Speaker 1: Warning. The following episode contains adult language, discussion of miracles,
Speaker 1: arranged marriages, Channing Tatum, and disclosure of at least one
Speaker 1: Bible approved stoning. Sensitive listeners take care. So here's the
Speaker 1: confession I'm gonna make right at the top of the show.
Speaker 1: I don't believe in astrology, but astrology keeps happening to me. Now.
Speaker 1: Everyone says podcasting is the most visual medium, So I
Speaker 1: made you a slide show to try to explain. This
Speaker 1: is the real skyline drive. It's in Delaware, and growing
Speaker 1: up when I couldn't sleep, it's one of the any
Speaker 1: places I would drive to look at the stars. This
Speaker 1: is the moon. It rules our emotions. This is mercury
Speaker 1: in retrograde. You know it because it makes life miserable.
Speaker 1: This is Rahu and Kaithu. They're important and mischievous nodes
Speaker 1: in Vedic astrology. They're prominent in Donald Trump's horoscope, and
Speaker 1: they're also responsible for Paris Hilton. This is me. I
Speaker 1: was born May first nine. This is the sky at
Speaker 1: the time I was born. In Western astrology, it makes
Speaker 1: me a Taurus. These are some other tourists pol pot
Speaker 1: I told Komeni. Saddam Hussein Adolph Hitler, Barbara Strice. Then
Speaker 1: the fact that we're all tourises has made me doubt
Speaker 1: astrology for a very long time. These are my parents.
Speaker 1: They've been hitched fifty one years and every morning my
Speaker 1: dad makes my mom a cup of tea and then
Speaker 1: they sit and do the spelling being pencil. It's adorable, right.
Speaker 1: These are my parents calling in the middle of this recording.
Speaker 1: And I guess you think it goes for is climbing back?
Speaker 1: Give me a club. This is India when I was
Speaker 1: growing up, where it's like yoga and meditation and turmeric
Speaker 1: and astrology. These are words that were part of my
Speaker 1: Indian life, but they weren't a part of my going
Speaker 1: to school fitting into America one. But now now everyone
Speaker 1: has an opinion about it. I'm a Gemini, which I've
Speaker 1: heard is bad. I'm a Libra, so I'm indecisive. That's
Speaker 1: definitely true. I'm a tourists. I find it starts to
Speaker 1: be beautiful. It sucks that we can't see you start
Speaker 1: in New York because all the lights. I know a
Speaker 1: few people who are kind of into it, and they're like, asked, yo,
Speaker 1: did you see the horoscope today? And I'm like, nah, bro,
Speaker 1: not really, I'm not worried about what the horoscope says.
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people don't believe in it,
Speaker 1: but why can't people just believe in things for fun,
Speaker 1: Like it doesn't have to be backed up by anything.
Speaker 1: But if you believe in fantasy football, why can't you
Speaker 1: believe in astrology. A few months ago, my friends and
Speaker 1: I sat out to make this show about astrology. We
Speaker 1: wanted to run around the city and have some wild
Speaker 1: adventures and understand why after so many millennia, people still
Speaker 1: looked the sky for answers. This is an astrologer I
Speaker 1: met in Queens. He promised me, you're gonna dig this show.
Speaker 1: I think if you do your own show will become
Speaker 1: a super hit, no doubt about it. This is a
Speaker 1: graph of how much I believe in astrology before our session.
Speaker 1: Not that much. This is a graph of how much
Speaker 1: I started believing thirty minutes later when something horrible he
Speaker 1: said came true. That's why I asked again from the
Speaker 1: time he started a couple of years back. Still now,
Speaker 1: the situation doesn't look good. This is me traveling halfway
Speaker 1: around the world to answer the biggest question my entire life.
Speaker 1: This is a shop in India where your fortune is
Speaker 1: waiting for you. It was written centuries ago and put
Speaker 1: on a shelf and the shopkeepers know which one to
Speaker 1: pull because it's coated by your thumb print and the
Speaker 1: time you're gonna walk through that door. This, this is
Speaker 1: me walking through that door. I'm Mungay Fatigular from Kaleidoscope
Speaker 1: and I heart Radio. This is Skyline Drive, Chapter one.
Speaker 1: Leave your acts at home. So I figured, you know,
Speaker 1: I do need to sown an astrologer. And there are
Speaker 1: a bunch of astrologers on the upper west Side. Was
Speaker 1: set up with these waits. You're looking for an astrologer
Speaker 1: to sewn. Oh yeah, well I need to check it
Speaker 1: off the list. I've you know already this reporting and
Speaker 1: starting off weirder than I thought. It's ten o'clock on
Speaker 1: a bright summer day and I'm standing here with A. J. Jacobs.
