S BANERJEE, MUMBAI
Expertise: Astrology, tarot and numerology
Qualifications: She has garnered knowledge from the masters of the occult and has studied the mystery of life and death.
Taste of success: She predicts events, prepares people for the future and guides them. No one success story can be singled out as she feels that each person’s life and the accompanying problems are unique.
Clientele: People from all walks of life
DR ROOPA PATEL, MUMBAI
Expertise: Tarot
Qualifications: A PhD in English literature, she says that all para-psychological matters need a thorough study and constant reading on the subject. Doesn’t believe that any prescribed course helps because Tarot depends heavily on intuition as well as interpretation.
Taste of success: A retired judge from Dehradun had to undergo a hernia operation. He was extremely scared, but his son and daughter-in-law wanted him to go ahead with it. While doing the spread of cards, Patel discovered the possibility of a cardiac complication. As the judge’s cardiologist was not available at that time, he decide to defer the operation by a month. When the operation did take place, an overdose of anaesthesia led to a cardiac problem, but the situation was salvaged due to the presence of the cardiologist.
Clientele: Film stars, models, judges, industrialists.
Fee: No charges
SHIRLEY BOSE, MUMBAI
Expertise: Tarot
Qualifications: Intuitive from childhood, she first heard of Tarot in the early ’70s, when there were no books she could consult. Later, she was gifted a book and her first pack of Tarot cards and she would do readings for herself. In the mid ’80s, her daughter presented her with a pack of Rider Wait Tarot cards. Since then, she’s been interpreting the Tarot for hundreds of people.
Taste of success: Recently, a new singer, whose album launch was getting delayed for almost an entire year, was told by the Tarot that it would happen in five days. Exactly five days later, the music company announced the release. A wealthy lady from Bandra, Mumbai, whose husband had left her, was asked to walk to and fro a religious place daily. In a matter of weeks, he was back, having changed his mind.
Clientele: Film and television actors, directors, businessmen, housewives, career women and teenagers.
Fees: Rs 1000 per consultation.
BANSILAL M JUMAANI & SANJAY B JUMAANI, MUMBAI
Expertise: Numerology
Qualifications: Bansilal was a finance broker, who came to Mumbai from Karachi after the partition. He read books on numerology and even learnt it from his father as a hobby. He tried his hand at various professions, and simultaneously helped close friends with the help of numerological calculations. He changed the spelling of his own name too and went into practice after accurately predicting the date of actor Sanjay Dutt’s release from prison. His son Sanjay, previously a sceptic, learned from him and joined his practice less than three years ago.
Clientele: Ekta Kapoor (for all her television serials), Ishaa Koppikar, Suniel Shetty, J Jayalalithaa, Shobhaa De, several industrialists.
Taste of success: Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai and various serials on Star Plus. Sanjay recently advised cricketer Sourav Ganguly to wear the number 24 on his T-shirt instead of 99. Sourav did so for the World Cup and he not only made three centuries, but also won a man of the match award. His prediction that actress Kajol would deliver a baby this year also came true.
Fees: Around Rs 2,000 for the average man, a higher fee for celebrities. Deserving cases are not charged a paisa.
BEJAN DARUWALLA, MUMBAI
Expertise: Indian and Western Astrology, Hebrew kabala of numbers, Tarot, runes, I-Ching, palmistry
Qualifications: Born to wealthy Parsi parents who did not encourage his forays into the occult, Daruwalla obtained his knowledge through books and his interaction with fortune-tellers. He is part of the International Federation of Astrologers and has even been named in the Harper Collins’ compedium of The 100 Great Astrologers in the Last 1000 Years.
Taste of success: He had predicted the success of Subhash Ghai’s Kalicharan and that the late Morarjee Desai would become the deputy prime minister one day. In Outlook magazine (Nov 15, 1999) he had predicted that in 2003, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar would perform so well that the headlines would declare ‘Tendulkar versus the rest of the world’. He had also gone on record to say that actor Shah Rukh Khan’s only enemy is his health and operations are in the offing. In September 2000, he had declared that Bill Gates would soon be showering his generosity and largesse on India. Yet he admits, “I am only human, sometimes I do go wrong.”
Clientele: The late Dhirubhai Ambani, Raj Kapoor and Ramkrishna Bajaj, Prime Minister AB Vajpayee, and others from the world of film and business.
Fees: Varies from person to person, but he strictly sees only one person per day, by appointment.
