Your Friendly Philosopher & Guide

May 15, 2008

I am not anyone’s ‘Guru’!

I get few mails where people address me as Guruji. There are people who call me Guruji. And there are few who think I am a real Guru, who can help them, achieve salvation. This kind of treatment makes me feel awkward and at times funny. Of course there was a time when I wanted to be a replica of Osho Rajneesh and wanted to create a weekend meditation resort. That way sometime back I also wanted to be like Krishnamachari Shhrikanth, who could smash the ball all across the ground.

When a doctor cures a patient, he doesn’t become God. Same way when an astrologer’s prediction comes true – he doesn’t become any Guru or God. It is just that their techniques have worked and they have kind of mastered it – with experience. Of course failures are part of any profession.

People are very vulnerable that way. The moment your prediction comes true, they assign a Godly title to you. They think your words have power, and they forget to analyze that it was their own destiny that was told looking into their horoscope. The progression goes this way –

First - once the prediction comes true, they think an astrologer is always right
Second - they think that all that an astrologer would say will come true
Third – they would want an astrologer to say what they want to hear
Fourth - they would stop asking predictions, and ask only for the blessings

After the 4th stage, the astrologer is so overwhelmed with people’s reaction that he loses his focus and also his path. He stops predicting, and enjoys his Guruhood. Now he keeps blessing people, and people start taking blessings for anything and everything – to make a killing at the stock market, to win the elections, to get cleared of court cases, to get saved from corruption charges, to escape murder charges and what not.

In my personal experience with spirituality and meeting with saintly people and Gurus - I have discovered one important thing that – none can be anyone’s Guru. Your life is your individual journey, and you have to travel through it all alone.

Making someone a Guru is the easiest escape route. You can pour all your worries and psychic garbage on Satya Sai Baba or Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or Juggi Vasudev, and sit at home watching TV thinking your Guru will clean all the shit you splattered in your bathroom. Remember - it is your bathroom and you have to clean it - and there is no escape!

In my case if my prediction has come true for you – it simply means that God has helped you through me. And if my prediction has not come true – it simply means that God has fucked you through me.

Here is an interesting incident. After consulting me once, one of my lady clients wanted me to be her Guru. I said, no. And she insisted. I said fine - reluctantly. On her visit the US she caught me online on Yahoo Messenger . She asked me, Guruji you want something from the US? And I said, get me some sex toys. And that was the last day she called me a Guru.

Most people think that saints are ones who never think or talk about sex. If that were the case all the impotent men, eunuchs and men with erectile dysfunction would have been spiritual Gurus.

I drink and I watch porn - it is just that I prefer God to all those things. So henceforth address me just as Kennedi or Kenni, because I am not anyone’s Guru.

Posted by Kenni at 07:07 AM | Comments (0)

May 13, 2008

Refer me but don’t promote me!

I had a Delhi-based chat friend a couple of years back. We used to chat online literally everyday, and she used to openly talk about all her problems of life with me. Thankfully I wasn’t an astrologer that time. Those were the days when I used to think being a good listener is a boon. It was much later I realized that to listen to someone woes or ‘dukh bhari’ story is to invite troubles – both on personal and spiritual front.

I knew a very good astrologer then, who eventually became my Astro & spiritual teacher. I honestly thought that a girl with so many problems should consult someone who has all the answers. I thought it will help the girl, and could transform her too.

I insisted that she should consult my teacher for some predictions and fruitful advice. She finally agreed. I think I was trying to be too good too. I said I will pay him today, you consult him today, and you can pay me later. She agreed to this too (now I wonder who would disagree to this offer?). I made the payment, she consulted, and she stopped chatting with me. And I lost few bucks in the process.

I was traveling a couple of weeks back by train, and I noticed a teenager (guy) struggling to handle his luggage. I offered my help, and in a furious tone he replied, “uncle don’t bother, I will manage.” Something flashed in my mind immediately - you should not help people until and unless they ask for. I would stick to it from now…

I have many clients for whom my predictions have worked on dot. And for few, it has gone completely haywire – it is all in the divine plan. God has his own way to deal with astrologers and also people who seek astrologer’s guidance.

It is an automatic process that people who get benefited by me try to help others. The problem arises when they promote and don’t refer – and there is a mild difference.

All have problems in lives and all want to share it with someone close. Also all want to find the reasons and solution for their problems. And here is the irony - not all who have problems in life believe in astrology, and not all who believe in astrology consult astrologers, and not all who consult astrologers wants to pay. The last one is the dangerous most. You can lose money in dealing with them - like I did a couple of years back.

So what am I asking you to do? Try not to talk about me to anyone, and don’t tell anyone I exist. If you think I am a good astrologer, keep it yourself. If you think I am a bad astrologer – I can’t hold you back from damaging my name – you have the full freedom to do so. If you think someone really needs some serious consultation – ask him or her to directly get in touch with me – either by mail or phone. Don’t take too many steps to help him/her. For I have seen a funny pattern that people who have found me with their own effort have benefited more from me than people who have been referred to me.

Posted by Kenni at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2008

Sex, Semen and Saints!

“If people think that I am a celibate, then I think they are fools.” Well that isn’t my statement. It was one of Osho’s statements, which he told a reported during his hay days.

On to my blog now…

The more you think about God, the more you want to reach God, and the more you think about reaching enlightenment – the more will you become sexual in nature. And this happens to all saints or people who dream about becoming a saint!

I participated in one of the Internet surveys, and was astonished to find the fact that that most people who browse porn sites regularly are very religious in nature! It is a ratio that is directly proportional to each other – the more the sexual you are, more the religious you will be, and more the religious you are, more the sexual you will become!

I always had this doubt about the possibility of total ‘celibacy’. And also will total celibacy really lead you to enlightenment? I have tried all the possible techniques - from mantras to tantras. And the revelation was – if you are a normal human being with normal erection, with normal semen counts, and with normal dietary discipline – you cannot live without sex, or without letting the semen out for more than 3 months at a stretch! After that you either will have sex, or you would masturbate or it will flow out automatically in your wet dreams!

I have come across a lot of content where they speak about transforming sexual energy to spiritual energy. It surely is possible – but nothing can be done about the physical form of semen. It will come out – either you wish or you don’t wish. May be you can transform your sexual thoughts into divine – possible. But nothing can be done to evaporate the liquid – it will keep flowing down. Not only me – I have spoken about this to many saints – and they agreed to what I said.

Recently I happened to meet a saint in Chennai. He isn’t that famous as of now, but will become big soon. Hence mentioning his name won’t help much. He is one of those saints who speak to Shirdi Sai Baba everyday. Also he is one of those saints who has seen, touched and spoken to God in physical form. After my 3-hour long chat with this unmarried saint, I asked him, so what do you do for sex? He replied coolly – like we eat when we are hungry, so is our sexual needs. It flows out when it wants.

I read about another incident where our own Swami Vivekananda put his penis on a burning hot rod to get rid of his erection. But his teacher said, you need not do that. Sex is both a psychological need and a bodily need. So don’t worry too much. Just think more about God and less about women & sex– your problem will be solved.

Posted by Kenni at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)

April 18, 2008

God isn’t cruel to us!

Our aspiration of an ideal life is to be born perfectly with an extraordinary IQ, to study from premier schools and score the maximum marks, to get into number one institute for higher studies, to do our post graduation from foreign universities, to work in branded firms directly at managerial cadres, to get married to the first person we fall in love who is good looking, knowledgeable, sensuous and non-egoistic, to be blessed with kids at the time we want them, to have kids who are normal, to have kids who study well and to make them study from good institutes, to make them get the best of the jobs, and to pray for our kids to have a happy married life ever after….. We as human beings never want anything lesser than the above list. And if by chance there is any discrepancy in any of the aforesaid areas – we ask - why is God so cruel and that too why only me?

Stop for a moment, and rewind your life, and play it from the day you remember. You will notice that none of the event in your life happened as you had planned it or had thought about it, and none of the event was a wrong event as such. They were all needed for the personality you are today. And similarly no events in future will happen as you plan it, but they will all happen for your own good. And that is how God functions. In fact it is our myopic vision that refuses to see the good in bad and the bad in good.

Recently I was expecting a cheque from a particular website. The manager had sent it on April 4th through Jetex courier and it didn’t reach me even on April 11th. I never in life thought that a courier within India could take that much time. As we all know, if something goes wrong in India, to get back life on track you will have to take another birth to solve the problem.

I got the Airway Bill Number, but Jetex didn’t have their services in Chennai, hence they deliver through another courier, which doesn’t have a website! After some 30 calls to Mumbai and Chennai – we were able to track our courier after 2 days, and it was lying in Chennai. The cover had my phone number on the cover, but those mother-fucking bastards never bothered to call me, instead they sat on it for a week!

I finally went to the courier office and collected the cheque, and in the process I should have spent some 200-300 Rupees. The only thing I could do to find a vent to my feelings was to write this particular blog, and also tell that manager to STOP using Jetex courier. The manager was good to me, and said – give me your ICICI account number, and from now we will deposit the amount directly into your account instead of wasting time and money in sending cheques through courier.

Thankfully the whole event turned out to be good for me. If only the courier had reached me on time, this particular decision of direct credit would have never been taken!

Moral of the story – God isn’t cruel to us, but it is His style of functioning, which disturbs us sometimes!

Posted by Kenni at 06:42 AM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2008

You get ‘Timed Out!’

I remember an interview of Bollywood comedian Johny Walker, which was shown on TV a couple of years back when he wasn’t doing much on the silver screen. The interviewer posted an interesting question to him. And the question was – how do you feel about not being in the limelight now, which you were there just a decade back? Johny Walker replied, “I have reached the top of Mount Everest, have placed my flag there and come back. I need not go there again and again to prove my worth.”

The irony of life is most people and predominantly most successful people fail to understand the impermanence of life. They forget to understand that they are saleable only in a particular period, and with time even currencies change and the older one becomes useless. In fact blessed are those who understand life and its pattern better.

K Balachander is considered to be the king of Tamil Cinema, who ruled it for almost 2 decades. He has given more hits than any other directors of Tamil Nadu. But if we ask him to direct a movie now - I am sure it will be a major flop. The simple truth is - life has timed him out. So is the case with most successful directors of movie industry. Even Hrishikesh Mukherjee could not give a hit, after his golden era.

Of course there are many exceptions. People like Amitabh Bacchan or Rajini Kanth have eternal success because they are not normal human beings. God is too good to them. But remember exceptions cannot be taken as role models or examples to lead our lives.

This phenomenon is not only true with movie industry, but also true with every career we take up. One day you have to stop working and prepare for death. And this is what we hate to do - we think we can restart our lives anytime, and in the process we fail miserably.

I have seen many people who retire from jobs, and invest their hard earned savings in some business thinking they will be great businessmen from now. It can never happen that way. How much ever good time you are running astrologically - you will only lose money – because life is getting ready to time you out. Hence you better accept it. Of course there are cases where people who have made it big post 58 years of age, but 99.99 per cent people aren’t exceptions, and as said previously exceptions cannot be taken as examples.

A strange phase comes in everyone life, wherein you have to stop doing what you enjoyed the most - Martina should quit tennis, Sachin should quit cricket, and Rajini should quit acting. Whether you are happy or unhappy about the same isn’t anybody’s botheration - but the event is bound to happen. And when you quit, sometimes you have an option to do something that is an extension of your past, and sometimes you are left with no option at all. It doesn’t make any difference though – the extension also dies with time! And you get timed out alone!