Speaker 1: I am an author and a journalist and a pisces.
Speaker 1: In addition to being a pisces or technically on the
Speaker 1: cusp of pisces and aries. AJ is a friend and
Speaker 1: he's one of my favorite writers. I've come to meet
Speaker 1: him in this neighborhood because in two thousand seven, he
Speaker 1: wrote a New York Times bestseller called The Year of
Speaker 1: Living Biblically. The book was a phenomenon. It came out
Speaker 1: in multiple languages, There were magazine and TV pieces about it.
Speaker 1: It was such a big deal that at one point
Speaker 1: Marlon Waynes was lined up to play a j in
Speaker 1: the Network TV version. The premise was that I would
Speaker 1: follow all the rules of the Bible as literally as possible,
Speaker 1: so that man the famous ones like the Ten Commandments
Speaker 1: and love your neighbor, but also the lesser known ones
Speaker 1: like you cannot wear clothes made of two different kinds
Speaker 1: of fabrics, so I had to get rid of all
Speaker 1: of my polycotton blend. Giving up polygon blends is just
Speaker 1: one of the hardships Aga endured in the Navy journalism.
Speaker 1: He also grew a massive beard, shoved wild birds so
Speaker 1: he could steal its egg and say a prayer on it.
Speaker 1: And he followed seven hundred other Biblical rules literally in
Speaker 1: an attempt to understand religion. And somewhere along the way
Speaker 1: he decided that to fully appreciate the Bible, you actually
Speaker 1: had to stone people who committed these abominations, and the
Speaker 1: abominations included adultery, breaking the Sabbath, but also astrology, witchcraft, divination,
Speaker 1: they're all sort of lumped together. Just the fact that
Speaker 1: he decided to stone someone was a shock to me.
Speaker 1: I mean, Aj is one of the nicest people I know,
Speaker 1: but that's how committed he was. I didn't want to
Speaker 1: go to jail for assault. I just wanted to check
Speaker 1: it off my list, you know, stone and astrologer check.
Speaker 1: So I walked by this astrologer on the street and
Speaker 1: just Marry subtly dropped the pebble so that it landed
Speaker 1: on her shoe, kind of a drive by stoning. And
Speaker 1: I was thinking, she's probably not even gonna notice because
Speaker 1: I just kept walking. Oh she noticed, and she's like,
Speaker 1: what what's going on? Why did you do that? And
Speaker 1: so I had to tell the truth. Because I was
Speaker 1: following the Bible. I thought maybe she'll think it's funny.
Speaker 1: She did not think it's funny. She was pissed. She
Speaker 1: started yelling at me like, f you go to f
Speaker 1: and hell, I was rattled. Even if you're trying to
Speaker 1: stone someone in modern day using pebbles, people don't like it.
Speaker 1: Well that's a lesson, that's a takeaway rule. Number one,
Speaker 1: don't stone an astrologer. There wasn't the advice I'd come for,
Speaker 1: but I wrote it down anyway. But the thing I'd
Speaker 1: really wanted to know. The reason I traveled all the
Speaker 1: way out here to meet with a j was to
Speaker 1: ask him how to make the show, because doing the
Speaker 1: show on astrology it actually makes me nervous, like is
Speaker 1: there a way to talk about how accurate of fortune
Speaker 1: telling parrot could possibly be? Or is there a way
Speaker 1: to joke about whether an astro curse can make you bald?
Speaker 1: Because even if the show makes me look sillate, like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to get disinvited from a family wedding
Speaker 1: because I said something that hurt friends or family, or
Speaker 1: really anyone who puts stock in these subjects. As I'm
Speaker 1: trying to uncover threads and things like how do you
Speaker 1: tell a story delicately where you're not offending people but
Speaker 1: still engaging with all the subject I had that exact
Speaker 1: dilemma when I was writing The Year of Living Biblically,
Speaker 1: because I was coming in as an agnostic writing about religion.
Speaker 1: My big overall advice is go in with deep curiosity.
Speaker 1: Don't go in with an agenda that you're trying to
Speaker 1: disprove or prove astrology. You're just an explorer. So go
Speaker 1: in like with no ax leave your axes at home.
Speaker 1: That I think I can do. After the break, we
Speaker 1: talked to an astrologer who doesn't believe in astrology, take
Speaker 1: a subway ride to Queen's and hear this from my mom.
Speaker 1: I felt like a juicy though. Chapter two, just for
Speaker 1: funds is the phone listening? Is that? Are you listening
Speaker 1: through the phone? Pattern? AI? The algorithm? That is the pattern?
