Palmistry and Face-Reading (about Haleem)

Baba kept skipping between astrology, palmistry and face-reading. Young people are anxious about future and so were we when we were young, but Baba was an exception. He always stayed anxious about his future. In his idle times, he would smoke, drink tea and be lost in his thoughts or look at his palms: either past or future captivated him as his present was always unacceptable for him.

His astrology was what we engaged in the most. He needed us to look at his ephemeris and find out planetary positions on particular dates and times but palmistry was his secret which he never taught us directly.

Books on palmistry and face reading appeared in the house out of nowhere. I read a few books and tried my novice expertise on my friends in the college so I thought I shall discuss it with Baba. I caught him sitting one day and asked him about the impact of a type of life-line on a person. Baba looked at the life-lines and replied “These are formed because a person holds lottas in bathroom with his hands.” I was so disgusted that I never again tried to learn palmistry from him.

Learning about face-reading also invoked similar responses from him and so though we discussed it whenever he wanted to, I never asked him any serious questions about it. I felt that his astrological predictions were mostly combinations of a person’s face reading and his birth chart.

Astrology stayed his passion for life as he did not know his own birth date or time of birth and continued making his own charts till the very end. My sister face-read Baba's face and shared with me that he would stay unchanged throughout his life: holding on to his imagination like a child. She took on his legacy and became a face reader for a long time… and Baba stayed the same.

Baba’s handmade astrological charts still appear out of nowhere to break our hearts all over again. 

Romana Shaikh (Brohi)