Will wait for the time when life wants me to stop astrology!

Posted by Kenni at 06:25 AM | Comments (0)

March 04, 2008

I am back!

I am back. In fact I was back from the pilgrimage on 20th January itself. But then it takes a bit of time to adjust to the materialistic life after few months of abstinence. Thanks to my wife – she dragged me to all the eat outs, shopping malls, and movie halls, which she had avoid during my abstinence. Now she is tired, and I got some time to reestablish my focus in life.

This year my trip to Sabarimala was awesome. It was specifically good for 2 reasons. One - because this was the first time I went to see Makara Jothi, and secondly 2 new guys with excellent sense of humour had joined our group. The secret of happyness was understood the best during this pilgrimage. Walking barefooted on those mountains with 3-4 kgs of Irumudi on head, some 10 kgs on the back bag, sitting under scorching sun, with little water to drink, no proper food to eat, and no enough place to sleep – we still had smiles on our faces, and laughter with every joke cracked. This was the best example to prove that – happiness doesn’t depend on external factors but it is an internal phenomenon!

Just a week before we left there were news that some 23 people died in stampede. The fear was too much for us, but when we reached there the crowd was manageable. People were patient, helpful, and intelligent. Looking at the crowd it was quite obvious that the number 23 was indeed a meager number.

The event goes this way – every year from Pamba, Lord Ayyappa’s jewellery box is taken to the Sanctum Sanctorum through Periyanavattam. At Periyanavattam a special puja is done, and also dance is performed by the bhaktas. When the jewellery box is taken from Periyanavattam to Pamba, a distance of 8 kms or so, 2 bald neck eagles will be spotted in the sky, which is supposed to guard the jewellery box. And it happened!

When the jewellery box was taken from Pamba, and when the puja was performed at Periyanavattam – I spotted 2 eagles beautifully flying in the vast sky, where there were NO signs of OTHER birds or other eagles flying!! Logic was defied. In fact these eagles kept flying till the jewellery box reached the Sanctum Sanctorum, and was seen no more after 6.30 pm.

One of my friends also spotted actor Naseeruddin Shah with the team carrying the jewellery box! Surely a pilgrimage, which breaks religious barriers!

My teammate had told me that the best place to witness the Makara Jothi was Periyanavattam, and to have the best darshan you need to stand in the river for hours together. They were right.

We reserved our place at 2 pm, and stood in the river. At 6.30 pm, when the place was getting darker, there were at least a lakh people already standing in the river. At around 6.35 pm we could spot the lonely star, and it was said just near to that you will see the Makara Jothi. And at around 6.45 pm we could see Makara Jothi flashing 3 times with all its glory! An experience to cherish forever! And seeing is always believing!

Posted by Kenni at 05:08 AM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2008

On a pilgrimage..

Inshallah (God Willing) I will be going on a pilgrimage tomorrow, and will be back around 20th of January 2008. By God’s grace this will be my 5th visit to Sabarimala, and this time we have planned to be there to witness the infamous Makara Jyoti, which will be seen on January 14th.

Of course there are many controversies related to it. For the believers it is Lord Ayyappa giving darshan from the astral to all his disciples. And for the non-believers it is fire lit by some tribal living in the opposite mountain. And some even say it is camphor balls lit from the opposite mountain, which is well planned by the temple Nambodaries themselves. But who cares - the believers alone know the truth!

You can read about ‘Lord Ayyappa’ by clicking here

And You can watch the video of ‘Makara Jyoti’ by clicking here

Posted by Kenni at 07:06 AM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2007

Askenni wishes one and all a very Happy New Year!

The year 2007 was good, and I wish and pray that the coming year should be better for one and all. I have already put up 2008 yearly predictions based on your Ascendant. And here I have made few predictions for few important people in the coming year. If you want to know about someone else too – just drop a mail at kennedig@yahoo.com

2008 predictions for….

1) Sachin Tendulkar will struggle to perform, and retire from International cricket. Will take up new responsibilities in Cricket related field

2) There is a strong possibility of India winning at least one Gold medal at Olympics 2008, Beijing.

3) Sanjay Dutt will continue to have a bad period, which will restrict him from getting busy in films

4) There won’t be any major shoot up on Stock Market front. It will go down, and stabilize. Industries related to computers, automobiles, written communication, travels, and media will do well

5) The BJP will have a new leader, and L K Advani will refuse to take up the lead role

6) Deepika Padukone will give few major hits in Bollywood, and will start to rule the Hindi filmdom

7) Ashutosh Gowarikar’s ‘Jodha Akbar’ will be a hit, and will win international acclaim

8) A major scam in the medical field is possible in the year 2008

9) Sania Mirza will have some minor health issues, and the year 2008 will be just an average year for her

Posted by Kenni at 07:51 AM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2007

Pray for me brother!

I am reminded of a joke where a millionaire wanted to get married. He had called upon women applicants who in turn had to pass through several competitions to top the list of the probable brides. The competitions included – marathon (42 kms), high jump, long jump, cooking, stitching, oratory competitions, gymnastics, intellectual debates, spiritual inclination et al. After all the competitions were over ….

the rich man decided to marry the woman who had the biggest pair of boobs!

A publisher offered me to write a book, and asked me to come up with few topics. And a couple of days back I had asked my readers to suggest me few topics to write a book on. They came up with beautiful topics, which included – life after death, astral projection, timing events through astrology, Tarot for daily use, Indian astrology and sexual fantasies and few more. I extend my gratitude to each one of them – those who took the effort to mail me, and also who read the blog and kept silent for various reasons.

I personally wanted to a write a book on Indian Astrology and love, marriage and sex, which I thought could be interesting. But the publishers thought a book on Numerology will do well - I am sure they are right for they know the industry better. We as writers can claim all our shitty thoughts could sell, which need not true at all. So it is always better to keep our mouth shut and listen to someone who has wider experience in this particular field.

I am finally writing a book on Numerology and the topic of book is ‘Secrets of Numerology’ for now, which might change depending on market study!

So I would want each one of you to pray for me…..

Posted by Kenni at 07:03 AM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2007

Bad Events? Keep flowing with a smile! - part 2!

The great singer S P Balasubramanian, music director Ilaiyaraja, and his brother Gangai Amaran were traveling in their Fiat car a couple of decades back. They were not very famous then, and were still struggling to make their names in the film industry. They were on a long drive on business purpose and all of a sudden their car toppled and fell into the nearby lake. The car was upside down and there were no signs of all the three!

After 2-3 minutes of struggle under water all the 3 came out unscathed. They looked at each other with immense fear in their eyes, and all of a sudden Ilaiyaraja said – I think our period of struggle is over – we will make it big in out lives. And from that particular day there was no looking back in their lives. All the three still hold a special place in the Tamil filmdom.

“Saturn transit will give you immense lift in your career and Jupiter transit will lead to minor health problems for you.” I told this to one of my clients, and with in 3 weeks the same person came to me saying he met with a bad accident. I said, “good.” He was kinda shocked. I said, “Jupiter has shown its results, now wait for the effect of Saturn.” I am sure this client of mine will rock in the year 2008 and 2009 – astrologically.

Our own Arun Pourie - the editor of India Today - had an interesting story to tell once. He was doing just ok in his life, when suddenly he fell into a manhole on a rainy day. He was about to drown and for seconds he thought his life is all over. But he came out with minor injuries and this particular incident brought plenty of insights and changes into his life. In fact he claims he succeeded more after that major fall.

These incidents do not mean that you should start falling into a lake, or dive into a manhole, or fall headfirst jumping from a lamppost to make it big in your life. They are just living examples of how God always keeps blessing and how good and bad are just passing clouds in our lives.

In fact we can say that -

Good and bad events in our lives seem so only because they clash with our general perception of good and bad. On a whole nothing is this world is good or bad – all events are somewhere in between - they are all neutral.

Another rule of life is - good leads to bad and bad leads to good, and you cannot escape both.

When you are running a good period you are afraid of the bad time, and when you are running a bad time you hope for a good period. And the moment you start flowing – both good and bad merge into harmony.

So try to exists somewhere in between…God Bless All!

Posted by Kenni at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

December 06, 2007

Bad events? Keep flowing with a smile! – Part 1!

The year was 1996. We had to complete an internship at any of the newspaper organizations as part of our Mass Communication curriculum. Out of 17 students, 15 had already started their internships 20 days back. And the only people left out were my friend Chandru and me. No firm accepted us in Coimbatore & Chennai, hence we moved to Bangalore searching. The secular newspapers of India - The Hindu, Deccan Chronicle, and The Times of India – all of them said they prefer Kannadigas to Tamil students for internship and rejected our requests. Hence we had to move to New Delhi to find Internship for ourselves!

We never reserved our tickets and had to travel by unreserved compartments. I don’t understand for what reason the unreserved compartments don’t have cushions to sit. Does it imply that the poor people’s bums have more resistance to wear and tear? Or the poor people have cushions attached to their butts? The 2 days journey was acute pain in the ass – literally! We neither could stand nor could sit properly. But we somehow reached New Delhi in proper format.

A senior of ours was trying to get us into some newspaper organization in Delhi, and nothing seemed to work out. He was trying hard for us in The Statesman too, but the chances looked meager. Personally both my friend and me were least disturbed by the event. We had enough money to splurge, and we carried a let go attitude.

We were called on the 5th for a meeting with the editor of the Statesman, and it was 3rd today. We had 2 days on hand, so we thought we could watch a movie in the meantime. Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman had just released, and we were just reaching the theatre. Chandru was a 6-footer, and I am just 5 feet 6 inches in height. We either had to take a round about road of 2 kms to reach the theatre or could simply jump over a divider and reach the theatre immediately. Chandru didn’t have a problem jumping it with ease, but when I tried a stunt like Jackie Chan – I fell from a height of 5 feet and landed on my hands and knees first, with my lips just kissing the roads.

I had got some 10-15 sprains in my hand, of which 1 or 2 is still persisting in my left hand till date. I can only thank God for saving my bones. I got up, held my left hand tight, and the first thing I told Chandru was – “Chandru don’t worry we will get the Internship on the 5th.” He was a bit taken back – why on earth am I talking about internship after a free fall?

On 5th we were on time for the meeting. The editor was in, and the secretary to the editor came out with a bad news. She said, we are sorry to tell you that we could not take you. We never lost the smile on our face. We thanked her and started to walk away. When we reached the out gate, the security’s phone rang. I asked Chandru to wait, and Chandru insisted we should to. I said wait, I think this call is for us. The security was clueless about the content of the call, and his eyes were searching for someone. We waited there patiently and the security asked – are you the guys who met the editor just now? We said yes. “The editor wants to meet you”, he said. And we were offered the internship.

I still don’t know what events took place in that 60 seconds – the time which took us to reach the out gate from the editor’s office.

Will be continued….

Posted by Kenni at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)

November 27, 2007

I am in a strange situation!

I happened to spot my ex-boss recently. In fact he is one of the 7 important people who were the main reasons for all the trouble I faced at Sify.com 3 years back. My sister asked me immediately, “Are you going to say a hello?” I said of course I would for I hate just the sin and not the sinner. And who am I to judge people based on their ignorant action? In fact I need to be utterly thankful to each one of them for I feel I am more successful than before, or else I would have still been rotting at the same place.