Speaker 1: Back in one of my friends shot me a text
Speaker 1: linking to this video of Channing Tatum. The actor had
Speaker 1: uploaded it himself after using an astrology app called the Pattern,
Speaker 1: but when Channing's readings became a little too spot on,
Speaker 1: he freaked out, are you listening through my phone? And
Speaker 1: then just regurgitating the stuff that I'm afraid of? And stuff?
Speaker 1: You know what? Pattern? People? You should just call me.
Speaker 1: I need answers right now, poor Channing. I don't know
Speaker 1: if he ever got his answers, but what I do
Speaker 1: know is that astrology is ubiquitous and lucrative. One venture
Speaker 1: capital investor told The New York Times that the app
Speaker 1: co star this pattern competitor had the potential to be
Speaker 1: a twenty four billion dollar business, claiming he could one
Speaker 1: day be as big as Spotify. But if astrology is
Speaker 1: as big an opportunity as everyone's saying, I'm wondering if
Speaker 1: my company should get into the act. After all, it
Speaker 1: feels so obvious that I don't know even a nine
Speaker 1: year old could see the potential. So I decided to
Speaker 1: try to pitch out on my nine year old. Hey,
Speaker 1: why are you letting me do this closet? I brought
Speaker 1: you to this closet because I wanted to pitch you
Speaker 1: on an astrology app? Are you ready for it? The
Speaker 1: why is that? What do you think about astrology? It's dumb?
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, Well, maybe you're not the right person of her.
Speaker 1: But the reason I came to you is because you
Speaker 1: actually have a bank. You spend only my money. You
Speaker 1: seem to hoard all your money, and you keep all
Speaker 1: of Henry's money as well, which you charge him a
Speaker 1: small fee for. So I thought you might be the
Speaker 1: savvaest person in this family. Is it okay if I
Speaker 1: pitch you an astrology app? Okay? So here's my case
Speaker 1: for it. These aren't your grandmother's horse ghosts right there
Speaker 1: talking to you in this very fresh and fun way. Uh,
Speaker 1: they're up to the minute with the NASA data. They
Speaker 1: look beautiful, and they have a chat feature where astrologers
Speaker 1: will chat with you live about your birth charts. Right
Speaker 1: and then by two right, like you can see astrology
Speaker 1: or starting to take over um Bumble the dating app.
Speaker 1: They start allowing you to sort your matches by their
Speaker 1: birth signs, so like you could say, like I only
Speaker 1: want to date Toruses or I only want to date
Speaker 1: Geminis or whatever. In actual, astrology in two thousand nine
Speaker 1: was a two point two billion dollar market. What do
Speaker 1: you think about that? Mind, I can't tell whether you're
Speaker 1: serious or not, but but apps made forty million dollars
Speaker 1: that year, and in fact, the next year, when COVID
Speaker 1: really hit, people started searching for birth charts and astrology.
Speaker 1: Both of those searches hit five year peaks on Google.
Speaker 1: So it's no wonder that all these venture capital funds
Speaker 1: had started investing in astrology apps early and then continue
Speaker 1: to invest um and I'm here to ask you to
Speaker 1: invest in my astrology app. What do you think I'm
Speaker 1: spending my money on a skateboard, not on you okay, Well, Ruby,
Speaker 1: what type of business would you invest in? Bub okay?
Speaker 1: Chapter three, Truth and Poetry. When you go out with
Speaker 1: a recorder in hand, it's interesting to see who'll talk
Speaker 1: on tape. We found scientists at NASA who actually wouldn't
Speaker 1: talk about their interest in astrology to us because they
Speaker 1: were afraid of losing their jobs. We found PhDs and
Speaker 1: post docs who are worried that if they talk at
Speaker 1: all to our podcasts, even to say that astrology was nonsense,
Speaker 1: they would face professional repercussions. I mean, it is insanity
Speaker 1: what a lightning rod astrology can be. But luckily we
Speaker 1: found Jamie Green. My grandfather showed me a little half
Speaker 1: of a peanut that had the German it and he said,
Speaker 1: that's going to become a plant. And it was just
Speaker 1: things like that that got me interested in the world,
Speaker 1: which is the same as being interested in science. Jamie
Speaker 1: is a celebrated science writer and I'm Sagittarius, although you
Speaker 1: would not know it from looking at anything about my life.
Speaker 1: I've got some planet in Capricorn that explains why I'm
Speaker 1: not an impulsive adventurer. She has a new book coming
Speaker 1: out called The Possibility of Life and she's co editor
Speaker 1: of the annual Best American Science and Nature writing volumes,
Speaker 1: and whether it's chatting about our garden or the way
Speaker 1: we perceive constellations, her capacity for wonder is incredible and infectious.
