he handed him several notes of 100 rolled into small bundle and he took them as if he was doing a favor by taking the money.

My aunt was instructed to use the oil and use the special comb everyday, the hopes were increased, every alliance that came was thought to be the 'one’. The level of oil in the parachute bottle was going down but there was no sign of the groom who would take my aunt with well oiled hair.The oil was finished, my aunt's hair was shining , got thicker and darker, but no groom was in sight. My grandmother said "hamse koi galati ho gayi" implying the process recommended by the baba wasnt followed right(or was it my company!!).My aunt was wedded 5 years later and yes those five years had visits to different babas and swamis and astrologers and every one said "phikar mat karo...is baar sab theek hoga".I wasn’t taken along for the other visits, by now my reputation as jinx in these matters were far spread in the family.

My another aunt had a bad marriage, the man she married to was useless(useless is too less a word to describe him). My aunt dint have the courage to walk out and neither did she have support from her family. She lives even today with the hope that miraculously her life will become better. Once we had been to a holy place and near that place there was a baba with a fame of solving the unsolvable.I was now all grown up, understood world better and believed its you who decide your fate. My aunt wanted to consult baba and seek a solution to remove problems in her life. I told her its not worth it, its her who needs to fix her life. She was adamant and I was adamant too. I asked if I proved this baba wrong, she would stop going to babas, she agreed. We went to this baba's abode. It was filled with smoke from the sambraani, on a elevated bed was sitting an obscenely obese man with a beard and cap on head. As we went inside, he signaled with his hand to sit. He looked at me and said,"shaadi ka masla hai?".I shook my head sideways and said "naukri ka"(I was already working!!).He lifted his head, closed his eyes , after a couple of minutes, "mushkil hai...".I acted worried . "Mein kuch karoonga...." he said assuringly. "lekin kuch kharcha hoga.." paused for a while,I was looking at him with the look which said "you are my saviour". "govt ki mushkil hai...lekin private mein guarantee hai". We give his nazraana and left that place never to return. My aunt has since stopped going to baba's, she did her B.Ed and now is a teacher supporting her kids and a husband.

Well it was OK as long as it was my extended family,but I was shocked when I learnt this.My mom was not happy that I wanted to marry a guy from another religion(and she made it very obvious), so she had secretly visited a baba with one of her sisters and paid him a heavy sum to make sure the marriage wouldn’t happen(Its hard to keep secrets in my family). After my wedding, my mom has also stopped going to baba's.