Out of the 7 (it sounds like a list of villains in some old Hindi movie) two of them are my clients now, two of them faced major problems on their career front (of course I didn’t do any black magic on them ;)), one of them is a very close friend, and the last one I will keep a secret.

The meeting was good, we shared few jokes, and the conversation was healthy. But I could spot a concern for me in his eyes. I don’t know if it was out of guilt or it was out of his urge to sympathize for me to make himself feel elated and better.

I was asking myself - why would anyone feel sympathetic towards me? May be because he felt I was not doing well monetarily, and that I should be struggling with my career as a full time astrologer. This is what most people around me think – and that is exactly the strange situation I am facing now.

The other day my wife was invited to a newly moved neighbour’s house. They asked her about my profession, and my wife replied that I am an astrologer. And the next question was – does he make enough income?

There is a general misconception among people that – the family of astrologers is doomed, and that they always are under acute poverty. This isn’t true. It is just that most astrologers preferred to keep themselves away from money for the fear of karmic repercussions. If they had wanted they could have minted money more than the Kings.

I can bet that I would be making triple the money that my neighbour makes – but then making it clear in front of them was unnecessary. Hence both my wife and me just shared a smile.

People judge others success only by external factors - like what brand clothes he/she is wearing, what brand watch is he wearing, what perfume is he / she wearing, what brand shoe he is wearing, and how much gold or ornament he/she is wearing. On that context I prefer to exist as a beggar – I have stopped wearing branded clothes long back (all that I have is 2 pair of black pants and 4 kurtas bought from Khadi Gramyudyog), I stopped wearing watches 10 years ago (if at all I wear a watch again in my life – it will be Rolex and nothing else), I have stopped wearing footwear, I don’t use perfume or any other cosmetic, and I don’t wear much ornaments just for my 2 tiny ear rings. My looks will surely deceive you!

On the other hand it would be literally impossible for me to carry my pay cheques and bank statement to make people stop sympathizing with me. And I cannot stand on the top of the roof to yell how much money I make every month – which is 3 times more than what I used to make at Sify.com.

One of the 7 important people once mailed me a Lakshmi Mantra, and the mail also said – chant this mantra to come out of your financial problem, which I was not in. And the mail reached me exactly a week after I received a 80 k cheque from one of the websites!

The truth is people in fact are unhappy to find happy and successful people around and they wait for an opportunity to sympathize with them, and in the process try to make themselves feel more humane. And I would be the last person on earth to expect or accept any fucking help from any fucking mortal.

This particular blog is specially dedicated to those 7 important people for I know they all read my blogs regularly J.

May God bless all and may peace prevail!

Posted by Kenni at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

November 23, 2007

‘Your’ inputs will be greatly appreciated!

Now this is what I call God’s miracle! A publishing house after going through my blog, wants me to author a book. They have suggested me some interesting topics like – Tarot Cards, Numerology. And I want my readers to suggest me a topic that is closely related to astrology, religiousness, spirituality and sex (my strong area of course). Kindly mail me your suggestion to kennedig@yahoo.com or buzz me your inputs on Yahoo messenger at the same ID.

Posted by Kenni at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)

November 18, 2007

Bus itna sa khwaab hai!

I had very less desires in life. My desires were to own a bike, a Walkman, a handycam with a rug sack behind me and go cruising on long roads without any destination to reach. They all came true at the right time. Once it was all over, I was left out with no desires to seek, and life became a bit dull and boring. Hence I had to literally sit down and chalk out my other set of desires to escape life’s boredom, and this time I wanted to have a car, with a good music system and again go on long drives with no destination to reach.

I knew no bank would give me loans for a car (as I am self employed and haven’t filed my tax returns yet), neither would I have ready cash to buy one soon. These desires looked unachievable at least for the next 2 to 3 years – and I was happy. At least now I can escape the boredom of ‘desirelessness.’

This desire got manifested too – much early than I could perceive. My elder sister left her car with me, and asked me to use it as I want, and just yesterday God blessed me with some good amount of money to fix a decent music system in it. Now the highways are open - and I will soon be on a journey of no fixed destination.

Now I really want to desire for something that is really unachievable, which includes – some acres of land, a weekend meditation resort, and world’s biggest temple. I really wish I don’t reach a point of desirelessnes again!

Posted by Kenni at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2007

Converts are more fundamentalists!

The most irritating thing in life is to hear someone telling you something you have been telling him or her for ages. I have a friend – a very logical person, who would give less importance to the concept of God, and who would keep talking about how only personal efforts would take you places. I wouldn’t argue, but would only say – for me it is all about destiny. I don’t put any effort. I go where God takes me and do what God wants me to do.

We have spoken about many topics, and one of them was how a real teacher could transform your life, and how important a teacher is for spiritual growth. And he would say, “I can’t bow to any human form. I am my own Guru!”

As predicted the transformation happened, and he found a teacher. And these days he talks nothing but about his teacher. He has become a believer and talks more about God than me. And sometimes - even tries to make me a believer! Excuse me - who said I am not a believer?

People who have kept arguing with me about how destiny can be overcome by free will, these days try to convince me about the power of destiny. And they even send me stories, links and tell me incidents of their lives – about how destiny always ruled them. To mein kya bol raha tha itna din?

And people who have made mockery of astrology, and who have commented on me about being an astrologer, talk to me about astrological rules and have started reading books on astrology. Of course I am happy about the development. In fact to accept and to understand bigger truths of life like - the working of astrology, and to accept the presence of God – you need more than average intelligence, and I am glad people who are in contact with me are becoming more intelligent these days.

But the annoying part is when they start behaving like instant teachers or Gurus and try to be a step ahead of being intelligent - or trying to act smart. They immediately would try to put you down. It is good that the transformation has happened, that simply doesn’t mean that all the people who existed around turned into ‘chutiyas’ overnight. If the change has happened just thank God and keep your mouth shut.

I was discussing this vague behaviour of human race with one of my mentors. I asked him, why non-believers become evangelists the very day they realize His presence? He said a beautiful point, which cleared all my confusions – he said - Converts are always more fundamentalists! A true Muslim would remain calm, but then the convert will act as if he was sent by messiah himself. A real Christian will mind his business, but a convert will yell on top his voice saying – Jesus Never Fails! And a true Hindu will pray for world peace everyday, and a convert will join RSS or BJP!

Posted by Kenni at 07:25 AM | Comments (0)

August 31, 2007

Want to learn astrology?

I have met only 3 kinds of people – the one who don’t know any thing about astrology, and doesn’t believe in it, the one who knows a bit of astrology and believes in it, and third who doesn’t know anything about astrology but still believes in it. I am yet to find someone who knows astrology and then doesn’t believe in it.

In the last 5-7 years I have met many astrologers – they are of different kinds too. People who don’t know any thing about astrology – but then still are famous astrologers, the people who are technically sound but bad at predictions, the people who are very good astrologers with excellent predictive capability but who underplay their talents, and few who are good astrologers and who demand their part of credit, fame and money. End of the day it depends on your destiny - whom you will consult, and what kind of prediction you will get in the process.

These days few of my clients ask me whether I can teach them astrology. And ironically most of my clients and people around me talk more astrology than me these days. Recently I had visited my native place, and the topic of astrology came up. And some 4-5 people surrounding me kept bombarding me with astrological rules, astrological principles, gems, the remedial measures and what not. The best bet for me was to keep my mouth shut, which I always do. Well it is good in a way that the divine science of astrology is getting a facelift in the 21st Century, and this kind of incidents assures me that astrology is here to stay forever. No matter how far human technological developments go, our Holy Saints, Rishis, and Ancestors can outsmart any educated and literate nut of today’s world. And the trust is with our materialistic outlook we can only discover truths about life, but can never invent them!

From the list of astrologers I have met, I prefer the one which say – “the people who are very good astrologers with excellent predictive capability but who underplay their talents.” And I would strongly suggest my clients to learn astrology from – my teacher K Gopalakrishnan (http://www.sathyaprema.com ) or Dr Prajarao (http://www.sify.com/astrology). I can assure you that they are the best astrologers in India as on date. And you will understand once you learn astrology from them.

As far as I am concerned, I am in my batting stage and will teach only when I retire as a batsman and become a coach. There is still lots to learn, lots to know, and lot many years to go before I handover this beautiful divine science to the right candidate. And in my case – I will be selecting the student to whom I will be teaching astrology.

Posted by Kenni at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)

August 27, 2007

A difficult client!

I had read a Zen story long back. A seeker reaches a master and asks him - if he can help him get enlightened. The master quietly reaches out for a jug and a glass full of water. He pours water into the already full glass. The glass kept overflowing. The seeker, a bit confused, asks the master, why are you trying to fill the already filled glass. And the master replies, you are already full with your own ideologies, dogmas and scriptures, how can I help you get enlightened? Now the master empties the glass and then pours water into it - and says, first go and empty yourself, only then I will be able to help you in the process of getting enlightenment!

I did a honest astrological reading for a person recently referred by another client of mine, and unfortunately the person knew a bit of astrology. It is always easy to deal with people who don’t know astrology than people who have half-baked knowledge about the same. The truth about life is everyone can do anything. If you have a camera, you can shoot. If you have pencil, you can draw. If you have a hammer, you can drill a nail. But then there are specific nuances that only the expert knows and that which come only through experience. I know many people who claim to know astrology after reading Linda Goodman’s sun sign book, and to know Vaasthu Shastra after reading one or two books on the same subject.

I personally base my prediction on factors like – God’s voice, technique and intuition – in the given order. And also I never get into any astrological debate with clients, when it comes to techniques. The rule is simple - if you know astrology then there is no need for you to consult any astrologer. If you seek guidance from any astrologer, then it is always better to keep your mouth shut.

In my experience – I have seen many a rules given in modern books not working at all. Have met many divorced couple, whose chart were matched for marriage. Have come across many childless couples, when the horoscope doesn’t have any affliction from bookish principles.

A client recently started to debate on a rule, which didn’t work in her chart – and I was right about the analysis. And I replied clearly that I don’t get into any astrological debates on techniques, and here is what I got as reply –

“Mr. Kennedi.... do u adhere to the principle of people blindly believing you and that too for a hefty sum like the one you have charged us???

Of course, the fact that you do not want to or maybe not competent enough to answer my questions seem more of an explanation rather than you saying that you do not get into astrological debates. For there was no debate on the issue, on the contrary it was just a clarification on a
point.

However one thing has become clear that you do not have any answers to my questions. I believe that the knowledge of astrology is a gift and to equate everything in terms of money is pure insult to this divine science.

Regards,
Ms X

My reply -

Hi Ms X,

Thanks for your mail. I did a reading for you only because Smitha wanted me to do it for you. Or else I do readings only when people get in touch with me directly.

Also you had told me -

For instance, true... Saturn and Ketu placed in the 4th house is considered ill luck in the birth country but is it not true that Guru in the 12th house aspects the 4th house completely and therefore nullifies the ill effects of Saturn??? Then, in that situation, where do we stand?

This is right according to the principles of astrology. Now tell me one thing, if Jupiter nullifies the bad luck you have in your birth country, then why the F*** are you living in Belgium now and not in your birthplace? Give me the astrological reason.

