From ‘Stars of India. Travels in Search of astrologers and fortune tellers’ by Peter Holt

The Indians have a hard task convincing the rest of the world that they were the first civilization to realize that the planets affect our lives…….there is virtually no documented astrological evidence. The country’s ancient history was based on the oral tradition and little was written down. ……the fervor with which her people tackle the stars indicates that the country’s astrological roots are very deep indeed.

Where else but in India will you find so many experts in prediction?

Hindu astrology has so much more appeal than the western variety. In India, your astrologer will give you a precise reading based on events that have happened, or will happen, in your life. Many western astrologers offer little more than a character analysis…the Indian version tends to be more exciting and revealing …..Until the end of the last century, Hindu and western astrology were very similar ……Event-based astrology had long been a problem in the Christian world because it appeared to impinge on free will.

He drove like any other bus-driver on the subcontinent – too fast with little regard for his passengers and even less for the oncoming trucks that he passed with inches to spare….

….Mr Patel had told me there was only one astrologer in the capital who was both highly respected and had direct access to the corridors of power. No visit to Delhi would be complete without seeing a Brahmin called K.N.Rao.

Sixty is regarded by the Hindus as a special age, when a man reaches the peak of his intellectual powers.

….Ujjain….retains a mighty vibrational spirituality….

Astrologically, Calcutta doesn’t stand a chance. Indian astrologers claim that the city’s geographical position means that it has for much of this century attracted the most negative rays that the planets can offer.

K.N.Rao and his Delhi associates believe that Calcutta has no future and that the city will be destroyed. They foretell bloodshed and upheaval.

‘Calcutta occupies about the worst place in the zodiac of anywhere in the world,’ Rao says. ‘It means that whenever any important planetary transit takes place, disastrous things happen there and in the surrounding area of Bengal. The city is in for revolutionary changes and they won’t be good.’

…the city’s Durga Puja festival ….Police commissioner Mr Tushar Talukdar was quoted in a newspaper as saying, ‘Barring a few untoward incidents, the Pujas passed off peacefully this time.’ The same newspaper article reported 1,102 arrests, three incidents of bomb-throwing between organizers and a riot in which the police fired teargas on a fifteen-hundred-strong stone-throwing mob….

Calcutta is so poverty stricken that it seems obscene …..but precious stones are one of the highest luxury expenditures for Calcutta's middle-classes. ……the state of Bengal was once one of the richest gem-producing states in India until the British milked the mines dry. Today, astro-gems are still taken more seriously in Calcutta than in any other city in the country.

………Mr Ramajogeswara Rao, reputedly one of the finest ‘nadi’ readers in India.

…..Keralans take great pride in their land almost to the point of assuming an edge of superiority over the rest of India. The change becomes obvious the moment your bus crosses the state border from Tamil Nadu. Within a mile, the road surface has improved and the housing is better. The villages vibrate with fresh coats of whitewash. The people seem to be happier and more energetic than their Tamil neighbours.

Keralans cheerfully admit that their state is the most superstitious in India

He was recovering from an ear infection which he had cured by pouring vodka into his aural canal, a remedy highly recommended by German travelers.

….the brilliant green of the jungle foliage. It is this green that Kerala is famous for. ….It is a dazzling green, brighter than the clearest emerald, a colour of extraordinary density…….

…….B.V. Raman, India’s most famous astrologer this century…

Rao’s view of the future was particularly gloomy for Europe. He predicted the collapse of the European Union and economic turmoil. Of all the western countries, Britain would face the toughest time.

‘I don’t see the end of the world, but I definitely predict that world culture will undergo a total change and the superpowers will vanish. England will suffer greatly. I don’t see much future for England beyond the year 2000.’