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Elective English—IV

Notes He spreads his professional equipment, which consists of a dozen cowrie shells, a square piece
of cloth with obscure mystic charts on it, a notebook and a bundle of Palmyra writing. He’s a
fine get-up of an astrologer, with his forehead shinning with sacred ash and vermilion. He has
dark whiskers and sparkling eyes. To crown the effect, he wears bright clothes and a saffron-
coloured turban around his head. He sits at a place which is frequented by all sorts-of people.
Many hawkers cry loudly near him. And when it’s dark he gets light from a neighbouring hawker.
The setting was an ideal one because a large crowd went up and down the pathway from
morning till night and a good number of them were the astrologer’s prospective customers.
Moreover, the man had interesting peddlers as his neighbours, some of whose customers would
get drawn to him to know their future. A man sold medicines near him. Another peddled junk
goods and stolen hardware at throw-away prices. A magician would be showing sleight of
hands while another would create enough interest among the passing crowd by auctioning
cheap clothes. And then there was the hawker who drew a good crowd around him because of
his excellent salesmanship. He would sell the same fried groundnuts every day but would
canvass his fare in different fancy names like Bombay Ice Cream, Delhi Almond, and so on and
so forth on different days.
The astrologer was devoid of any professional training. During his youth he used to drink,
gamble and quarrel. Once he hit a fellow villager hard on his head and assuming the person
dead, he pushed him into a well. To hide himself from the police he ran away and settled as an
astrologer in a town. Even though he lacked training, he had all the shrewdness and understanding
of human mind and the causes of human worries. That is why he could convincingly answer all
questions of his clients.
The astrologer is about to return to his home at the end of the day when he is stopped by an
unusually aggressive customer, Guru Nayak, the client who turns out to be a former victim,
now on a quest for revenge. The customer insists that the astrologer tell him the truth about his
life, and that if he does not, he should return his (the customer’s) money, along with extra, as
payment for having lied. The astrologer, realizing that he will most likely be exposed, tries to
get out of the deal, but the customer is adamant.
The story takes an unexpected turn, when, unbeknownst to the customer, the astrologer
recognizes him and tells him about something that happened in the past. Calling the customer
by name, the astrologer recounts how the customer had once been stabbed and left for dead, but
had been saved by a bystander. The astrologer tells the customer that he must stop looking for
the man who stabbed him so long ago, because to do so would be dangerous, and anyway, the
perpetrator is dead. The customer, not recognizing the astrologer, is impressed that he should
know about his past.
When the astrologer goes home, his wife asks about his day. He tells her that he has been
relieved of a great load; he had once thought that he had killed someone, but had today discovered
that the victim was well and very much alive. The wife is mystified, but the astrologer goes to
bed for an untroubled night of sleep.

7.5.1 Critical Analysis

Book: An Astrologer’s Day and Other Stories (1947)
Author: R.K. Narayan
Genre: Short stories
Story from the Collection: An Astrologer’s Day

‘An Astrologer’s Day and other Stories’ are a collection of short stories written by R.K. Narayan.
‘An Astrologer’s Day’ is the first story from the collection. “An Astrologer’s Day” has been

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