PS – Ms Y - kindly send me your bank account info. I would want to refund the complete amount you had deposited for Ms X and her husband. Don't consider this to be a request - I just want the details. Also if you don't take the money back, I would never do a reading for you.

And Ms X, you need not tell me about how I am working for money. God knows the truth - he will punish me accordingly. So you bother only about your money.

God Bless You

G. Kennedi

And I never got a reply from her. May be her half-baked knowledge was not good enough to defend her argument. She didn’t even send her bank info, till I sent her a reminder just yesterday, for which she replied –

Hello!

Do gift the money to some poor and needy if you please, that would be good enough. We do not wish to continue dialogue on this aspect anymore.

Thanks.
Ms X

If someone is not happy with my reading, I can only return the fees I charge them. I don’t want anyone to make losses who invest on me – and I want to stick to that principle always.

Well I am not going to donate Ms X’s 'HEFTY' fees to any poor or needy. But will donate it to some temple, and get a bill in Ms X’s name. So that the reading remains free for her - always.

May God bless her with some civility to deal with people who want to help her.

Posted by Kenni at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)

June 09, 2007

Manifestation through visualization!

I believe only in destiny, and I with authenticity can say that we are just puppets in the hands of the almighty – where the world is a stage, and we are enacting the role predetermined to us. Few would agree, and few won’t. It again depends upon your destiny – whether you will surrender to fate and flow with the existence, or keep struggling thinking you could change your life the way you want.

If free will is true then astrology becomes a fake. Astrology gets into your past, talks about the present, and predicts about your future. And for a synchronized flow about your past, present & future – the pattern of destiny has to be broken. Of course it is not possible to break destiny patterns every time with 100 percent precision. There are human factors involved, and God doesn’t want anyone to be more powerful than Him.

I was chatting with one of my friends yesterday, for whom I had told a year back looking at her horoscope about how her inclination towards spiritual subjects will increase in days to come. She was too busy with her job/career when I told her this. And yesterday she was talking about the meditation classes she had attended recently, and how it has helped her in many ways. In fact she was talking more spirituality than me.

During the chat the conversation shifted to manifestation through visualization. Most spiritual masters and meditation Gurus talk a lot about how to manifest things through meditation. It is true, and I accept it that you can manifest things through visualization. If you can manifest things through visualization then how come destiny cannot be win over?

Here is an example. From today try visualizing yourself as becoming the Prime Minister of India. The moment I say this, you would say – you aren’t interested in politics! Now what makes you say that you are not interested in politics? It is your planets. You can visualize only those things, which the planets allow you to. Start visualizing yourself to become the next Dhirubhai Ambani, and take my word you will never become one!

I never wanted to get married. But then when the event was destined, my thoughts changed automatically. For instance if you want to buy a new car or a new house or a new gadget you can start visualizing, but then you will be able to visualize only when you are destined to get them. Hence manifestation of visualization will happen only when the planets allow you to visualize.

Thoughts lead to action, and action leads to result. That is how we have been trained, but then only the reverse is true. The end result prompts you to act, and you act because you are made to think, and you think because planets want you to think.

Take this example. On the superficial level - you start having problems at your present company, and you decide to quit the job and find another one. And in another 3-6 months you get another job and you move on. And you think you got a new job, because you visualized it.

Here is the astrological angle – you were destined for a job change in the next 6 months, this will create problems in your present office place, so that you start acting on it. You start acting by sending your resume across, and you get a new job – for which you were destined to!

Posted by Kenni at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2007

God’s grace to possess a vehicle!

I have been saving money to buy a car, and astrologically before August 2007 I should be getting a car. I invested in a bicycle recently, and have been saving most of my income to invest in a liability - car. I had sold my motorbike n 2004 to have some liquid cash on hand, and I had to hand over the money to my bother in law (BIL 1) – for his condition was worse than me on the financial front then.

Literally I was without a bike – hence no mobility. Suddenly my other brother in law (BIL2) got an opportunity to fly abroad. He went on a short-term project, and gave me his bike (Splendor) to handle for few months. Few months project extended to 2 years, and for 2 complete years I was using my BIL2’s bike.

BIL2 had come on a 1-month leave to India a year back. And I was immobile again. Just in a couple of days, one of my closest friends left to the US on a 3-months project. And he gave me his Pulsar to handle! When my friend came back after 3 months my BIL2 had to leave to Belgium once again, and Splendor came back to me once again. (To be honest I never asked for their bikes, they gave it to me on their own).

My friend is in India now and my BIL2’s project is over in Belgium. So I was left out with no motorbikes from April 2007. On top of that I had taken a vow that I won’t use autos in Chennai until they use meters. I used call taxis for commutation for few days, and for rest of the purposes – I went by bicycles.

My eldest sister who lives in Tiruppur had a car, but they have been using it very rarely. Just a week back, the house owner created a hungama asking all the inmates to park their car outside the building. They thought they might as well give the car to me so that I can use it, and also park it safely in my apartment. (And I never asked them to give me their car).

Astrologically your luck in matters related to house and vehicles is related to your 4th lord in your horoscope. And by God’s grace I have a strongly placed 4th lord – hence things related to vehicles & house will come to me automatically– even I refuse to take them. This is how destiny works.

(And on top of it – one of my clients living in the US spoke about gifting me a Car, if what I had predicted for him comes true. Well an offer too good to resist I guess :D)

And can you guess the colour of the car? It is black again!!! (Tata Indica)

Posted by Kenni at 08:03 AM | Comments (0)

May 27, 2007

I appraise myself!

On the scale of A to E, where A is excellent and E is bad I gave myself B, and my boss gave me C. In the next appraisal I gave myself D and my boss gave me B. But ironically when I was given C my salary hike was better than when I was given B!!! I never understood the logic, and neither did my boss.

It took me at least a couple of years to understand what those fucking KRAs and KPIs actually mean. The one pattern I came to know after undergoing some 8-10 phony appraisal stunt was that – if you want to make more money, quit your present company and bargain a better deal in another company. These appraisal episodes run by Corporate every 6 months will always give you shit loads of hope and make you feel dejected and disappointed end of the day!

Thankfully I don’t have a human boss these days. I report directly to God – Lord Narayana that is. And I judge my astrological performance based on the number of predictions that come true, the number of friends/clients who are happy with my astrological skills, and the less number of times the divine slaps me hard to know my human limitations. Hence I thought it is the right time for me to appraise myself, and give myself some extra money.

My consultations charges that are put up on my site and other sites like astrolife, rediff, Yahoo India, MSN India, astroyogi, indiainfo and oneindia were framed in the year 2004, and before that from 2002 to 2004 – I was doing astrology for free – rather none paid me. So after three years of professional astrology I thought I would give myself a 30 per cent hike – 10 per cent per year! Sounds cool to me.

I am happy and am sure my immediate boss is happy too!

(The new service charges comes to practice from 27th May, 2007)

Posted by Kenni at 06:21 AM | Comments (0)

May 04, 2007

The power of Tirupathi!

I predicted a job change for one of my clients in the month of November 2006, and he was jobless till January 2007. And another client for whom I had predicted a job change in the month of February 2007 was jobless till April 2007. I could see a similar pattern in both their charts – though the planets were placed strongly for an interesting job change - the event was getting postponed for God knows what reason.

Thankfully both of them had enough patience and continued to trust in astrology and also me. I knew astrologically that it was just a matter of months, but for the clients it is a time when they lose all their hopes and trust. And after a point it becomes impossible to bring their trust back.

I had visited Tirupathi for my second daughter’s tonsure recently. Of course we had to wait in the queue for some 10 hours, but then the darshan is worth all the upheavals you face. After coming back from Tirupathi I could see an interesting lift in my career, and also my monetary positions improved a lot.

Just after a week’s time both these clients met me in a gap of 4-5 days. There was an inner voice prompting me to tell them to visit Tirupathi at the earliest. It was not about changing destiny, but then the destined event was getting postponed for some divine reasons.

I asked both of them to visit Tirupathi at the earliest, and both of them did exactly what I said. I asked them to give me a call after they come back, and they called me up after the visit too. I was impressed by the trust they had on my words.

Within a week’s time after the visit to Tirupathi the first client got an awesome job offer with an impressive pay pack. On top of it he got back some money he had lent out. And the second client also got an offer, and he is joining the new firm on May 7th, 2007.

Well this is not a chain mail where in you are asked to send the same to 11 friends, and expect miracles in 3 days. But these are real incidents, which zapped me the most than anyone else!

Om Namo Narayanaya - God Bless All With Prosperity!

Posted by Kenni at 06:47 AM | Comments (0)

May 02, 2007

Is astrology far ahead of medical science!

They met me a year ago. They were completely content & satisfied about how life was treating them. They had a son, a new car, and a handsome paying job for the husband. Yeah - as any body else – they had many debts, and they needed some more finances to lead a luxurious life. They consulted me the very next day after they had a major fight, and they wanted to go in for a divorce!

In their horoscopes – I could not see any astrological combinations for a divorce. And I told them – divorce is completely ruled out for you guys. You better think about new techniques to patch up and live rest of your lives together. I could see a sigh of relief on their face – even they didn’t wanted to get divorced.

They asked me - so what else do you see in our charts. I said a major lift in career for the hubby in the year 2007 – it either will be in a MNC or a foreign nation, and there will be substantial increase in the income too. The wife was happy to head this positive news, but then the hubby was least interested in a job change for at least 2 years. And what about her, he asked. And I said, she would have a baby in the year 2007 astrologically. And when I had told this I never knew that she was wearing a Copper-T (a birth control device).

Major hierarchy changes happened at the office for the guy, and eventually he was made to report to a dumb boss. This prompted the hubby to look for a new job, and he got it just last month – and by God’s grace in a MNC! (This is how God sends you blessing in disguise. Had I not got a dumb boss at Sify.com – I would have never become a professional astrologer).

The wife wanted to remove the Copper-T in March 2007, and start trying for a baby. According to her if they start trying, it could at least take 2-3 months for her to get pregnant, and by the initial months of year 2008 she will have a baby for sure.

For her surprise in the very first week after removing the Copper-T she found herself pregnant. And according to me – astrologically she would have got pregnant in the month of February 2007 – which was a month ‘before’ Copper T was removed!

She rushed to the doctor to consult, and the doctor asked her to go in for an immediate scan - and the baby was already 4 weeks old – meaning she got conceived in the month of February 2007, which was one month before the birth control device was removed!

So astrologically she should be delivering the baby around November 2007, which is in sync with what planets have to offer her!

Looking at some medical chart the gynecologist has told her that it will be a baby boy. And looking at the ‘planets’ I have told her that it will be a baby girl.

Will keep you updated about the gender of the child!

Posted by Kenni at 03:01 PM | Comments (0)

April 25, 2007

A special ‘astro’ product for people who want to test my ability!