Speaker 1: But perhaps what I love most about Jamie was how
Speaker 1: she clarified that science and astrology don't actually have to
Speaker 1: be at odds with one another, that we don't need
Speaker 1: science to disprove astrology. Not that she thinks astrology is
Speaker 1: a science exactly scientifically, in terms of astronomy, astrology doesn't
Speaker 1: hold a lot of meaning because it's all very human centric.
Speaker 1: From the point of view of looking at the stars
Speaker 1: from Earth, the stars are light years apart. They have
Speaker 1: no real relation to each other except in our minds.
Speaker 1: But that relationship, the one we make up while looking
Speaker 1: up at the stars, that means something, or it can
Speaker 1: mean something if you wanted to. It's like a much
Speaker 1: more eloquent, poetic personal fortune cookie. And I don't mean
Speaker 1: that disparagingly. I just think that it's for you to
Speaker 1: take from it what you need. And like we don't
Speaker 1: think it's anti science to say a poem is true.
Speaker 1: I think that's where science gets defensive, is when people
Speaker 1: say that astrology as a science and has physical roots
Speaker 1: in the stars, It's like, oh, no it doesn't, but
Speaker 1: it's true the way a poem is true. I can't
Speaker 1: tell you how much I love that. I mean, as
Speaker 1: someone who's a skeptic but also a romantic, this idea
Speaker 1: that astrology is true the same way a poem is true.
Speaker 1: That feels right to me. And it's something my friend
Speaker 1: Pete also said when I talked to him, Pete Steel is, well,
Speaker 1: it's complicated. So like even though I wasn't like a
Speaker 1: semi successful like musician, I was like, I need to
Speaker 1: make money somehow, like right now, Like what other skills
Speaker 1: do I happen do? Astrology? T is a rock star,
Speaker 1: like a real rock star. He used to be in
Speaker 1: The Walkman, that massive seminal Indie rock band, and yes,
Speaker 1: his backup career was professional astrology. When he was younger,
Speaker 1: he trained with this big famous guru. He was living
Speaker 1: in his guesthouse and that's where he learned to read
Speaker 1: star charts. You would take him back to him and
Speaker 1: he would say like, no, it's the dumbest thing I've
Speaker 1: ever heard, Like you're wrong, you know, And then he
Speaker 1: kind of in very traditional style, like yell at the
Speaker 1: apprentice sort of thing, master, very very karate kid kind
Speaker 1: of feeling right your said, here's the other thing. Pete
Speaker 1: doesn't even believe in astrology. He's a rock star who
Speaker 1: does astrology for politicians and World Bank economists and all
Speaker 1: sorts of interesting folks, but he doesn't believe in it.
Speaker 1: It's this art to me, And I don't mean that dismissively, like,
Speaker 1: but that's like my whole being, Like, that's what I
Speaker 1: care about. What he believes really is in a more
Speaker 1: vivid reality, a kind of embroidered view of the world.
Speaker 1: Pete and I both spent formative years in India, and
Speaker 1: we have a certain comfort in the magical. If you
Speaker 1: read like a hundred Years of Solitude or something like that,
Speaker 1: world of like this kind of magical Columbia. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like that felt very similar in a lot of
Speaker 1: ways to how we were raised. Magical explanations have been
Speaker 1: woven throughout my life, like why was my family's little
Speaker 1: community in India so well off a century ago? You
Speaker 1: could say it's because of luck or global economics. You
Speaker 1: could say it's because when the Civil War was happening,
Speaker 1: in the US England actually needed more sources of cotton
Speaker 1: to replace all the cotton that the U s had
Speaker 1: been producing. And my family they just happened to be
Speaker 1: in the right place to manage mills and plant cotton
Speaker 1: on their land. Or you could tell the story in
Speaker 1: a way that's way, way more magical, that a great
Speaker 1: great ancestor had this powerful vision from a goddess that
Speaker 1: if he chanted a simple string of prayers every single night,
Speaker 1: and he taught all his children to sing it, and
Speaker 1: they taught all their children, his people would be protected
Speaker 1: for years. And for most of my life, I only
Speaker 1: knew that second story Shampaji I am Maslova mal Ja
Speaker 1: Jakovambama by ot. Yeah about chapter four, mopeds and mini skirts.
