KARACHI, Dec 9: The current and the next year are the best time when the seeds of lasting peace between the two neighbouring countries in the subcontinent — Pakistan and India — could be sown, said a visiting Indian astrologer Bejan Daruwalla while speaking to Dawn.

The octogenarian astrologer is visiting the country after over 30 years on the invitation of Karachi Parsi Anjuman Trust Fund chairman and former member of the national assembly Byram D. Avari so that he could meet the community members and an old friend here. Previously, Mr Daruwalla had visited Pakistan in 1982 on the invitation of his host’s father, the late Dinshaw Avari, when according to the astrologer’s prediction Mr Byram and his wife Gosphi had won the Asian sailing championship organised in India.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Daruwalla said that he intended to meet his childhood friend and class fellow Aziz Munshi, former attorney general for Pakistan, and being a cricket fan he would also try to meet former cricketers Imran Khan, now turned politician, as well as Wasim Akram during his current visit.

Mr Daruwalla was born in Baruch in the Indian state of Gujarat in 1931 and later the family moved to Ahmedabad. After getting a postgraduate degree in English, when he expressed his plans to enter the field of astrology, his father, Jahangir Daruwalla, who was a weaving master of seven textile mills, was furious as he wanted him to join his line, but the son refused.

He said that initially he sought guidance in the field of astrology from Vashist Mehta and later worked on his own. He said he used palmistry, astrology, i-ching (Chinese method), Nadi (breathing method), dice, etc when making predictions — over 70 per cent of which, according to him, proved correct. His wife, Gooli, who is now ill, was a good tarot card reader and his son, Nastur, is also an astrologer.

He said he had predicted that Atal Bihari Vajpayee a few years earlier that he would get power, which he got after three years. He had met Morarji Desai, along with an editor of a leading Gujrati newspaper, and predicted that he would get power and after a few years when Mr Desai became prime minister, the editor gave him a car as a gift, said the astrologer.

Writer of many books on astrology and three books of poems, Mr Daruwalla, who lives in the capital of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, giving his views on Indian politics said that Rahul Gandhi of the ruling Congress party was good, but Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi, current chief minister of Gujarat, was better. And, according to him, Mr Modi had better chances of winning the elections and leading the country. But his predictions could be wrong also, he added quickly, probably in his bid not to annoy the ruling party, at least till it was in office.

Besides politicians, he claimed, leading industrialists such as Dhiru Bhai Ambani (founder of Reliance group of industries), Baba Kaliyani, cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Dravid, and Bollywood stars such as Raj Kapoor, Manoj Kumar and Shashi Kapoor had been contacting him for predictions.

In his latest book, published in August, he stated: “Iran has a new leader in Hussain Rouhani. There is a possibility that he will turn Iran around to a peace settlement. According to his birth date Nov 12, 1948, Hussain has his Venus, the planet of peace and balance in Libra, the sign of harmony and balance. Therefore this man is reasonable and the world can consequently deal with him, come to a sort of understanding. That is the main reason for hope,” says his book, titled “Your Complete Forecast 2014” on page 527.

"And see, some encouraging news had already started coming in," added Mr Daruwalla in a vague reference to the recent understanding reached between Iran and western countries.