I have been right on many occasions, and wrong on few occasions. For all my right predictions I love to forward the whole credit to my teacher and the almighty, and for the wrong I would love to take sole responsibility. Astrology as an art has taught me a lot about human lives, and astrology as a profession has also made me understand my limitations as a human being. There were days I used to remain depressed for days, when my predictions went wrong, and used to get excited when predictions done by me came true. But these days nothing matters much. I just concentrate on my performance, and bother only about my consistency. Rest everything is destined…

I have consulted many astrologers in my life, and have met many people who have consulted other astrologers. One common thing I learnt in the process was – most astrologers, with time, start becoming very money minded, and under the pressure of their favourite clients say something just to soothe them. They aren’t bad astrologers, but then many lose focus midway. And on the clientele side, I have met many who tell me that they spent a fortune on astro consultations, changing names, wearing gems, and performing pujas – and nothing worked. What remains in the minds of a client at the end of day is a feeling of being fooled by astrologers. We get fooled by the government day in and day out, we get fooled by doctors everyday, we get fooled by 1st world countries, we get fooled by auto guys everyday, we get fooled by friends, relatives and women – but still we make it a point that astrologers and saintly people fooled us the most!

When I started my career as a professional astrologer after leaving behind my 8 years of IT experience, I had only one thing on my mind – that I will not do astrology ‘ONLY’ for money. Of course I need money to survive, to watch movies in multiplexes, and to dine in star restaurants. Hence I made it a point that the fees I charge should be affordable by a common man, and I should always give out more than what I get in return. It works out perfectly for me. And also I try my best to avoid instances where in people might talk bad behind my back – saying they got fooled by me. So I always return the fees taken from people for whom my predictions have not worked. This way – none of my clients are at loss!

I have had incidents where in people buzz me on yahoo messenger and say – they are sick and tired of astrologers, and that they would want me to tell something about their past before they place their trust on me. I love these kinds of challenges, and by habit I have always gone into the future only after confirming the past by looking at the chart. But these days this practice irritates me a bit. It is like biting an apple before buying it – you can always return the apple if it is rotten inside, you surely will get your money back, but you cannot buy by tasting it.

In this scenario I had to think about a way wherein I continue taking up challenges, and at the same time don’t give up myself for cheap. I am always ready to prove my abilities as an astrologer at any given forum, but then I should get some massive returns. Hence took up this new resolution.

As a rule I return the fees, when my client wants it back – so no gain, no loss for anyone. But for people who want to test my astrological abilities before investing their ‘fortune’ for a reading, here is my new product.

I won’t charge to tell few incidents about their past – with time range. It will be completely free of cost. This is to gain his/her trust. And if I am on dot about the past, and you want your future to be predicted by me then my charges will be 10 times more than my usual charges. My normal charges are Rs 500, and after I have passed your test it is Rs 5000!

Just today morning I got someone who wanted me to tell – whether he is married or not – looking at his chart. I mailed him ‘you are not married.’ And he said, I was right!

Posted by Kenni at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)

December 22, 2006

I am not here to tell what you want to listen!

In a horoscope 90 per cent of the times things are very clear for which you can get an answer in a direct yes or no. But there are few things, which are not seen very clearly where in an astrologer would give you a diplomatic answer, where in his statement will hold true in the longer run, which the client will understand with time or when the event will really happen. End of the day all the astrologers want his/her every prediction to come true…of course he/she will fail many a times, depending on the strength of his/her own chart.

With few predictions coming right, people tend to start believing the astrologer & his words more than astrology itself. And that is not a good trend. The basic fundamentals of astrology is to make everyone (including the astrologer) understand that lives are driven by the influence of planets, and ‘ALL’ the events of each and every, believer or a non-believer, are destined and if at all if we have any free will– it is about being able to be happy in a given situation or to remain sad in a given environment!

One of my friends came down from Mumbai to settle in Chennai a year back. I knew his life pattern astrologically and knew in what kind of houses he will stay. Thankfully most of my predictions in his case have come true, so there exist a special bond between us.

He took me to a house very near to his office where he was planning to stay. I said astrologically you would not stay here. Later I kept myself mum and listened to all the positive points he was making me understand about the house and the comforts he will get living so close to the office. I nodded YES for all his points. But later in the evening when I reached home, I was a bit confused. My only worry was - my friend should not think that I approved the house astrologically. I came home, and instead of calling him, I sent him a mail saying – I still stick to what I said in the morning that you would not stay in that house. If at all you stay – you will change your house within 2 months. He called me to say – why didn’t you tell me that before? I have already given the advance!

I had told him in the morning that I didn’t approve the house astrologically, but then nodded YES to all his talks for being his friend, but by sending him a mail I again stuck to what I said in the morning astrologically.

A week later his wife came down to stay with him for a week, and the first thing she did was made him vacate the house, and found him another house. My friend lost some 8 k in the whole process!

And this is not the only incident….

When I predict a love marriage for some looking at their horoscope, they say, “I don’t think so.” So what am I supposed to do? Say what you think in your mind? That is not my job. I, as an astrologer, cannot or should not try to make you happy just because you have paid me or just because I don’t want to hurt you. In fact I am least bothered about others emotions when it comes to predicting. If divorce is visible in your chart, I cannot say anything else but a divorce…counseling you or giving you advice about a possible reunion is not my job - it is your life and it is your destiny.

So what is the moral of the story?

You either listen to what the astrologer says astrologically, or you listen to yourself. Or you can very well consult an astrologer, and still do your own thing. But then never try to make astrologer tell what you want to listen!

Posted by Kenni at 08:03 AM | Comments (0)

December 19, 2006

When my friend’s mom called me to sleep with her!

Dear readers kindly don’t consider this particular blog as a porn story!
I was 21 then and my friend’s mom was 42. I was very close to my friend, and had interacted with his/her mother many a times. Of course I was very comfortable with his/her mother, but sex was the last thing I had on my mind.

My friend was out of town, and also his/her father. Late in the evening I got a call from his/her mother asking me to come to their house the next day morning. I had read a lot of porn stories about how elderly women love to sleep with younger boys, and have watched many porn movies where there is a major age difference between the women and the guys. But then after talking to her on the phone, I had the least idea about the purpose of the phone call.

Of course on back of my mind I had this hunch that she might have called me to have sex with her? But at the same time I didn’t wanted to rule out other possibilities.

I reached her house, and there was no one in the house except her. To all my knowledge, she was a very spiritual person & religiously inclined person who would pray for hours together everyday.

We spoke about general topics for a while, and then she asked me to come to her bedroom. We were seated on her bed now, and my intuition was getting stronger – that this call was just to have sex and nothing else. She told me about how her husband was impotent now, and how badly she needs sex now!

Her request didn’t come to me a shock as this possibility was already thought about me. I should honestly say that, it was more of a compliment for me, than thinking bad about her. Woman selecting a man to have sex with her is the biggest achievement for a man I suppose.

I had never had sex with another person till that age. Hence there was an anxiety issue of performance involved. Also the thought of my good friend kept rushing into my mind. And I had never seen his/her mother as a sex object so far in my life – though it changed after this particular episode.

I told her that I wasn’t comfortable doing it with her, and that I never saw her from that angle. We slept on the same bed – and thankfully nothing happened. We were lying there for about 4-5 hours, and midway I fell asleep too.

I packed my bag, and left her house.

After few years, I happened to meet an astrologer, with whom I had to discuss this particular issue. And he immediately said, “bad karma”. I said, “yeah bad karma for her.” And the astrologer replied, “I said bad karma for you!!” I was a bit taken aback, how can avoiding to sleep with friend’s married mother be bad karma from my side. And he had an excellent explanation for it.

He said the last thing a woman would ask under the planet is for sex. A woman’s self respect is connected with accepting to have sex or asking for sex, though they love sex, they won’t ask it openly. They would make men to ask and men to perform most of the times. So he added, by hurting her self-respect you have gained bad karma. His argument was right from one angle…

I met another astrologer to ask whether I have gained bad karma through this particular incident. And he said, your bad karma led you to her house! OK, agreed. I never knew the fundamentals of Karma concept till the age of 25. I agreed my bad karma led me to her house. But was not sleeping with her a bad karma on my part? And he replied – NO. In fact you did a good karma by not sleeping with her.

So one thing I understood by talking to these two people was – they both were human beings and had no mastery over the concept of karma.

Ten years after this particular incident now I strongly feel – what was it I would have lost by making a soul happy – momentarily though! I think I should have slept with her!

Posted by Kenni at 06:18 AM | Comments (0)

December 16, 2006

So when will you die, & how?!

What Prompted Me To Provide This Service…

A lady with marital problems had come to meet me recently. Her problems were normal ones, but from her angle she thought they were the biggest problems on the planet. As the conversation went on, she asked me when she will die? I normally don’t answer that question astrologically – as two important things – ‘time of birth and time of death’ cannot be predicted exactly through astrology as these two events are decided by God alone. But then looking at the horoscope – the overall life span of a person can be figured out and the probable years that will be 90 per cent fatal to that particular person can be told.

I replied that she will live till the age of 60-65. And the next question she asked me was - when will her husband die, and I said – in another 15 to 20 years. So precisely by 2025 – your husband won’t be alive. And I added that her husband would die before her. Her face changed completely. She was least bothered about her death, but when she came to know about her husband’s death range – she reached a consciousness level where in she was able to forgive all his mistakes, for he is going to be alive only for the next 15 years!

That is exactly what Maha Bharata says – though people know that all are going to die one day, none wants to accept that he or she will be the next to go!

Well with this particular experience, I realized that if people come to know when they will die or when their near ones are going to die – they might exist as a better human beings to all, and their hatred towards anyone will be less. And these religious fanatics might come to understand that when all are going to die one day, then why hurry! Let death come when it has to come!

My Hit Rate So Far

During my school days I had just read few books on astrology and I used to read palms just for the heck of it. Anirudh Kamalrav Walia was a new student who joined our school in the 8th standard. I looked into his palm, and said you have a very short life, and he rejoiced. I asked him what happened? And he replied jovially – he need not take the stress of writing the 10th Board Exam. We had a good laugh, but then he died when we were in our 9th standard!! He got drowned in a pool – where our guys went for an outing!! I stopped reading palms from then….it scared the shit out of me!

I hate to predict deaths. Honestly it is a sick feeling, but then if someone asks specifically I try to reveal – depending on the person’s mental frame. And I should say after becoming a professional astrologer – my hit rate for predicting deaths so far has been 8 out of 10 – of course by God’s grace, which includes my father’s death too!

Will Knowing Your Death Time Make A Difference To You?

I had a friend named Sandeep Rathi in my teenage - we were 15 or 16 years old that time. He was a very sexually active person and would watch a blue film literally everyday. I asked him once, if you are so interested, why don’t you just hire a prostitute and get over with it. And he coolly replied that he will have sex only after his marriage. I said – good boy, good principle, good morality, and good karma.

He got a seat in BDS, and was doing his 2nd year. I met him after 3 years, and I could see his face swollen out of proportion! I asked him what happened? And he said – both his kidneys failed, and now he was surviving on a transplanted kidney (his mother donated one kidney to him). That kidney failed too and he died at the age of 20! (I had not predicted his death).

Just because the government wants people to get married at the age of 21 – which is 7-8 years away from when nature wants people to have sex - people dying even without tasting a drop of sexual relationship, which is believed to give the glimpse of Nirvana, is mere nonsense!

Not that by knowing your death you can go ahead and have sex like wild animals. But then – it can help you to focus on your life better, to resolve problems faster, to take better decisions, and to transform yourself in to a better human being! No wonder the cancer patients are most the loved human beings – who knows who will die first – the patient or the celebrity who visited them!

Answer To A Million Dollar Question – When Will I Die?!