Speaker 1: Arranged marriage has always been this thing that's hard for
Speaker 1: me to talk about. When I first moved to Delaware,
Speaker 1: kids in my elementary school had all these questions for
Speaker 1: me about being Indian, right, like does your family sleep
Speaker 1: on a bed of nails? Can you charm snakes? Just
Speaker 1: you know these things they've seen on cartoons? And arranged
Speaker 1: marriage was just another one of these questions I'd have
Speaker 1: to field, except this one actually bothered me more because
Speaker 1: this time I'd have to admit that, yes, my parents
Speaker 1: did have an arranged marriage, and then I'd have to
Speaker 1: explain that The thing is, everyone assumed my mom and
Speaker 1: dad were like forcibly, paired off when they were nine
Speaker 1: years old and then sent away to work and have kids,
Speaker 1: and that isn't true. It's like my parents situation was
Speaker 1: a little more like pride and prejudice. Like, you come
Speaker 1: from a good family, your parents want you to marry
Speaker 1: into another good family, so they set you up. They
Speaker 1: make introductions to certain people, and if you like each other,
Speaker 1: they kind of fast track the marriage or they make
Speaker 1: more introductions. But since this was already super hard to explain,
Speaker 1: I I just left out the part of astrology, which
Speaker 1: also plays a big role in the whole arranged marriage thing.
Speaker 1: It was like, I don't know, just too difficult or
Speaker 1: embarrassing something. After all, it's it's a weird thing to
Speaker 1: have to admit you only exist because of astrology. But
Speaker 1: I'll let my mom explain. Tell me about how your
Speaker 1: marriage was arranged. Oh that's funny, okay. Uhm's aunt shout
Speaker 1: at the cup. She came to see Emma because she'd
Speaker 1: heard that, you know, I was available. I guess this
Speaker 1: story starts, of course, with two families dusting off their
Speaker 1: kids horse hopes and handing them off to a trusted astrologer,
Speaker 1: not some low level quack. So they matched it, and
Speaker 1: it matched perfectly. The traditional Indian matching system is way
Speaker 1: more complicated than just saying is he a scorpio? A
Speaker 1: proper celestial marriage is supposed to be a union of souls,
Speaker 1: so the astrologers inspect all the vagaries of your chart
Speaker 1: and pressure test everything like your personalities, your feelings about
Speaker 1: class and status, even how a couple's health will be
Speaker 1: affected by one another. It's all on the scale of
Speaker 1: thirty six points, and any match under eighteen points shouldn't
Speaker 1: be considered. But anything over thirty two, that's something you
Speaker 1: want to lock down immediately. My badness want to make
Speaker 1: sure that the man and it did not really let
Speaker 1: me share. Asked the astrology you know, how is this nature?
Speaker 1: So the astrologer to Nama, that was a gently creature
Speaker 1: you know, never loss system. But so this part is
Speaker 1: as true. I've only ever heard my dad yell a
Speaker 1: handful of times, and most of that was when our
Speaker 1: dog Lupani would just race out of the house and
Speaker 1: he would run after her with this like slice of craft,
Speaker 1: singles cheese, just waving it to try to tempt her back.
Speaker 1: And it always worked because she was super greedy. But
Speaker 1: one fault he'd have has never come on time to
Speaker 1: the table to have dinner. And we thought it was
Speaker 1: a big joke and that came true. We couldn't believe
Speaker 1: that astrology could be that powerful to tell a quote
Speaker 1: like that. Wasn't there something else with the mother in law?
Speaker 1: The mother law? Yes, they said that I would be
Speaker 1: best for a boy that did not have a mother.
Speaker 1: I really don't know. They said was something to do
Speaker 1: with the stars, and if I had a mother in law,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't go ahead. So here who had lost his
Speaker 1: mother when he was under a year, I think, I'm
Speaker 1: just about to you. So it was perfect. This is
Speaker 1: something I think about a lot, how astrology accounts for everything.
Speaker 1: My dad had aya or a nanny, but he never
Speaker 1: had a mother. His life was a series of hostels
Speaker 1: and boarding schools, sometimes in cities hundreds of miles from
Speaker 1: his home. It makes me sad to think about. But
Speaker 1: if his mom had survived, my parents would never have
Speaker 1: been together. Astrology would have made sure of that. Anyway,
Speaker 1: back to my mom. Even though my grandmam was working
Speaker 1: really hard to set her up, my mom was not
Speaker 1: keen to get married. I wasn't ready. I was still
Speaker 1: studying and it was in my final year for master's
Speaker 1: studying linguistics. I didn't want to give that up, and
Speaker 1: they didn't want to get married that fast. So I
Speaker 1: felt like a juicy though I wasn't happy, and things
Speaker 1: were really moving faster than I ever expected, so I said,
Speaker 1: I'm going to foil this. So, just to get the picture,
Speaker 1: a typical woman hoping for a match would be waiting,
Speaker 1: sitting by her parents, dressed in a sorry or something
Speaker 1: traditional like making a big show of what a quiet
Speaker 1: and obedient wife they could be. And instead at a
Speaker 1: ministerton and I had lambretta. I wrote that and came, oh,
Speaker 1: and she's also late, Like my mom is the most
Speaker 1: punctual person I know. She gets to the airport three
Speaker 1: hours ahead of time, and that since I was a kid,
Speaker 1: so she's clearly trying to tank this thing. And my
Speaker 1: hair had let it loose and curly wasn't done. But instead,
Speaker 1: you know, said, oh, that's no problem. We love more
Speaker 1: than girls. What type of woman do you think Mama
Speaker 1: was expecting to present. She wanted them to know that
Speaker 1: I was absolutely sensitive and very loving, very kind and
Speaker 1: gentle with everyone, and animal lover. But my Grandmam was
Speaker 1: also incredibly honest, so she was sure to tell my
Speaker 1: dad's family this. I had no interest in cooking anyway.
