"Astrology? Do you believe in astrology?" The interviewing officer sitting across the table peered at me. His look suggested that he was searching for some answers.

My friends had warned me not to put astrology as a hobby in my resume. Astrology is a controversial word. There are lots of people around looking to bury you with loads of questions for which you don't have answers. People needed tangible proofs to believe in astrology. They want to look, touch and feel the outcome of a prediction in order to believe in astrology. People accept the power of electricity and gravity. Astrology is similar to electricity and gravity. You can only experience them.

"Yes sir. I believe in astrology."

"How about horoscope. Can you read my chart and predict my future?"

"Yes sir. To an extent the charts predict what's going to happen."

I knew what his next question would be. He would say that the company only looked for hard working employees and not some one who believed in horoscopes and superstition. I wanted to remove astrology from my resume but somehow forgot it. There was no going back and now I felt trapped.

"Mr. Kumar. I believe that there is no substitute for hard-work, patience, perseverance and a thirst for success. If I have all these qualities, I can overcome whatever obstacle my horoscope is going to predict."

 I expected this. Any argument between a believer and non-believer of astrology starts with this statement.

"Yes sir. You are correct sir. All the qualities that you mentioned are needed for anyone to become a wise and successful person."

"Then what's the need for astrology?"

This was my chance. I stood up, walked towards the white board and drew a picture.

"Sir. Here is a scenario. Imagine that you are standing on top a building near an intersection. You are standing in such a position that you can see what's happening on both sides of the building."

 "Let's assume that the cross road doesn't have any traffic signals. It's a small intersection within an apartment complex. You see two cars approaching each other at high speed. The drivers in the car do not know about the other car because they can't see the other one. Since you are in a higher plane than the drivers, you can say that there is going to be a collision, with the way things are going. You can predict that something's going to happen, right sir?"

"Umm..Yes..But that might not necessarily happen. One of the cars can slow down or the drivers might be experienced enough to avoid the accident."

"Exactly.Sir. That's the same way with astrology and horoscopes. They can predict that something might happen because things are looked from a higher plane. As you said, if you have the patience, determination and hard work, you can avoid them just like how the skill of a driver comes into play during an accident."

"From a very tall building, I can say that you are going to have a bumpy ride back home because I know that four streets down the building, the roads are bad or there's heavy traffic. Now you can either take a different route or  you can brace yourself and take up the challenge and follow the route that has lots of hurdles. Some times there might not be any alternative route. So all we need in life is hard-work, patience, determination to succeed and self belief."

"Astrology are like road signs. They can look at something down the road and say how your journey is going to be. They have the ability because they look at events from a higher level than us. But you cannot just sit there and wait for the road to clear up. Prepare yourself for the challenge and march ahead."

The officer was no longer looking at me. He was busy filling out the evaluation sheets. I was not worried about the result, but the explanation that I gave to him increased my confidence that I could get a job anywhere, even if I had failed in this interview.