The age of 52-54 will be fatal for me – that is 20-22 years from now, which precisely is in and around 2028!

I am neither showcasing this particular product under the list of products I offer, nor will I reveal your death time until and unless you specifically ask for it…if you happen to read this particular blog…you can go for it, if you want….

God Bless All With a Healthy Life!

Posted by Kenni at 07:32 AM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2006

Astrology and the art of playing Cricket!

Out of few hundred horoscope-readings I did in the last 6 months, I failed miserably in 4 instances where in I had to face embarrassment, and had to return their fees. This is how God makes astrologers understand their human limitations. And this in a way helps astrologers to keep their ego under control. As I always felt – to limit human achievements God makes him prone to commit mistakes.

In those 4 readings I did – I was completely ‘out of track’ in confirming their past based on their horoscopes. I asked them many questions looking at their natal charts, and they said clear a ‘No’ to all of them. Huh..what a dejection it was. What else can I do? I said your chart is not opening for me, and I had to return their fees telling them to find another astrologer. And as a principle I hate to get into the future without confirming the past based on anyone’s horoscope.

For an astrologer any new reading is like a one day Cricket match - the tension is the same, the expectation is the same, and the nervousness is the same. Of course what gives them a little more confidence is the experience they have gained with years and the technique they have mastered under a good coach or a teacher.

Fully padded up with techniques and divine blessings, an astrologer gets into the field for predicting human lives. And before getting into any reading the astrologer checks whether his own stars help him that day for a good reading. No wonder Kapil Dev and Krish Shrikanth always looked at the sun once they entered the ground.

The match begins, and the player faces the first ball of the match. The expectations of the audience (clients) are really high from any opening batsman in the first over. Though the batsman looks very confident, his technique may fail any time. He might get clean bowled in the very first ball or he might hit a boundary.

Hence the first over becomes the most crucial over for any cricketer to set himself on the field, and to make the audience trust his cricketing skill. Same way the first few questions an astrologers asks about the past of any clients gives the astrologer the necessary impetus to gain his/her confidence. If it flops – an astrologer is destined to eat the dust or to accept brickbats.
And once the confidence is gained and when the cricketer realizes that it is ‘his’ day then even a reverse shot goes for a four.

It could be a day that helped the cricketer to have hit a century, or it could be a day that got him clean-bowled in the very first ball. But what matters in the long run is the consistency in performance. And this holds true for all professionals and in all professions – a bridge may collapse for an engineer, a patient may die for a doctor, music may flop for a musician, a movie may flop for an Oscar winner, a holy saint can fall for a sexy woman, predictions might go wrong for an astrologer, and God might fail in giving out blessings….it all happens…and it all depends upon how the planets are placed for anybody at a particular time!

Always remember - cricketers fail but cricket never fails, lovers fail but love never fails, astrologers fail but astrology never fails, and religion fails but God never fails!

Posted by Kenni at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)

November 24, 2006

Is Michael Jackson God?!!

All that I knew about him was – that he was a black American who changed himself white through some plastic surgery, that he was a king of pop, that he could moon walk the best, that he got into pedophilic controversies, and later he got into bankruptcy too. The other things I heard about him was he had a chimp as a friend & lives mostly in an Oxygen chamber. I thought this information was good enough for me to build an opinion about the pop star Michael Jackson (MJ).

A decade back or so when MJ had visited India, one of my friends who was a ardent fan of his bought a Rs 1500 ticket to see his live show in Chennai. That was when Balasaheb Thackeray had proudly announced to the press that MJ used his bathroom!

I was a bit anti-pop those days, and was on the sides of people who argued – why waste so much of money on a 5-hour show. I had listened to his songs, but I never understood the lyrics. I had watched his video, but never found his dance steps above average. Then what was it that made him so big in his industry and famous through out the world? Why were people so crazy about him? And why was he always in the news?

While traveling to Tiruppur by train, I bought one of MJ’s DVDs (pirated one), which supposedly had all the videos of him with songs. It lied at my home for few months, before I got a DVD player to watch it. And when I watched it, I could read the ‘lyrics’ of the song as subtitles and it was then I realized what made him the King.

MJ is not just a singer he is a subtle philosopher too. He had a mission, which was anti-racism. He is pro-blacks, and his thoughts are anti US mentality. He is an environmentalist, and on top of it he is an original thinker! And all his songs had a thought-provoking message, which no wonder made him one among the most liked personalities of the world.

We tend to form opinions about people and concepts based on the information we gather from various sources rather than personal experiences. We take a decision – whether we support or we don’t support. Both ways – the person or the concept remains on top of the mind. An atheist would think and talk more about the non-existence of God, than a theist who believes in His presence – both ways the concept of God lingers on the minds of both!

To make your mark from among the crores of people who exist on the planet is not an easy task. Whether you do good or you do bad but it ain’t easy to stand out! And whoever has made it big in their lives never had a cakewalk!

The effort needed to make one person, as your loving fan is equal to the effort needed to materialize Re 1 coin from thin air!

Posted by Kenni at 07:33 AM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2006

Ego!

“You have got a BIG ego”- a lot of people have told me this. Since years I have been reading about understanding what ego is all about, and what are the steps to be followed to lose it. I have been meditating on losing my ego, and also have tried many other ways to get rid of it - but eventually I have failed miserably. It was my conversation with my alter ego, which gave me some insight into the concept of my ego!

After getting a ‘bit’ affected by people’s comment my alter ego told to me once, “Kennedi you have a big ego.” I replied, “so?”. My alter ego said, “you should not be having so much of ego”. I replied, “why?” The alter ego said, “it might affect your spiritual growth”. I said, “so?” My alter ego said, “all those who have grown spiritually never had ego”. I said, “wow..that gives me a good topic for blogging today”.

If Jesus never had an ego he probably would have accepted the accusation made on him, apologized for his folly, escaped crucifixion, and would have continued healing people. He had so much of ego that he could let himself die at the hands of those who thought he was wrong.

The same is true with Galileo & Socrates. They never compromised on their egos, even when they were sentenced to death by the people who never though they were right. They very easily could have crushed their own self, compromised on their ego, apologized and continued living a normal life! But they never did so.

And Osho for that matter, though he spoke about losing oneself, or dropping the ego for spiritual growth, or trying to go to a no-mind state – I have seen videos of him where he got utterly mad and angry at press reporters and his disciples. Did the ego die, or it was suppressed in the name of spiritual growth?

I have attended Osho meditation camps, few other meditation camps, and have personally meditated for hours together – but still the inner voice has always been there. And am sure with my limited experience in spirituality that this last inner voice is the sound of SELF that could possibly feel the experience of realization and that it can never be put an end to. It will die only when the body dies. So the whole effort of trying to lose ones ego or ones self becomes a useless journey altogether.

End of the day you continue to have a ego of yourself - it could be an IT ego, it can be a doctor ego, it can be an astrologer ego, it can be a teacher ego, it can be a spiritual ego, or it can be an ego of not having an ego!

The best way to lose yourself in the process of spiritual growth is to take ZERO credit for your actions and achievements. If something goes wrong say, it is God’s wish and if something good happens say it is God’s grace. Practice this for years to come, and you will see that you have grown spiritually automatically, without any efforts.

Posted by Kenni at 07:41 AM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2006

My relationship with my teachers – part 2 - final!

Destiny followed me to the Indian Express, Mumbai too. I loved the work, and things were going smooth till I got a nasty mail from my boss. This mail accused me of ‘Dereliction of Duty,’ that too of no fault of mine. I got that mail in spite of me doing 12-hours of night shifts for 3 months continuously without taking a single day off. We were left out with only 3 people, who had to handle 24/7 online updation of news on the Latest News section of expressindia.com. This was the time when I realized that effort never leads to success - it is always your destiny that decides what should be given to you and what not. With the feeling of utter dejection I thought it was time to move on, and I landed up in Sify.com!

It was like Aasman se gira, khajur pe atka kind of experience. For me at least working for Sify wasn’t a good experience at all. But few things I am always grateful to Sify for are - they allowed me to handle Sify Astrology single handedly for almost 4 years & second that I could meet my Astro-spiritual teacher. Things were smooth at Sify before someone walked in with a MBA degree to screw up the whole thing in the name of Marketing. Well none to be blamed – it was my destiny pattern, which never allowed to have a good relationship with my bosses.

And then came the episode of blogging at Sify, where in I had to literally fight with every senior to justify my point of freedom of expression. Neither did they understand nor did they bother. And I finally had to sway a final bye to take up astrology & blogging as my new profession.

It didn’t stop there. As my career at Sify was coming to an end, I was even misunderstood by my Astro teacher. He accused me of many things, which I hardly could think about. No amount of talks, no amount of mails, no amount of meetings, and no amount of meditation helped me to show the correct picture of myself to my teacher - till today. The relationship went through a rough patch, and it went into a silence for months together.

Even till date, we have bitterness persisting in our relationship. And we haven’t stopped trying to put it right. This was when I understood the power of destiny – it is simple truth that no amount of personal effort can ever change your destiny patterns.

There is no doubt that I am ‘nobody’ in the field of astrology, without the grace of my teacher. And also I am ‘nobody’ as an individual without meeting all those teachers, bosses & superiors I interacted with. There was always something to learn and something to unlearn. They were all God sent people who helped me to move on with life. Today I report to God directly. And thank God, God doesn’t have a physical form hence we rarely have any misunderstandings

With time I also realized that, the times and moments I have taken decisions against my father or bosses or teachers willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly – I have done better in my life. If I have had listened to my father, I would have done my Msc Chemistry, and then Phd, and would have become a professor in some college, if I have had a good relationship with my Express boss, I would have moved to India.com and then would have become jobless, if I have had a good relationship with my Sify boss, I would have never learnt astrology, and never would have blogged, and if I had listened to my Astro teacher – I would have never quit Sify, and never would have taken up astrology full time!

And this concept of life patterns is true with every individual, not necessarily with bosses alone. Most will have one or two grey areas in their lives, which cannot be solved with human efforts. Few will have bad luck in love and marriage, few will have bad luck in areas connected to children, few will have bad luck with vehicles, and few will have bad luck with health…so on so forth. And once you get to understand your life pattern, life becomes easier, and you tend to move towards effortless living….

Posted by Kenni at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)

November 08, 2006

My relationship with teachers – part 1!

In one of my first classes of astrology in 2002 my Astro & Spiritual teacher K Gopalakrishnan told me something that worried me a lot. He said, “you will learn astrology from me, and also you will do well in astrology, but then you will have major problems with me later.” I said, “how can I ever go against you or rather how can I ever fight with you. Whatever be the problem I will put all my efforts to put it right.” He added that, “I am not your only teacher, you will meet many others and learn many things from others too”. I asked, “on what basis are you confirming that?” And he coolly said, “you have Rahu debilitated in your 9th house of teachers, and your 9th lord goes into your 12th house of loss”! Astrologically it is a bad combination for a good relationship with – father, teachers, bosses, superiors, & seniors!

My teacher’s house was 1-hour ride from my house, and the class started at 6 am everyday. Thanks to God, I could reach their on time most of the times. And after the class it was office from 10 am to 6 pm. This 2-hour bike ride was the most important thing that happened to me while learning astrology. In the morning while going, I would have many questions in my mind, which my teacher will answer one by one – WITHOUT EVEN ME ASKING HIM! And while coming back I will relate whatever he said to my personal life, and others lives whom I know. And the patterns used to work out perfectly.

