KARACHI: Starting from around 10pm till after midnight, cars queue up behind a mound of bushes, at a roadside between Funland in Clifton and Shree Ratneshwar Mahadev Temple ahead of Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine. Despite the peculiarity of the location, an increasing number of people, from a cross-section of the city’s population, have been frequenting the spot for almost 16 years now.

The otherwise abandoned vicinity is popularised by Siraj Bashir, 62, who has been drawing people to the spot to have their palms read since 2001. Unlike most palmists, Siraj Sahib does not charge his customers. As cars begin to line up, with the help of an assistant he entertains the clientele on a first come, first served basis. Using torchlight under the dim street lamps, he deciphers the lines on their hands to tell them aspects of their personality, career, marriage, luck, spirituality and intellect.

“The initial step is to locate the mount of Jupiter, located at the base of the index finger,” he explains. “The size of the index finger and the mount depict the behaviouristic traits of a person. Basic character analysis builds the customer’s trust in the palmist,” shares Siraj Sahib.

Intriguingly, despite being brought up in a religious setting and being schooled in madressahs, Siraj Sahib took up palmistry as a profession. “Palmistry is only a method of interpretation. It is the knowledge of the self that merely depicts what a person is capable of,” he says, adding that he suggests that his clients abstain from wrongdoings and recommends a Quranic verse with each depiction to help overcome their shortcomings.

Talking about key trends, Siraj Sahib has noticed over the years how women stress the most about their prospects of marriage. “I advise young women to marry late citing potential hindrance in their career as a reason,” he says, adding that if the behaviouristic traits depict good intellect, he encourages young girls to divert their mind towards a suitable profession.

“Similarly, I particularly point out if the palm reveals the man is prone to aggression, violence and unfaithfulness, and advise him to avoid marriage for a certain time period,” he asserts.

Despite claiming to have read over 800,000 palms, Siraj Sahib fears that palmistry is gradually losing scope in the age of internet. “Everything is available on the internet now. Earlier, people were entirely reliant upon the palmist for interpretation, but these days clients are well-versed with the basics of palmistry,” he says.

There is an evident decline in palm reading as experts in the profession are of the same view. “My father was in the same profession. Although I have been into palmistry for about nine years now, the response has certainly dropped down,” shares Manzar Ali, who reads palms at a five-star hotel.

“There was a time people took palmistry, numerology and astrology seriously. Now people view these skills as means of entertainment only,” says Ahmed, a frequent visitor at a palmist stall at an entertainment facility.

“It is a one-time act so it doesn’t seem a lot to pay, but it also depends on how accurate the palmist’s interpretation is,” added Fouzia, while waiting for her turn at the same stall.

Palmists, however, continue to rely upon the skill for a living. Charging Rs600 per palm, Haroon revealed that as “only a limited number of clients visit during the week, we have to charge an amount that keeps the budget balanced.”

Published in Dawn December 29th, 2016