Speaker 1: Despite my mom's lack of interest in the kitchen and
Speaker 1: her dramatic attempt to topple this whole affair, she somehow
Speaker 1: still won my dad's family over. So I must say,
Speaker 1: here's the deal. Let him write to you. If you
Speaker 1: don't like him, it's fine. He was a charming writer.
Speaker 1: He was a charming writer. So they wrote letters back
Speaker 1: and forth for a year, and when they finally met
Speaker 1: in person, you know, he looked so vulnerable that I said, oh,
Speaker 1: this is great. I can handle him. My parents don't
Speaker 1: have a perfect marriage, but there are lots of wonderful
Speaker 1: bits things that make me think those thirty two points meeting.
Speaker 1: Something like once when they were young, they visited Paris,
Speaker 1: and they went to dinner at this fancy restaurant with
Speaker 1: a ballroom, and an orchestra started playing and no one
Speaker 1: was dancing crickets. So my dad just whisked my mom
Speaker 1: onto the dance floor and then slowly everyone in the
Speaker 1: place joins in. And when my parents went back to
Speaker 1: their table, the band leader had actually sent them this
Speaker 1: gorgeous bottle of brandy to say thank you for livening
Speaker 1: the place up, then forgetting everyone dancing. I mean, if
Speaker 1: astrology can promise you those sorts of scenes, it's like
Speaker 1: who wouldn't listen. Of course, astrology has done damage in
Speaker 1: the family too. Here's my mom telling me about an
Speaker 1: arranged marriage gone wrong. My cousin Nana. The girl that
Speaker 1: they looked for the horoscope matched with him. Who's your cousin, Nana?
Speaker 1: Nana from Manglo, So there was a danger of his
Speaker 1: brother dying if the girl married Nana. The strologers are
Speaker 1: predicted that if the couple went through with the marriage,
Speaker 1: even though their horoscopes matched, it could lead to Nana's
Speaker 1: brother's death. I mean, who wants that on their hands,
Speaker 1: even if it's putting your chances for love at risk.
Speaker 1: So to this day, he still a bachelor. Really, well,
Speaker 1: what do you think about that? It's a shame. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they could have found other girls, but he just was dejected.
Speaker 1: His sig normals normal horoscopes says about you, that's heartbreaking,
Speaker 1: and it is really is. Yeah yeah. After chatting with
Speaker 1: my mom, two things occurred to me. First, the chasm
Speaker 1: between the way Americans and Indians use astrology. That only
Speaker 1: felt wider, like no app was going to tell you
Speaker 1: to quit your NBA, to marry some guy in America,
Speaker 1: or to break it off with this girl because it
Speaker 1: could bring bad luck or death to another family member,
Speaker 1: like the starkness of the way Indian astrology can be
Speaker 1: used to control lives. It felt so dark, but also
Speaker 1: pretty intriguing, like it only made me want to dig
Speaker 1: in more. And the second thing I remembered is this
Speaker 1: piece of advice A J gave me about really embracing
Speaker 1: the show. I think you gotta go all in, So
Speaker 1: you got to hire an astrologer to help you with
Speaker 1: the show. I figure out when you should start, When
Speaker 1: should the air date be, Who should you hire to
Speaker 1: help you it? Should it be a Virgo or a Capricorn? Like,
Speaker 1: go for it, because that's one way to test it's
Speaker 1: to see does it work for you. So I decided
Speaker 1: to find an Indian astrologer and solve both problems. I
Speaker 1: could lean into my Indian side and also have some
Speaker 1: fun with it. But what I didn't know was that
Speaker 1: that visit was going to change my life. M m M.
