God's own gods An article appeared in New indian express

[Guest guest]

Thursday July 27 2006 16:44 IST

Manoj K Das

Parappanangadi Unnikrishnan

 

He promises the kingdom to the beggar, riches to the pauper,

knowledge

to the fool, beauty to the ugly, or any unimaginable

possibility to

the

most undeserving person.

 

Simply whisper the date, place and time of birth and watch with

awe

how

a constellation of cowries dances to his intuition to recreate

the

past,

present and future on a wooden plank even as you join him for a

walk-the-talk about yourself.

This is Mr Astrologer from Kerala, the interface between the

earthly and

the celestial, playing the dual role of rearview mirror and

halogen

headlamps. Surfing on a sea of affluence, his penury is a

chapter in past tense. His present is among the opulent elite: a tantric

jet-setting between the world capitals keeping track of planets

on a

wi-fi laptop. And whenever in transit in Kerala, he hops from

one TV

station to the other, predicting your day, week, month and year.

 

He is the corporate troubleshooter too; preaching business

solutions

that IIMs can't teach.

 

Meet Parappanagadi Unnikrishnan, astrology's most successful

ambassador, official adviser to the Government of Sri Lanka,

consultant

to Condoleezza Rice and Bill Clinton, friend of Embekki, Finance

Minister of Uganda: You need a 5GB hard disk to store the list

of

his

international contacts alone. .

" Like other youngsters of my community, the basic lessons were

taught by my father Narayana Panicker and I joined my uncle

> Kumara

Panicker in Coimbatore for further research, " he says about his

association with Tamil Nadu, the land that catapulted him to

fame.

" It all began with an ashtamangala prasnam at the Sri Rama

temple,

Vellore, in which I could read that eight temples that once

existed

in

its neighbourhood were lying under layers of soil. Excavations

proved

this true and they were renovated. Since then thousands consult

me

from

Tamil Nadu. "

Unnikrishna Panicker soon crossed the shores of Tamil Nadu to

advise Sri

Lanka on war, crossed the pacific to reach US before travelling

to

other

developed nations. For obvious reasons, he refuses to divulge

details of

his connections with nations and world leaders. Every

astrologer has

similar stories. But not many have mastered the art of

translating

success into riches.

 

There's a flip side to this coin. " For astrologers like

Soolapani Varier, money is the last of the priorities. They live

like

hermits, never bothering to corner a space in public eye. But

their

generation is facing extinction, " points out Vimala.

True, especially when analysed against the backdrop of channel-

hogging

astrologers enjoying a rating equivalent to prime time soaps.

Starting

from Attukal Radhakrishnan, who first occupied this niche, all

channels

boast resident astrologers. The programme is today a phone-in

slot

where

solutions are given live. Apart from Attukal Radhakrishnan's

Anantham Ajnatham, Asianet also features Kanipayoor

Namoothiripad in

their morning show Suprabhatham. " Earlier, I used to go to their

studio for the shoot. But now I beam it from my house, "

Kanipayoor

told The New Sunday Express. Surya channel competes with

Rasichakram

chaired by Sreekumar.

Astrologers like Alur Unnikrishna Panicker are happy writing

horoscopes

of rivers and forests out of academic interest. Alur first

wrote the

horoscope of Bharathapuzha, the vanishing lifeline of Kerala. He

predicted that the river's slow death will begin in the

sixties. And

four decades later, Kerala painfully acknowledges his

credibility as

they watch the river gasping for breath.

" Credibility of Kerala astrologers was never in question.