Friday, October 28, 2005

Horoscopes - Why Do We Need Them?

Somebody please explain to me how horoscopes work. Or if at all they work.

If all the 64 factors in the horoscopes of the bride and the groom match, does it mean that they will never have a fight in their marriage, that they will never have financial, familial, emotional trouble as long as they are married to each other?

If none of the 64 factors matches, then does it mean that their marriage is doomed, that they will never have children, and if they do that the children will turn out lousy?

Is the amount of misery or happiness proportional to the number of factors that match?

Was it in the horoscopes of all those people that died in the tsunamis, the earthquake, the floods in Mumbai and New Orleans, the London tube and the double decker bus, the twin towers, and the planes that crashed into the twin towers, that they would all die that day?

Was it written in their horoscopes that they would all die together, terrorists and passengers and people on the ground alike, in a fire ball, in the company of strangers, away from the protective embrace of their mothers and fathers, children in schools with concrete crushing their bones to powder, fishermen in rickety boats, on beaches, and city-dwellers in ditches and drains?

Was it written in Senthil's horoscope that he would die trying to cross a New Delhi street? If he had known that, would he be alive today if he'd stayed home?

Was it writtein in Vaishali's horoscope that her own father would ask for sex from her and that she would be raped by her own son, twice? If someone had told her that, would she have escaped what happened to her?

If your horoscope says you'll be successful, does that mean that you don't have to go to school or work?

What is a horoscope if not a convenient crutch, something to blame when things don't go as planned, as you want them to?

17 comments:

Minal said...

What is a horoscope if not a convenient crutch, something to blame when things don't go as planned, as you want them to?

You have answered it yourself Sujatha. Honestly, I find this horoscope stuff all hogwash. It's crazy. You write your destinty with your own hands. If you succeed it's yours , if you fail it's also yours:-)

Anonymous said...

One school of thought says that because everything in this Universe was created out of a common material, human lives are influenced by every other thing in the Universe.

It's a highly debatable topic though. Good post!

Naveen Roy said...

Horrorscopes more like it!!!...........what a whole lotta hogwash.......

The ramblings of a shoe fiend said...

i have alot of the same q's you do regarding people who die in man made and natural disasters.

And about matching horoscopes before a wedding I think it's done to give parents some peace of mind if nothing else.

My own parents were quite into the whole horroscope thing till they realised there is such a thing as 'too much information'

Anonymous said...

As you said, people need something to depend on...be it to blame or to look forward to.

And some people are taking advantge of these very belifs..and making it a money making business.

Kaps said...

Q: Why do we need horoscopes?

A: to provide jobs to astrologers.

Krish said...

Horoscope or horror-scope?

:-)

Sunil said...

what surprises me more is the number of well educated people who absolutely believe in horoscopes.

Now, if you life is influenced by planets, why is it that only seven planets (and the sun and the moon) influence your life? What happens to all those millions of other stars, planets, satellites, comets, asteroids and what have you? Why don't they have dibs on your life?

My prediction.......the stars foretell that something nice will happen to you in the next one week. If ANYTHING nice happens, it's all because of my foresight. :-)

Anonymous said...

There's no dearth of these astrologers nor believers amongst us! What to do..we Indians are like this only.... :(

the Monk said...

nice post.....too true...horoscopes are total crap...

Sujatha Bagal said...

Minal, yup!

Vinaya, interesting theory that...Wonder how it works though.

Anoop, :)))

SF, yeah, it's amazing how much astrologers know about us and our lives!

Sakshi, Kaps, a completely credible explanation.

Thennava, thanks for visiting and commenting. :))

Sunil, wow! that was brilliant. Lots of good stuff happened this diwali week. I'll definitely come back to you for more predictions...:))

Moddy loner, thanks for visiting and commenting. Basically it's a crutch because there are too many unknowns or we've been brought up not to have confidence in the things we know....

Hiren, thanks for visiting and commenting. May be the good practitioners should explain how this process works...

Ravi, :((

Monk, thanks for visiting and commenting.:))

Anshul said...

Great one! Sujatha and so true.

Sujatha Bagal said...

Anahita, yeah! good angle! Thanks for visiting and commenting.

Anshul, thanks.

Ambuj Saxena said...

That horoscopes are crap is an understatement. People need something to blame when things go wrong. I am waiting for the day it becomes mandatory that horoscopes will carry disclaimers like:

"The information provided by this horoscope is a personal opinion of the astrologer. You should follow the suggestions at your own risk only after careful consideration. Horoscopes are not admissible as legal evidances."

Sujatha Bagal said...

Hi Ambuj, welcome to my blog. That disclaimer is a cool idea!

kairosnow said...

wow...great thought.

Sujatha Bagal said...

Chez, thanks. Welcome to my blog.