Attending a recent Darwin Festival event, the fabulous Indian born Suhani Shah blew the audience’s mind with her ability to ‘make us all think she could read minds’. And she did.
A great show which I highly recommend if you get the chance.
THEN A MEMORY
But her show took my mind back to anther Indian mystic. To the guru who predicted my ‘future’ at the world’s biggest travel industry trade show in Berlin.
Operating a multi-city campervan and motorhome business at the time, I regularly exhibited at the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) – and was one of the many thousands of exhibitors from virtually every country with a viable tourism industry.
Many countries had some kind of magnet to attract visitors to their stand (from hoola dancers to cigar rollers) and the Indian stand featured a famous international clairvoyant – a man I later saw on TV predicting the Australian Prime Minister’s fortune.
THE PREDICTION PROCESS
As other delegates on the Australian stand said he was ‘a must visit’, I waited my turn and then sat before the man. He looked into my eyes, studied my palm, asked my date of birth and consulted a small almanac.
He commenced by advising ‘I would enjoy a long and healthy life’ and that I would experience mild kidney and hernia issues. As predicted, I did experience three bouts of kidney stones (not nice experiences) – and required a hernia operation. He fail to predict, however, that I needed a corony stent in my 50s.
I don’t know what comprises a ‘long and healthy’ life - but I’m still going strong.
While not detailing the actual roles in which I’d been employed, he then accurately confirmed each year I had ‘commenced a new occupation’:
- The year I commenced teaching
- The year I commenced as a training executive with the Myer retail organisation
- The year I commenced my first tourism venture
- The year my wife and I commenced our second venture – a campervan/motor home hire operation
He went on to advise that I would again change occupations within the next 18 months, predicting I would become some kind of teacher. Sceptical of his predictions, I advised I had already been a teacher and questioned if he made a mistake.
“No. Definitley a teacher – but not a normal teacher,” he said. “I can’t predict exactly what your role will be, but it will be something along the lines of a teacher, but not an actual teacher.”
While impressed he’d recited my past occupation changes, as the operator of a very busy campervan hire business, I totally dismissed his prediction of an occupation change.
THEN THE CHANGE
On returning to Australia, we were approached by an overseas vehicle rental organisation who expressed interest in buying our business. As negotiations proceeded, I read an advertisement for the position of General Manager of a vocational school of tourism and hospitality in Alice Springs. A position “something along the lines of a teacher, but not an actual teacher”.
Sale negotiations proceeded, with a hand-over date set for shortly after the start date for the advertised position.
With wife Pam remaining to finalise the business sale (and of course there were sale complications), I hopped on a plane to take up my new position with the NT Department of Education. Managing a tourism school which despite its remote location, went on to attract students from the NT, three Australian states and three overseas countries.
AND THEN AN AUTHOR
Decades later (only a part with the tourism school), after running further ventures in both Alice Springs and back in Tasmania, semi-retirement loomed.
Finalising our Tassie business interests, we relocated to Darwin to be with most of our family. Deciding to write the Outback Adventures novel series between various ongoing projects, the inspiration for the series came from my eighteen years in Central Australia.
As a Tasmania based campervan hire operator on a visit to Berlin, I could never have anticipated a move to the middle of Australia.
But the Indian guru did.
AND YOU?
Have you ever experienced any kind of prediction that came true? COMMENT