Unemployment biggest issue facing youth: Palmist Jitendra Nanalal Trivedi

Trivedi, 66, says he began work as a palmist after being unable to find a permanent job. “I had done a three-year course in palmistry in Mumbai. I set up my own palmistry stall after a few years. Now, I have been working at the same spot here since 1982.”

So many educated persons are without a job. Either they or their family members come seeking advice on employment. I look at their palms and advice them accordingly” Jitendra Nanalal Trivedi, palmist

MOST OF palmist Jitendra Nanalal Trivedi’s customers seek information on their employment prospects. “Unemployment is the biggest issue facing the youth. So many educated persons are without a job. Either they or their family members come seeking advice on employment. I look at their palms and advice them accordingly,” Trivedi says. His advice, however, goes beyond palmistry. “I tell them that they should look for jobs in newspaper advertisements every day. If they still do not find a suitable job, I tell them to take up work for the time being even below their educational qualification, even if they have to sell products door to door as a salesman,” Trivedi says.

Trivedi, 66, says he began work as a palmist after being unable to find a permanent job. “I had done a three-year course in palmistry in Mumbai. I set up my own palmistry stall after a few years. Now, I have been working at the same spot here since 1982,” he says, sitting on a metal chair on the footpath opposite St. Xavier’s College in South Mumbai. Trivedi says that after his father suffered business losses, his family returned to Gujarat. “I was in my 20s then. I decided to stay back and live an independent life,” he says.

Living on his own at no permanent spot, Trivedi says he follows the daily routine of coming to his stall around 10.30 am every day. Two metal chairs and his neatly folded stall’s poster are tied to a metal fence near his spot, when he leaves. He claims that the municipal corporation has permitted him to sit there. His poster advertises his expertise on palmistry, numerology and face reading. The rate card says that his advice for ‘full life’ would cost Rs 500, ‘half life’ would cost Rs 250 and ‘five problems’ for Rs 150. “Full life means I will advice the entire family, half life is for advice on one person’s entire life and if you pay for five problems, you can ask specifically on five problems like marriage, work, children, travel or some dispute,” Trivedi explains.

On his clientele, Trivedi claims people in the age group of 25 to those over 60 come to him. “My customers include people with stable jobs. Some have been coming to me for years with their families. If I sense something wrong in their future, like say accidents, I do not tell them directly. I instead advice them to avoid driving,” he says.”

“Face reading is for those who are apprehensive about showing their palms. Otherwise, I look at the lines on the palms and advice people,” he claims. “I can also advice on the future based on your birth date. Today, people are straying away from believing in God and astrology. I think it still holds true and should not be discredited,” he says. While he does not comment on whether his clientele has gone down, claiming that he does not count how many customers he receives or the money he makes, Trivedi says that the one question he is tired of answering is people seeking to know when they will die. “I tell them, ‘live in the moment’. You are here, now. Why are you interested in knowing when you will die?”

Wearing rings with embedded stones on all his fingers and a few rudraksh malas around his neck, Trivedi says that his only family is his books and his belief in God. With no shop around or others for company, in the free time through the day when there are no customers, Trivedi catches up on news and reads his religious books sitting on his metal chair.

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