Remakrishna Narayan, the well-known psychic of Madras, tells G.Krishnan his predictions for the coming year.
Think of a number below 10,000 but don't tell us what it is," suggested my guest. He then turned to my friend and asked him to write down a number below 5000, one below 200 and one below 5. He ordered him to add them up and bingo! It was the number I had been thinking of.
NAMBUNGAL (believe) Narayanan, as Ramakrishna Narayanan is popularly known, was as if again-trying to convince yet another sceptic about his remarkable extra sensory perception.
Perhaps the portly Narayanan sensed that I thought this was some trick. He took my notebook and wrote down something on the last page. He then asked me to write down the names of five flowers. When he asked me to turn the back page, I found that Narayanan had written them down, and in the same order!
People who have come in contact with Narayanan during the last 30 years say he sometimes gives the exercise a twist. He once got a man to telephone his wife and ask her to say a number. When the man returned, Narayanam showed him a piece of paper with the number that his wife had mentioned. Narayanan, who works in the Central Government office in Madras, uses this inborn talent to entertain club audiences by giving predictions on various subjects.
His predictions, which have been recorded and have come true, include: the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the appointment of R.Venkataraman as president, the death of General Zia-ul-Huq, the election of Benazir Bhutto, the earth quakes in South America, Algeria and Nepal, the attempt on the life of US president Ronald Reagan, the re-election of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister, the despatch of the Indian army to Sri Lanka (he predicted it two years before the Indian Peace-keeping Force went in) and, more recently, the attempt on Sirimavo Bandaranaike's life. Narayanan adds that Bandaranaike will contest the results of the recent election and the decision will be in her favour.
Many of his predictions, however, could be written off as common knowledge or scientific deductions. For instance, he claims credit for predicting that the Halley's comet would be seen in India, a fact already known to astronomers. He also tries to impress people with newspaper cuttings of various earth quakes that he has predicted-or atleast shown documentary evidence of having predicted them. Even though he correctly forecast that there would be an earthquake in South America and in Nepal, he often shows clippings of other earthquakes too, which a gullible person might get impressed with. All this is not to discount his abilities or to paint him a charlatan, which he is not. Narayanan himself admits that at least 20 per cent of his predictions do not come true, and he is invariably wrong when it comes to knowing his own future.
Narayanan says he developed his occult powers after a head injury 30 years ago. He says when he was drifting in and out of coma, he had an out-of-body vision in which he saw himself lying on the hospital bed, surrounded by doctors. During that vision, he also saw a doctor's body being carried out of a house. When he became conscious, he was shocked to see the same doctor he had seen in his vision, standing next to him. He correctly described the contents in the doctor's living room, though he had never been there, and even mentioned the name of the doctor's wife. He predicted that the doctor would die that night-and he did.
Narayanan has been subjected to intensive testing by a team of doctors at the Madras Medical College and was found to emit more alpha waves than most people. But the frequent requests for predictions makes him exert himself, leaving him mentally and physically exhausted.
Narayanan admits to being frequently consulted by industrial houses to suggest names or alter the existing one of their companies. He claims that a leading tyre manufacturer made minor alterations to the company's name and their profits soared. Even the government's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, frequently consults him, especially on Sri Lankan affairs.
His predictions for the comming year include:
Formation of a coalition government in Tamilnadu headed by Congress (I) and G.K. Moopanar, along with the Janaki Ramachandran faction which, Narayanan says, will win the maximum number of seats but will not be able to form the ministry because of Central intervention. Jayalalitha will eventually join the group, but will never become the chief minister. The DMK will probably get another 10 or 15 seats compared to the previous election and the chances of Karunanidhi becoming chief minister are nil. The Moopanar government will face problems two years later, when differences of opinion will crop up among his colleagues.
Astrologically speaking, Narayanan says, Jayalalitha is going through a bad time because of retrogression of Venus and Mars, which explained the desertion of some of her followers. Janaki Ramachandran will become increasingly powerful since she is ruled by the zodiacal sign Cancer and has Makara lagnam in her horoscope.
Rajiv Gandhi will face bad times since he comes under Simha rasi with Kanya lagnam, and even though Jupiter is favourable to him, Saturn is not. Gandhi will win the elections but will have problems forming the ministry. If he conducts the elections after April 1990, he will be successful.
V.P.Singh has a very good time ahead because Venus is exalted in his horoscope for another eight years. So will Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao, who will be all powerful. But West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu will have a setback after March 1990.
Bandaranaike should be careful since there will be an attempt on her life after she comes to power, but will survive the attempt. The IPKF will leave the country after six to eight months, and peace will be restored in Sri Lanka. The LTTE and the TULF will join hands with Bandaranaike in solving the ethnic problem.
Bhutto will join hands with George Bush and trigger a war, which will be fought in the Middle East.
India will become a major oil producer. Share prices will go up from April and the country's agricultural production will be good with a bumper crop of wheat. There will be severe floods and storms from October, especially near Andhra Pradesh or Orissa resulting in many deaths.
Referring to the future of THE INDIAN POST, Naarayanan says it will be a major force in the years to come, and will have a circulation of 3.5 to 4 lakh. The good times will begin after August this year. Incidentally, one of the reasons for the success of the paper, he says, is because its name has 13 letters which is numerologically significant. For example the full names of Jesus and Allah are numerologically 13. George Washington was sworn in at 13 hours, had a 13-gun salute, and was president of a country that had 13 states. The eagle of the US emblem, he points out, has 13 feathers on each wing.
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[email protected]Last update: 8 July 1998