While riding back once, I was rewinding my life……

Right from my childhood my father had been a terror to me. He looked scary (at least to me), his voice was scary, and he hardly expressed his love to me. I am not blaming him, just that I didn’t belong to the generation, where fathers expressed love to their children. They were more bothered about discipline, strictness and in providing support & security to the family. In fact I used to pee in my pants till the age of 10, whenever he shouted at me.

Later in schools, though I was ok at studies, I never got attached to any of the teachers. I would find many getting very close to teachers, and having a ball of a time. May be I never knew how to behave with elderly people. Or probably elders or teachers could not accept my outlook or attitude. I am not sure….

And this continued in college too…I was asked to get out from the first Chemistry practical class.. and the reason was - I forgot to carry a pen. In mere frustrations – I stepped out, and walked some 12 kms to reach the bus stand to catch a bus back home. That incident lingered in my mind for 3-4 days, and I took 2 days off too. And this was one of the menial things that hit me like a rock. And that was not over.

One of my Chemistry professors told me that – you will never pass out your degree, and it is a challenge, and another professor told me to concentrate more on studies than dressing – those were the days, when I would not go to college if my shirt was not ironed. Out of 42, I was among the 15 students who passed out Bsc without a single arrear. And out of some 800 students who attended campus interview organized by Titan Industry (considered to be one of the biggest those days), I was among the 5 students who were selected from whole of PSG Arts College, Coimbatore.

This continued …..while doing my MA my HOD wasn’t happy with my relationship with girls. With 12 girls, and 5 boys in the class, I was always spotted with girls - sometimes with one, and sometimes with many. My HOD had commented a lot of times – asking me concentrate more on studies, and not on girls, and that these girls will leave you very soon. To be honest, I preferred the company of women over men. And even today – 80 per cent of my clients are women!

The last thing I remember about my HOD is that he threw my project report on my face saying, “what kind of project is this?” I stood there with tears in my eyes, and thank God my girl friend was there to console me. (a year back when my interview was published in Business World magazine, I got a mail from the same HOD saying – we are happy that you are doing well in your life)

To be continued…..

Posted by Kenni at 01:37 PM | Comments (0)

October 10, 2006

Kashi Yatra – Part 3 - The End!

I know that my updates on Kashi Yatra are getting dragged like Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan. But then too many things to write, and also too many pending orders to be taken care of. Hence the delay…here goes the update…

Sitting on the footsteps of Kedar Ghat my mom and me were introduced to a South Indian purohit – a Brahmin - to perform my father’s death ritual. He was a young guy, and I am sure he was well versed in all the South Indian languages like – Tamil. Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam along with North Indian languages like Bhojpuri, Hindi & Sanskrit. He could not talk in one single language properly & continuously. He had a Telugu accent, and used many Kannada and Malayalam words while speaking Tamil to us. End of the day we understood what he implied.

He was giving us a huge built up and was throwing many Sanskrit jargons, which we hardly understood. But we at once knew that he is going to charge a bomb soon. He marketed his services for at least 15 minutes, in spite of me asking him the rates for the same at least 5 times in between. And finally he said Rs 10,000! If he had not taken so much effort in marketing his services we probably would have taken his word. But then we tried our luck bargaining, and on top of that our budget wasn’t that much.

We started off with Rs 1000, then to Rs 1500, and both finally agreed on Rs 2116. I told him good that this ritual stuff has come down to the level of bargaining brinjals and tomatoes on the roads. And he smiled. We handed over Rs 500 as advance for him to buy stuff he would need for the ritual.

I am neither against money nor against people who love money. Money is good, money gives you luxuries, many comforts, loads of happiness and on top of it money gives power and confidence. But there are few areas where money should not be the ‘prime’ focus. If you have desires to become a millionaire there are many other professions, you need not take up social service to become a millionaire. If being in social service you become a millionaire that is fine, but your soul aim should not be making money. In that case you are not doing justice to yourself, the profession or the client for that matter.

The ritual was dated on 23rd September, and the purohit came on time. He of course did a satisfactory job. He chanted good number of mantras, and offered pindams (rice balls) to my father, and all those who died in my lineage. And I finally offered the pindams to the river Ganges. The feeling was good, and connecting to my father was an elating feeling. After the pooja was over the purohit handed over 2 bananas to us - one for my mom and one for me. We settled his bill, and he pushed off for another ritual. That probably was the costliest banana I ate in my life.

I am not against religious rituals but I am a bit against who performs it. Rituals have their reasons & powers. The mantras chanted help us to connect to the astral plane, and clears a lot of blocked energies and karmic connections.

I have many friends who are Brahmins, whose favourite diet is chicken tikka with chilled beer - non-veg is not bad, beer is not bad. But then beer and cross threads don’t gel. You either have chicken tikka and beer and remove the cross thread or wear a cross thread and follow what you promised to follow - Brahminism - when you wore the thread.
“God - may the soul of the dead rest in peace, and may the soul of all those died in my lineage rest in peace” This is the crux of the matter. What if a person just prays this to his favourite lord, and donates food to the poor? I guess the purpose is solved. I am sure that God will not have any problems understanding English or your mother tongue. He won’t be specific about Sanskrit.

When the system started ages back Brahmins were believed to be people who were never interested in money, who were mostly poor, and who always remained on strict abstinence most of the times. But these days things have changed. They are huge money-spinners, and watch new movies first day first show. They fly abroad to perform pujas and homams. I don’t know whether they are aware of the fact that – if you are a Brahmin you are not supposed to cross the sea or go abroad. You are supposed to live in India/Bharat alone!

I was under the impression that you should have done a lot of punyas (good karma) to be born in a Brahmin family and or to become a temple priest. But something was revealed to me sitting on the bank of the Ganges.

Why would God make someone to clean His idol, decorate Him, chant His name all through the day and then ask him to go with the plate for money from the worshippers if he has done loads of good karma? Also if you see - temple priests mostly dwell in poverty, and crave for money. Why is that? Here is what flashed in my mind – temple priest are not people who did a lot of good karma in their past lives to become one, but they were rich atheist buggers in their past life. So what did God do? Created them in such a way that they cannot escape to do service for the God day in and day out, and for money they have to extent their plates. Think and you will understand the logic….

The rule of life is if someone has done good Karma in his/her past life – comforts, luxury, money, fame & power will come automatically to them with least effort. If someone has done a bit less good karma – he/she has to pray and get things for them, and if someone has been really bad, no amount of prayers will help!

Not to be continued…..

Posted by Kenni at 07:54 AM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2006

Kashi Yatra – part 2

The auto squeezed into the narrow roads of Varanasi. The roads were wet, dirty, and people could hardly walk confidently – there was always a fear of slipping. They aren’t tar roads - just rectangular stones etched on the paths, and you get a funny feeling traveling by auto on these roads. There are buffaloes and cows all over the place, and obviously the dung everywhere your eyes can reach.

It seems there are some 2000 temples in Varanasi alone – many tiny and few prominent. Except for the town region rest of the places still is lurking in bad economic conditions. Most roads have small shops hardly showcasing 4-5 soap bars and 3-5 jilebis to sell. I wonder how they manage to run their family with the money they would probably make selling them.

I was barefooted and so was my mom. We got down from the auto and kept our head straight. It wasn’t time to feel yuck about what was lying on the way – dung, stray dogs, rotten food, and banana skins. We followed the auto guy through a dark lane, and I could see some bright sun light on the other side of the tunnel. As we stepped further I could finally see her – quite wild and too beautiful to take your eyes off – the river Ganges!

We were standing on the footsteps of Kedar ghat, where there is a prominent temple of Lord Shiva. This particular ghat is well known among the South Indians - as you can find South Indian purohits, South Indian mutts and also South Indian food here. And there is no need for you to know Hindi to communicate.

Few guys approached us to ask if we needed boats to see the ghats! I was a bit taken aback. Why would I need boat to see them? I thought that ghats were far from each other and would need some driving and walking to reach each one. But it wasn’t so. All the ghats are on the single stretch on the bank of river Ganges. And each ghat is just 50 metres away from each other. Hence if you take a boat you can cover the whole of ghats in not more than 30 minutes.

Few of the prominent ghats are –

Harishchandra Ghat – where dead bodies are burnt day in and day out. This ghat is also considered to be the place where Raja Harishchandra worked

Dusasmedha Ghat – where Raja Dasrath is believed to have performed yagna with 10 horses

Manikarnika Ghat – again a ghat where dead bodies are burnt

Kedar Ghat – known for its Shiva temple

Vishwanath Ghat – where the famous temple of Kashi Vishwanath, Goddess Annapoorni, and Kala Bhairav are constructed – these temples happen to be highlights of Varanasi

I wasn’t happy with the rates the boatmen were quoting hence avoided dealing with them. As I stood there staring at the river Ganges I could spot something floating - someone who was wearing a normal pant shirt and kind of bloated. My god – it was a dead body! I was a bit shocked and asked these boatmen what is that? And they casually said – you know people living in the nearby villages are very poor and they don’t have money to do the last rites. Hence they throw the body of their close ones into the river.

Not that I wasn’t aware of this phenomenon of dead bodies floating on river Ganges but then to seeing for yourself is quite a scary experience. I was taking time to digest it, and was wondering about the story behind that person who was dead – did he have a normal death? Or someone killed him and threw him? Or he died accidentally? As I was occupied in my thoughts the boatman continued – sir we will charge Rs 500 for both of you for the boat ride (he had come down from Rs 1400 to Rs 500). Is that ok? As if nothing happened!

To be continued….

Posted by Kenni at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2006

Kashi Yatra – Part 1

September 23rd, 2006 - it was my dad’s first death anniversary. A year back it was a day when an important living entity moved from his physical form to a mere thought form. That holds true to all of us. It is just a matter of time and we won’t exist any more - we are ashes in no time. Hinduism demands many rituals to be completed after a person’s death, and we thought for my dad we could carry out them in Kashi – which is considered to be one of the most important pilgrimages according to the Hindus.

This was the first time for both of us - my mother and me. We didn’t know anything about the place, we didn’t know what exactly has to be done, and also we had the slightest idea about how to go around places after getting down from the train. The only thing we knew was to communicate in Hindi.

We got down from the train completely confused about what to do next. Two auto rickshaw guys approached us to ask if we needed autos. It is always said in new places never trust auto guys, and always be aware of touts. Unlike the auto guys in Chennai, these guys had something called honesty written on their face. Not that they were not interested in making quick money, but they were not greedy to the extent of Chennai auto guys. I asked them - we need a hotel to stay, and he said he would charge Rs 20 to take us there - quite a nominal charge.

They dropped us in a decent hotel, and the auto guys asked if we wanted them to take us around the place. I said give us some time, and call us in the evening. These guys get good amount of commissions from hotels and the places they take you – that is what the hotel receptionist had to say. What is the harm? Who doesn’t want to make money? And it is about the difference between charging nominal fees and charging exorbitant fees. And these guys never seemed to be on a cheating spree…

It was decided that - in the evening we would be taken to the river Ganges and all the ghats! I never knew what these ghats meant. I thought probably they are points – like which these hill stations have. But it was something else….

