Futures bleak for fortune tellers

KOCHI: Lungis and a disheveled look are usually a trademark of those who have experienced the brunt of a hard lif and it reflects on  70-year-old roadside fortune teller Ravindran and his family who travel around the state telling people their future.But these fortune tellers have a bigger future to tell. “In some years the trade will die away because nobody is interested in learning the art of traditional fortune telling. Even we have not encouraged our children to learn the art,” he said. Ravindran belongs to Hindu Kaakala community, which has nurtured the tradition throughout the years. It involves using parrots and cards to predict the future of people. Ravindran had 10 siblings and all of them followed the tradition. At present, some of his siblings are dead and the others are living in Ernakulam and Thrissur. “From the community, there are only few of us from different families who have held on to the profession,” said Ravindran.According to Prabhakaran, another astrologer from the family, initially they were all determined to save the tradition by passing it on to their future generation. “But soon, tragedies started striking the family and we decided to keep it away from our children’s lives,” Prabhakaran said. “My son and daughter became emotionally unbalanced and in an attempt to get them treated we got deep in debts. For a few years only darkness pervaded our lives. Now though we have overcome it, we still don’t encourage the children to take up the tradition,” Prabhakaran added. according to Prabhakaran’s son Sanoj, most of the youngsters in the community hold high positions in the society. “A few have joined the armed forces, some are police officials and one works with the ISRO,” he said.Earlier, Ravindran said, that the family used to move in a group to temples and fairs. “Thousands of people used to gather around us, eager to know their future. In this matter, there was no difference between the rich and the poor. A few people still come to us whenever we sit at the temples or the fairs, even today,” said Ravindran.