The Mind Reader

I ran into Bassanji, many years ago, during a period in my life when I was more out of jobs than in them.

Now Bassanji was an elderly bachelor whose claim to fame was his proficiency in astrology and various other self professed spiritual gifts. He had managed to collect around him a bunch of loyal acolytes which included many persons from my friends' circle who like me were grappling with their own respective crises. Looking back it is easy to see why Bassanji became so influential---troubled young\middle –aged minds trying to come to grips with life’s problems. Many of my friends began looking upto him for advice on various issues concerning their lives. After all, the man had his charm and well he had spiritual powers didn’t he ?

There was one confirmed sceptic in that group—me. It was nothing personal about Bassanji but a simple distaste on my part towards such pursuits. While other friends of mine hung on to his every word over innumerable cups of tea at Hotel Vijay, I would often excuse myself from such gatherings. Not for my troubled mind solace in the spiritual but the grind of hard work backed up by irrefutable logic. During one of those sessions at Vijay, while everyone was listening to him, I guess the boredom showed on my face and it obviously hurt the great man. Suddenly he turned around and told me, “You don’t want my presence here. I can read your mind.” Everyone looked stunned at this outburst while I made a quite exit. Later on my friends tried to explain to me Bassanji’s behaviour in a half-apologetic, half reprimanding tone.

I was clear in my mind on one thing which I shared with all concerned. This is a world which functions peacefully since we cannot read each other’s minds although we can guess other people’s thoughts A person like Bassanji was basically asking for trouble by acquiring such gifts (which I still doubt). The moral of the story is that God intended the world to function in a particular way and therefore in his infinite wisdom has ensured that gifts like mind-reading (clairvoyance) are not freely available to humanity. A person by acquiring such gifts was in my opinion going against nature. It is better to function in accordance with God’s wishes and not acquire such surreal gifts.

Soon the incident blew over and life went on as usual although I took even greater care to avoid Bassanji. As a senior communications professional today in a reputed corporate house I can testify that I manage my life and job quite well without being clairvoyant. And yes as far as Bassanji’s followers are concerned---many of them continue to be my friends and they maintain a safe distance from the Mind Reader.