What’s my boss’s future?

As per the fortune-tellers, frustrated employees contact them to know which way the office weathervane will turn the next day.

Chartered accountant Anil Sharma visits a tarot card reader to confirm the ‘well-being’ of his boss. Richa Kumar* and her colleague, both employees of a five-star hotel in Delhi, always have more questions about their immediate seniors than themselves when they meet their astrologer.

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If you think they are the new breed of boss bhakts, you’re mistaken. Fortune-tellers claim that these employees are driven by insecurity or frustration or simply a need to know which way the office weathervane will turn tomorrow.

Kumar, for whom this has been a ritual for two years now, is not suffering from schadenfreude, defined as an “unanticipated delight in the suffering of another”. Her plan, she says, is simply to “use the information to my advantage”. Like in a marriage, this improves compatibility at work, she feels.

Her colleague Pragya*, however, confesses that she feels “tortured” by her senior and has every right to know when she will be rid of him. She wants to see him transferred or in a new job, and has even got a puja done to help things along. Astrologer Namita Vadehra says, “The frequent questions are: When will my boss be transferred? When will he have bad luck? When will he get into a scandal? When will he lose his job?” Some of her clients are fairly senior employees for whom the stakes are even higher if there is trouble at work.

Numerologist Niraj Mancchanda reveals that certain people approach him for “shortcut methods” like tantra or black magic. Such requests come Vadehra’s way, too, and though neither will oblige, the determined client can always find a way. If you are the boss? Vadehra suggests you keep a clear quartz.

*names changed