The auto guys who introduced themselves as Sanjay and Raju were very prompt in their service. They reached the hotel on time, and took us around the city and showed few important places on the way. They promised to show us the Ganga aarthi, which happens at 6.45 pm everyday, all the important ghats and also few important temples. I was all excited about seeing the river Ganges for the first time in my life, and was also curious to know what exactly these Ghats meant….

To be continued…..

Posted by Kenni at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2006

No updates till 30th September, 2006

I am taking a loooooong break hence there won’t be any updates on my site till month end. Will see you guys after the break. Till then Happy Blogging & may God Bless All!

Posted by Kenni at 06:53 AM | Comments (0)

September 12, 2006

My visit to Tirupathi – part 2!

After abandoning the queue….quite perturbed I stood there thinking what to do next? My mom called me over the phone. I told her that I am not taking the Lord Balaji’s darshan this time, and will rather attend my friend’s marriage and come back. She said it is not a good idea to not to take darshan after being in Tirupathi. I said it is fine, will check next time. I had my lunch, and called my friend who was getting married to guide me to the room he had booked for me. Through all the possible contacts he had, he was trying his best to get a darshan for me – but nothing seemed to be materializing.

In the room I was resting and contemplating what went wrong? Why can’t I see any chance of darshan? Was there any flaw in my prayers? Or was it because Lord Narayana didn’t wanted me to meet him? I recollected something that my Guruswami had told me once - that whenever you plan to go to any temple or to meet any deity, you should not club it with other events (like I had clubbed it with friend’s marriage). Also you should not plan pilgrimages as picnics or trips – at least while going (like going to Ooty before visiting Tirupathi). And – you should not go to relatives’ house or friends’ house on your way back, you should come back directly to your house after the pilgrimage is over.

I was wrong in one context that I had clubbed my Tirupathi’s visit with my friend’s marriage - which was wrong and I had apologize.

The marriage reception was in the evening, and it got over by 10.15 pm. It was already time for me to go back to the room and take rest as the marriage was scheduled the next day morning at 6 am.

As I was getting ready to leave, another client of mine (my friend’s uncle) met me, and we were having a casual chat. He asked me is the darshan over? I said no. And he asked me when was the last time you visited Tirupathi, I said 15 years back. Then another friend of his joined us. He said he wanted to consult me for astrology when I am in Chennai. I said fine, give me a call before coming. He asked me the same question, did you have the darshan – I said no. He said let me try. He took his mobile phone, spoke to someone, and told us – let us go! I said where? He said we could have a darshan tonight! I was surprised completely.

It was 11 pm, and he took us (7 of us) to a cop, who supposedly was his relative. The cop put us into a cabin, where people were waiting since 12 noon. And they belonged to the next slot to be allowed for the darshan. We waited till 11.30 pm in the cabin, and the queue started moving. Of course it was a huge queue. And the rush was immense, as it happened to be a 2nd Saturday. The queue moved fast, and at 1.30 am I could see my favourite deity Lord Narayana in all his glory! It was an awesome feeling, and I felt my prayers were answered – directly.

The marriage went on well in the morning, and to my astonishment my friend had arranged a car for me to go back to Chennai. As if he was completely aware that I puke like a pregnant woman in buses, especially while traveling in hill stations. My visit to Tirupathi was a memorable one - good stay, good darshan, good food, good marriage, and good travel too.

Om Namo Narayanaya!

May God Bless All – with prosperity, peace and happiness!

Posted by Kenni at 07:57 AM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2006

My visit to Tirupathi – part 1!

I had a prayer pending. I had prayed to come walking to Tirupathi (hill top) from Alipiri (down hill). Incidentally one of my clients was getting married on 10th, and I thought I could club both – marriage as well as Lord Balaji’s darshan. The last time I visited Tirupathi was in the year 1990 – a fully sponsored trip - with my father, mother and sisters. The thought of Tirupathi always gave me jitters especially the huge crowd and the long queues. Formerly it used to take 4-6 hours for God’s darshan and these days it takes 2-3 days!!!

I went alone, so that I can think only about God while completing my prayer or else it could become a family picnic – which I wasn’t interested in. The 4 hours walk up hill was interesting and sweating too. There were many who were walking and the most common prayers by people were applying sandal paste and kum kum to each and every step - I think there were some 3000 and odd steps totally - quite a difficult task. And another married couple – walked the hill on their knees!!! I don’t think prayers can get tougher than this.

My teacher (Ayyappa Guruswamy) always used to say when you climb religious mountains, never climb them in a hurry. It is not about proving your stamina it is about how comfortably you make it to the top, and also the air in mountains are pure and are full of medicinal values. Inhaling them will improve your health, and cure some diseases too - hence take as much rest as possible while climbing.

I reached the top in about 4 hours, and with my menial Telugu speaking skills I managed to find the token counter. You either can go in for free darshan, which might take at least 12 hours, or go in for Rs 50 darsha, where in they will give you a token about when exactly you need to come for the darshan. The difference between free and paid are – in free you are entitled to get only one laddu and in Rs 50 token – you are entitled to get 2 laddus. Also in free, you will never know when you will get the darshan, while in the paid – you know exactly when you are supposed to reach the shrine.

I was panicky about the free darshan, hence thought will go in for Rs 50 wala darshan. On 9th, the notice board said – darshan on 11th, 2 pm. I thought they have done some kind of error in putting up the dates. I confirmed with two others, and they said yes, this token would entitle you to take darshan on 11th (day after tomorrow) at 2 pm. I asked him, what am I supposed to do till then? He said – your wish. You can book a room, or go to Chennai and come back on 11th! I abandoned the queue.

I got damn pissed off. I found it crazy. I lost my temper too. I had a verbal fight with my favourite deity – Lord Narayana - ‘THE’ God for good astrological skills. I told him, I have come to see you, and I am not taking this shit of waiting for 2 days. I have done my duty of climbing the mountain to see you, now you decide when you want to have the meeting. I said, anyways I am going back after the marriage – that is tomorrow morning (10th) after 10 am, even if we don’t meet.

To be continued……

Posted by Kenni at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)

September 07, 2006

Understanding Islam better!

Just because few Muslims happen to be terrorists, it doesn’t mean we need to get biased towards all of them. All my friends who are Muslims are peaceful & peace loving people and they hardly talk about violence. But in recent times the West and the media have succeeded in creating a fear in minds of people against Muslims, that which happened against Sikhs a couple of decades back. Thanks to our own fundamentalist parties like BJP & RSS to have added more venom to the otherwise brotherly relationship.

Here is the pocast interview with Dr M P Aboobakar, an expert in Islam, who throws light on few misunderstood and misinterpreted concepts about Islam….

Click here to download the conversation

The Questions that were asked were…..

Q1) How does Islam define God?

Q2) What makes a person an ideal Muslim?

Q3) What is the real meaning of Jehad?

Q4) With so many terrorist attacks predominantly by Muslims, where do you think Islam as a global religion stands at present?

Q5) What would Muslims want to be referred as? An Indian first or a Muslim first?

Q6) Agreed Islam is the only right religion. Then what about other religions? Are they all fake?

Q7) Do you think by sticking too much to the Kuran as a gospel, Muslims have closed themselves from reality and also to the modern lifestyle? (Why Burkha)

Q8) What is your stand on Hindu fundamentalists parties? Do you think it is right to project India as a Hindu nation in the global scenario?

Q9) About the latest Vande Mataram controversy. What is your stand on it? What is so anti-Islam about reciting Vande Mataram?

Q10) Your insight into polygamy?

If you have any further queries you can write to Dr M P Abubakar at aboobakarthwahir@yahoo.com

Inshallah!

Posted by Kenni at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)

September 06, 2006

10 Questions with Dr M P Aboobakar!

In context with the latest controversies connected to Muslims and Islam, I thought having a conversation with a Muslim expert would throw some light on few interpretations and few misinterpretations related to Islam. Hence planned a podcast interview with Mr Dr M P Aboobakr…..

Dr. M P Aboobakar Thwahir, MA (Political Science and International Law), ND (Doctor of Naturopathy), Ph.D (Medicina Alternativa), D.Sc (Dietetics), Dip in Arabic (Cairo) is the founder of All India Letter Writers Association (Both electronic and print media).

He is presently working with The Tata Power Co. Ltd., as Assistant Manager. He is the President of Muballigh (Messenger for Universal brotherhood and living life as per Islamic guidelines and Humanism). He is also the Founder President of Wish Welfare and Charitable Trust. He has been writing columns, articles, letters, reviews, on contemporary topics and Islam for over 35 years.

His articles and letters appeared in Arab News, Times of India, Indian Express, Free Press Journal, Milli Gazette, Radiance, Islamic Voice, Asian Age, Malabar Herald etc. His name features in the Limca Book of Records. He was honoured Doctorate of Public Journalism by World Development Parliament. He is a Doctor of Alternative Medicine from Colombo and he has addressed World Congress of Alt. Medicine in 1997. He is a social activist and crusader for good governance and clean administration. He had addressed several seminars and workshops. Recently he was awarded “Knight of Conscience” from AILWA for his struggle against communalization of politics. His interview had appeared in Times of India, Asian Age, Indian Express, Mid-day etc. He also teaches Arabic grammar and Islam at his leisure time.

Check out the podcast interview tomorrow….and wish me All the Best….Inshallah!

Posted by Kenni at 07:31 AM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2006

An important note….

(I had started typing this blog, and I got a call from ‘Times Now’ – yes the news channel. They were doing a news story on the Pluto episode, and they carried Professor Yashpal (scientist), Piyush (Nehru Planetarium), and G. Kennedi (astrologer)’s views on scientist’s new discovery – that the planet Pluto will no longer be a planet but will remain as a dwarf planet. It was a live show, hence could not keep you posted about it. Thankfully I had a handycam to record the same at my home, will post the video once I get it on to the CD! Will blog about Times Now and Pluto episode later).

Here goes the blog…

I am an astrologer for all those who trust me, meet me, buzz me, call me and visit my blogs regularly. My predictions won’t suit all the 100 crore people living in India or few trillion people living in the world. My predictions will suit only those who get connected to me by various means. This is similar to a situation where in you have hundreds of good doctors around you, and also you are aware about who is the most famous among them, but still you prefer someone in particular – because he suits you the best! Which is described as Rhanu Bandana in Sanskrit – and can also be called as karmic connections. Here is what I wanted to tell to all my clients, friends, well-wishers & readers….

One of the major celestial events that affect human life is Saturn Transit, and it is about to happen in November 2006. Astrologically Saturn will move from Kataka (Cancer) into Simha (Leo). And this will bring major changes in people’s life….

The bad part –

Few clients of mine will have – suicidal tendencies, problems in marital life, problems in career, thoughts about quitting jobs, health problems for him/her as well as family members, loss of money, depression, and a feeling of stagnancy.

As a remedy you can go to temples on all Saturdays, and light diya to Shani Bhagwan. Or you can chant Om Namo Shivaya 108 times every morning before 7 am. This will lead to peace of mind.

The good part –

Few clients will have – unexpected increase in income and salary, job interviews in MNCs & bigger companies, good news on the marriage & children front, foreign prospects, and fulfillment of material desires

Both bad and good part will get triggered, and events will move at a very fast pace. Hence the people who are running the bad phase are advised to postpone important decisions about