Malayalees all over the world celebrated Vishu, Kerala’s national festival as well as the Malayalam New Year Day. Vishu falls on the first of Medam (Mesham in Sanskrit and Aries in English).
It also marks the beginning of agricultural operations in the State. The day begins with members of the family raising up early in the morning to see the pre-arranged Vishu Kani (the first sight of the day), a picture or statue of Lord Krishna decorated with jewelry, flowers fruits and gold or silver coins.
The family head offers coins to each member of the family with the blessings that the recipient continues to get bountiful of prosperity in months and days to come throughput the year.
Along with human beings, the cattle in the family are worshipped with Vishu Kani and they are fed well. In the course of the day, the family members complete the daily chores and wear new garments popularly known as Vishu Kodi.
Yesteryears used to see the family astrologer coming calling with predictions/forecasts for the remaining part of the year and collect his due from the head of the house. “Pathayam (granary) will be full, there would be sufficient rains, cattle herds would increase, there will be all -round prosperity and no possibility of any hardship,” the astrologer would tell and explain the movement of stars and planets from one position to another to substantiate his claims.
While this year’s Vishu was a subdued affair in the backdrop of the pandemic by name Corona Virus, one had to call on the astrologers to find out what was in store for the country and the countrymen. PM Gopala Menon , Thanthrik and Sanskrit scholar and his son Dr M G Gireeshan, a physicist-turned-astrologer are of the view that bad time is not yet over for the world.
“Those who are born in stars belonging to the three central planets (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius) are in for tough times. This is applicable to persons born under Aswathy (Aswani in Sanskrit), Bharani, Karthika(Krithika), Makam (Magha), Pooram (Poorva Phalguni) , Uthram (Uthara Phalguni) , Moolam, Pooradam Poorva Aashada) and Uthradam (Uthara Aashada),” said Menon.
He said persons coming under the judicature of other nine planets may not have much difficulties. Menon forecasts that there would be a repetition in 2020 of what happened with Jupiter in the last calendar year.
“The pandemic corona virus was because of the transition of Jupiter to Sagittarius. This year also there is a transition of Jupiter to Sagittarius followed by another transition. This does not augur well during the November 2020 to May 2021 phase. We can expect some kind of pandemic or natural disasters like flood or earthquakes during this phase. But life will return to normal after May 2021,” he said.
Dr Gireeshan, a scientist with nearly 200 innovations to his credit ( including anti-piracy technology which could be used in film industry), said we can expect a comprehensive transformation in the education sector this year. ‘There is all likelihood of the Central Government ushering in courses meant for skill development and allowing the entry of foreign universities to open shop in India. Ayurveda is likely to take precedence over others in days to come,” said Dr Gireeshan.
For those who describe astrology as hogwash, the physicist in Dr Gireeshan has this to tell: “Columbia University’s research team used computer algorithms to assess a data base of health records of more than 1.7 million patients from 1985 to 2013 and found that a person’s birth month is related to the development of certain health conditions. This finding has been published in the Journal of American Medical Informatics Associaton,” he said.
We need to wait only till November 2020 to see whether this comes true.