Sense and Sensibility

Pick up a serious business magazine. Or the most coveted fashion or cine journal. Your go-to news daily or just a tabloid. From a publication that might focus on women to one that focuses on sports, there’s one curious thing that remains a constant feature. And it spans across geographies and cultures, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, from India to overseas. Cracked it?

Yes, it is a page that is devoted to the stars. Not the cine or sporting or corporate stars, but the stars that reside in galaxies different from ours, far, far away, but nevertheless supposedly affect our fate, our luck and our destiny. A page reserved for some crystal ball gazing.

To be fair, not all publications study only the planets and give you columns based on your sun signs and astrology. Some also make predictions based on Tarot cards and numerology. Others are based on Lunar signs, while some others opt for more unusual routes such as psychic predictions, lucky colours and so on.

What makes these pages and columns a commonly found feature? And that too in the age of quantum computing and AI? And how is it that even very reputable and varied publications carry such columns? The fact is that no matter how advanced our academic degrees are and how sensible we aspire to remain in our everyday lives, there is a part of us, the very best of us, that wouldn’t mind getting a peek into our futures- a bit like getting a tip that might amplify our efforts and plans.

The subjects that get covered are largely the same. There’s love and marriage, money and career, health and sometimes a comment on travel - bite-sized advice or reassurances depending on the stance and tone of the respective columnist. The funny bit is, even the most critical thinker and rational reader casts a surreptitious look at these pages, dispensing just for a moment, all the sense and logic that he otherwise deploys. What is even more curious is that the reader doesn’t necessarily believe it or even remember it or take any serious note of it. But he still engages with the prediction and tends to enjoy it.

Interestingly, no two columns really seem to match! One could spell out your day or week as a sunny one where all is likely to go well, as long as you avoid wearing the colours orange or red whereas another, equally popular column could paint a picture much bleaker whilst making no comment on staying away from any colours, be it orange or red! In other words, there are fortune columns that tell your horoscope quite as though they were ‘horror-scopes!’ And yet, it is for their darkness and in-built sense of warning that they are followed.

The fact is, as much as living in the moment seems to be a great idea for modern times and one that has garnered a lot of acceptability and following, the human mind keeps an eye out for what’s likely to happen next. It is what makes us devour suspenseful dramas and cliffhangers that keep us tethered to the edge of our seats, in the ardent lookout for ‘what’s next’. Sociologically, we seem to be hard-wired to lean forward, to guess and to anticipate.

Perhaps then, it isn’t so much human folly that makes us glance at these pages, but something more tender - a human universality that reveals both our vulnerability and our longing to feel a bit less at sea as we continuously navigate the unknown. Perhaps in that small, rather private moment, we find a curious meeting of sense and sensibility - the moment in which the mind knows and the heart hopes for a sign, a nudge, a go-ahead from the stars above.

Supriya Newar is a widely published writer and poet from Calcutta. Besides being a music aficionado, she is also an avid traveller. She may be reached at connect@supriyanewar.com