R.K.Narayan’s “The Astrologer’s Day

 R.K.Narayan’s “The Astrologer’s Day” is a short story that deals with a day in the life of an ordinary astrologer in the Town Hall road of Malgudi.

The astrologer with all his professional equipment like cowries shells, charts, and Palmyra writing ran a business under a Tamarind tree. It was amply crowded with different trades and traders like medicine sellers, hardware and junk, magicians, cloth – sellers, etc. The groundnut vendor’s gas light enabled him to carry on his business even after sunset.

 The astrologer’s forehead with sacred ash and vermilion gave his eyes a prophetic light. He wears a saffron turban to attract customers. He was a shrewd person who hardly had any knowledge of astrology. He just made guesswork when people approached him. He was a mastermind at analyzing the human mind and psychology. His strong perception made him diagnose the exact problem of his customers. His customers would finally leave satisfied.

He had to work hard to earn his wages. He had left his native village when he was young. His forefathers were farmers. He never had any plans to return to his native village. He had his ancestral home and field there.

He closed his shop for the day when his neighbour, a groundnut vendor blew out his light. When the astrologer was packing up his wares, a man came before him. When the astrologer invited him, he posed a challenge to him and his astrological science.  The man gave him an anna and asked the astrologer to answer his questions and if he could not answer satisfactorily, he would have to return the anna with interest. At the same time, if the astrologer could answer the questions satisfactorily, he would give him eight annas. But if the astrologer failed, he would pay double the amount i.e., sixteen annas to the man. Thus the deal was finalized between them.

The astrologer prayed to heaven. The stranger lit his cigarette. Then suddenly the astrologer denied the challenge and tried to leave. But the stranger forced him and so unwillingly accepted the challenge. He had a single question that whether he would get what he was searching for. The man promised the astrologer that if he was satisfied with his answers, he would pay him a rupee. The astrologer said that you were left for dead in the past and a knife has passed once on your chest. After he got wounded, he was thrown into a well nearby to die. The stranger was excited and said that a passerby saw him and rescued him. The man was in search of the culprit who had tried to kill him. The astrologer instantly replied that the culprit had died four months ago in a far–off town. The man was disappointed to hear this.

The astrologer called him Guru Nayak and said that his village was a two-day journey to the north and warned him to go back home and never to travel south again as his life was in danger. The astrologer satisfied him by informing him that the culprit was crushed under a lorry. The man left after giving the astrologer a handful of coins.

At home, the astrologer’s wife counted the coins. They were twelve and a half annas in all. She was extremely happy to get that big amount. She planned to buy jaggery and coconut for their child, who was demanding sweets for a long time. However, the astrologer was angry at Guru Nayak as he promised to give a rupee. He said to his wife that a great burden of his life was gone that day. In his youth, he drank, gambled, and quarrelled badly. One day he had a fight with Guru Nayak.  He always felt that he had killed Guru Nayak. So, the astrologer had run away from his native village due to the fear of being accused of murder. He settled in Malgudi and married and decided that he would never return back to his native village. Actually, the man who tried to kill Guru Nayak was the astrologer himself. He got glimpses of Guru Nayak in the matchlight. So he was able to make accurate predictions about him though he hardly knew astrology.