Speaker 1: Chapter five, We go to Queens. On April nine, I
Speaker 1: headed to Queens to meet an astrologer. He's someone my
Speaker 1: friend and showrunner for the show, Mary recommended that I
Speaker 1: reached out to, and coincidentally, he happened to be an
Speaker 1: astrologer that my cousin Aditya had used. Hey hey, how
Speaker 1: is another rational type. He's kind of this white shoe
Speaker 1: lawyer masters from Cambridge, and he used this astrologer in
Speaker 1: a difficult time and apparently the predictions had proven accurate.
Speaker 1: So I just actually wanted to see him again. So
Speaker 1: I took a train to Jackson Heights to meet Dr
Speaker 1: Rockets Kamar and we entered his white wood frame office.
Speaker 1: From the outside, it's kind of nondescripts like this row house,
Speaker 1: but when you opened the door, you immediately sensed these
Speaker 1: temple like vibes. So I took off my shoes at
Speaker 1: the entrance, walked through a fog of sweet sandalwood, and
Speaker 1: there were these massive photos of his guru on the wall.
Speaker 1: And then I turned into this tiny room with a
Speaker 1: wood desk, and it had a giant stack of books
Speaker 1: on it with a little black laptop on top. Looking around,
Speaker 1: I realized how fun this is. I'm here on this
Speaker 1: field trip with my cousin, this astrology adventure, and I'm
Speaker 1: so ready to hear some ridiculous things and enjoy this experience.
Speaker 1: Dr Kamar very sweetly welcomes me, and he closes his emails,
Speaker 1: and then, using the information I sent him a few
Speaker 1: days before, he pulls up my chart and turns on
Speaker 1: his recorder. So I'm just looking at the choke at me.
Speaker 1: First before in the afternoon in summer New Jersey, you're
Speaker 1: born on a Tuesday, you have the sign cancer rising.
Speaker 1: I've got to say I was a little surprised by
Speaker 1: how quickly Dr Kamar dives in. It seems like he's
Speaker 1: just staring at a bunch of numbers on his screen,
Speaker 1: but he's interpreting them, kind of like Neo from the Matrix.
Speaker 1: And I'm curious to hear my reading. But what I
Speaker 1: really want to do is asked Dr Khmar about the show.
Speaker 1: I thought it would be fun if there were these
Speaker 1: auspicious dates for my podcast, or if you could predict
Speaker 1: something about how many people would listen. But first you
Speaker 1: had some questions for me. So how's what been since January? Um,
Speaker 1: that's when I decided to quit my job, so that
Speaker 1: you would have quit your job where the job would
Speaker 1: have quit you one of the things because the times
Speaker 1: of such because it impacts your converciate work. Here, it's
Speaker 1: so ironic. You come here today, who days from now?
Speaker 1: It onwards? There after a new chapter of your life begins,
Speaker 1: another beginning of your life, which will be very good.
Speaker 1: This is what I came for. I write down April
Speaker 1: thirteenth in my notebook and I circle it big. Four
Speaker 1: days from now. That's the date I'm going to get
Speaker 1: started on my show. Dr Khmar continues with more work
Speaker 1: related things. He says foreign travel is in the cards,
Speaker 1: which is super exciting, and that I should wear an
Speaker 1: emerald to improve my communication skills, which is funny. I
Speaker 1: make a note to do an episode on gems and
Speaker 1: vedic astrology down the line. But the best part is
Speaker 1: that Dr Kamar seems to think this whole podcast will
Speaker 1: go really well, so it's very profound, so you'll make
Speaker 1: it big in life. You'll be very successful in everything,
Speaker 1: because your planets showed that. I'm so excited about all
Speaker 1: this tape, getting a start gate for the show, the
Speaker 1: talk of gems, this prediction that everything might go well.
Speaker 1: That I'm caught off guard by Dr Kamar's next question,
Speaker 1: which comes out of nowhere. Gotta be something about your father, um,
Speaker 1: like what he did for work or it still does.
Speaker 1: He's a chemical engineer, he's retired. He's ill right now
Speaker 1: listening back, I don't know why I mentioned my dad
Speaker 1: was ill. Dr Kamara hadn't asked, and maybe it's because
Speaker 1: I was trying to participate fully, like I thought I
Speaker 1: should let him know. Years ago my dad was diagnosed
Speaker 1: with cancer, but he actually sailed through that treatment and
Speaker 1: he's been cancer free for a while now. But recently
Speaker 1: he broke a rib reaching for something, which was odd,
Speaker 1: and then he also had the slight boost and some
Speaker 1: liver counts which his doctor told him not to worry about.
Speaker 1: Because that's why I asked again, from the time he
Speaker 1: started a couple of years back. Still now, Uh, situation
Speaker 1: doesn't look good for father. There is risk to father.
Speaker 1: This thing about my dad. It was a throwaway line
Speaker 1: in the middle of an hour and a half interview.
