“Wow! The lines on your hand are very interesting” commented my friend who is an amateur palmist.  Though I'm pleased with those remarks, they are not new to me. Whenever some palmist looked at my hands, he has something to awe. This encouraged me to gain some knowledge in palmistry and used to look at my palm while reading a book on the subject. When the book says ‘soft palms indicate a sensitive person’ I keep aside the book, press my hands, get satisfied that they are soft and I'm sensitive.  ‘A straight thumb indicates a strong character’ says the book and I raise my thumb to be satisfied that it’s as straight as a pine tree. ‘A star mark on the mount of Saturn’, ‘the heart line bending towards the mount of moon’…I used to cross check every detail of my palm with the books.

I used to observe the hands of the people I met as they waved them in the air, like a puppy waiting for the biscuit to be thrown at it.  Finally I'm satisfied that I've got the best lines among my friends which would make me a great person in future. As the days passed by into years, everything has changed except the lines on my hand; they still indicated a glorious life. Though I'm a little bit disappointed with my subtle life, my belief on the lines in my palm is still intact, I'm almost certain that some miracle is going to happen in my life which would change it forever.

I'm still at the habit of looking at the hands of the people I met; estimating their character and their present state of life through the lines on their hands. I was proud of my skill in palmistry until I met this person. My friend introduced him to me in a party as his boss, I was with my usual habit of watching the hands of the new person expecting some great combination of lines for such a highly successful personality

but there came the shock of my life, nothing seemed to be fine with those lines. It contained all those negative aspects that were referred in the books I studied; primitive hand, pale lines, sullen mounts, crosses all over, awkward thumb…it’s almost ‘the hand of a beggar’!

I couldn’t hide the surprise from my friend and remarked to him while he was alone “Are you serious that he’s your boss? His hands suggest him to be a beggar! He’s supposed to be the most worthless and unlucky person in the hall”

“You are right when you said that he is a beggar, but wrong to expect him to be worthless” my friend answered calmly and continued despite my confused looks “he was born to a beggar, but determined not to be one of them. He’s done everything to lift himself up step by step; cleaned the cars at the junction, worked as a daily labourer, washed the toilets, ran a tea stall... With only one motive behind – determination to be, what he wants to be!” “But the lines in his hands…” I tried to object.

“He never cared about the lines in his hands but only cared for their purpose” rebuked my friend “He once remarked to me that our hands are the most powerful tools in the world and they would rust our character if not used for a long time.”

As my friend left me to join his boss, I've discovered the main principle of palmistry i.e., ‘A hand that works is the most fortunate hand’.  Now I'm more interested in deeds than in lines.

- Nirjara.