On the lighter side: Your fortune in its beak!

Fortune telling is described as the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune telling is, in principle, identical with the practice of prediction. To this end there are many people, both men and women who make a good living by luring gullible persons to find out what the future holds. Predictive methods of fortune-telling include astrology (interpretation of the movements of heavenly bodies as influences on earthly events), numerology, and the utilization of objects such as playing cards, tea leaves, crystal balls, dice, fire, water and scattered salt.

According to information available, the list of long-discredited and absurd fortune-telling methods is long, yet equally unlikely techniques are practiced today, including numerology, reading tea leaves, consulting tarot cards and examining the lines on a person's palm.

There are numerous fortune telling places around the world where a conducive atmosphere of secrecy and mystery is created to make customers comfortable and shore up their belief in the fortune teller.

And then, of-course, there is the method of using birds to pull out envelopes as can be observed in the picture. This practice is not confined to our part of the world – fortune tellers around the world, especially in countries like China and Mexico, use the same method. It is irrelevant that only a limited number of cards can be placed before the bird and one in every fifty or so persons will have the same ‘future’- it is still popular, especially for those who cannot afford the fancy soothsayers.

Whether we are sceptical about the practice or believe in it, it is curiosity that makes most of us visit fortune tellers; read horoscopes and generally look for any indication that may foretell the future. But it can have adverse effects if the reading or forecast is not as bright as one would hope - some people are extra sensitive and could become depressed if negative things are foretold.

Anyway, who doesn’t want to know what the future has in store for us? To be frank, it’s fun if you don’t take it too seriously! Keeping that in mind the bird method is quite safe – the ‘predictions’ in the envelope are generally on the good side and rather vague. How do I know? Now that would be telling!