Speaker 1: I don't even know how closely I was listening. By
Speaker 1: the time we hit stop on the recorder, I was thrilled.
Speaker 1: I had over an hour of material and I was
Speaker 1: cutting tape my head as I was asking questions, and
Speaker 1: I know I felt good. I thanked Dr Khmar for
Speaker 1: his time, and I let him run off to feed
Speaker 1: his mother lunch, which he does every day, and my
Speaker 1: cousin and I walked off to get fresh dosas and Italy's,
Speaker 1: one of the many canteens that dot this area of
Speaker 1: Jackson Heights. Thank you, And then twenty minutes into chatting
Speaker 1: and laughing and debating what's real about astrology and what
Speaker 1: isn't and how can you even tell right? I received
Speaker 1: this email from my dad. It read we just received
Speaker 1: the results of the MRCP testing. Unfortunately, the news is
Speaker 1: not as good as it could be. We'll talk to
Speaker 1: Dr Thomas and Dr Shakour and let you know as
Speaker 1: soon as we can. Study results diffuse metastatic disease throughout
Speaker 1: the liver and bones from unknown primary. The cancer had
Speaker 1: metastasized through my dad's liver and bones. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it means, but I've forgotten about astrology. I don't
Speaker 1: care about emeralds or whether any of this feels embarrassing anymore.
Speaker 1: My stomach drops. I can't finish my chie I don't
Speaker 1: know what to write, so I just tap out. I'm
Speaker 1: so sorry, Dad, I'll call you back in a bit.
Speaker 1: And all I'm thinking now is how fast can I
Speaker 1: get to Atlanta? Next week? On Skyline Drive, we take
Speaker 1: a train to Bay Ridge, meet a therapist who secretly
Speaker 1: uses astrology behind your clients backs, and hang out with
Speaker 1: the seventy four year old who just wants to know
Speaker 1: am I ever going to have sex with somebody again?
Speaker 1: And we use astrology to get her an answer. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening. I have so many people
Speaker 1: to thank. Skyline Drive is a production of Kaleidoscope and
Speaker 1: I Heeart Podcast. The show is hosted and written by
Speaker 1: me Mongish Fatiguler with a ton of help, like so
Speaker 1: much help from these wonderful people. Mary Philip Sandy is
Speaker 1: our cat loving supervising producer. Metra Bunshah. He produced this
Speaker 1: whole thing despite my constantly getting in the way. Mark
Speaker 1: Lotto is our incredible story editor who even suffered a
Speaker 1: trip to India with me. This episode was mixed by
Speaker 1: my pal at Soundboard with scoring from Botany. The song
Speaker 1: Yola Mango is my absolute favorite um the Insane. Music
Speaker 1: in between is courtesy of Azadi Records, him Manchu Suri
Speaker 1: and Peter Matthew Bauer. If you want to hear or
Speaker 1: we made you a mixtape, just check out the show notes.
Speaker 1: Additional production and research support from the wonderful Anna Rubinova
Speaker 1: through Chivao Lucas, Riley, Bethan Macaluzo, aditya bus thrower, and
Speaker 1: my wonderful wife Lizzie Jacobs. There's also my superstar Aunt Sumon,
Speaker 1: the Woman Buckshee, and my cousin Argent Bucy, who helped
Speaker 1: me out of a giant pinch abroad. The show is
Speaker 1: executive produced from I harp On, my good pals Nikki
Speaker 1: Etur and Katrina Norvelle. This show would not have happened
Speaker 1: without the support of my friends at Kaleidoscope, starting with
Speaker 1: my good pal Oswalsian, who believed in this show. He's
Speaker 1: also my partner at Kaleidoscope. Also Kate Osborne for her
Speaker 1: spot on notes, cost Us Lenos for his encouragement and
Speaker 1: Fahini Shory for her delightful suggestions. I also want to
Speaker 1: give a little special thanks to all the kiddos who
Speaker 1: bore with us through this production, Henry Ruby, Julian Grendel,
Speaker 1: Lou and Little Enzo Eatur all my friends I heart,
Speaker 1: including Bob Connall will carry Nathan Jason, Jerry My New
Speaker 1: York and Atlanta Cruz. There are too many to name.
Speaker 1: Also Chanta Sara, my family in India, my family in
Speaker 1: the States, my friend Noel Brown who read this episode's
Speaker 1: warning check out his show's ridiculous history and stuff they
Speaker 1: don't want you to know. And just one last thank
Speaker 1: you to my Amma and my dad is Lolita and
Speaker 1: am Fatiguler, who I thank my lucky stars for thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening. Dum dum dim dodim dum
Speaker 1: dum dm dum dum dim DoD