Later, I discovered that the only common factor between Steve Waugh and the three Khans was the planet Pluto. All there of them had Pluto between 23 and 27 degrees in the zodiac sign Leo. This is the point of the deepest exaltation (the best celestial position) for this planet. This marvel happened once in about 260 years. Now, that was something! The Khans and Waugh had something really rare in them and hence could become superstars or win the World Cup.
We all are born different. Many may have exalted planets in their birth chart and achieve successes in their lives, but those with the planets in deepest exaltation achieve that rare distinction and become the biggest achievers. The deepest exaltation indicates the planet reaching a particular degree in a particular zodiac sign. For exzmple, Neptune gets deeply exalted at 25 degrees in Cancer, Taurus, Libra and Sagittarius. There may be many with Neptune in exaltation in their charts, but Shah Rukh Khan is Shah Rukh Khan because he has the planet of illusion, Neptune, in deepest exaltation in his first house (of personality), which makes him a king in the world of showbiz. And isn’t showbiz all about creating alluring illusions?
Steve Waugh’s win also showed me that the planet Pluto had three exaltation points. The second exaltation point was present in Kapil Dev’s birth chart—Kapil Dev, who won the first World Cup for India. The third exaltation point had won it for Steve Waugh and Australia. Well, which was the first one? It happened in 1949–52. We will talk about that phenomenon a little later.
This was the beginning of my long and arduous journey into the mysteries of astrology. I thanked my stars that I had been wrong this time. If I hadn’t been wrong, I wouldn’t have learnt about Pluto. I had formulated some theories and decided to experiment with them during the next World Cup. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t. But now I had started taking serious interest in cricket and its connection to my world of astrology. I followed every World Cup since then. I looked at the horoscopes of the players and speculated about the top team that would win the Cup.
I saw a change in myself where I no longer hated the Australians because they were on a winning spree. Instead, I was highly upset when I felt someone who deserved to be in the Indian team wasn’t there, someone who could win us the World Cup.
Every time my prognosis went wrong, I learnt something new. Every time the Aussies won, I stumbled upon a new discovery. The entire phase from 1996 to 2007 was a huge learning curve for me, especially in sports astrology. I didn’t realise then that all the mistakes I committed would lead to new learning and something even more interesting—something that would make me wonder about the fundamentals of astrology, especially the kind practised in India.
3.
The Superstar Theory
2000-2010. Bhopal, Indore, Mumbai.
Arjuna Ranatunga and Steve Waugh’s victories in 1996 and 1999 clearly established the power of the farthest planet in the solar system, Pluto, on the lives of human beings. The revelation of Pluto and the unfolding of the secrets during the years 1949–68 (when Pluto was in the zodiac sign Leo, its exaltation point) motivated me to do further research on the planet and its far-off cousins, Uranus, Neptune, et al, so that I didn’t receive any new surprises connected with these distant bodies.
Though there are 12 zodiac signs, in Indian astrology we use only five planets—Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn—as their rulers. The sun and the moon are not supposed to be considered as planets here as they are luminaries or stars. The Western astrologers use four more bodies, namely Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Chiron. That adds up to nine planets. As there are 12 houses in a zodiac wheel, it makes sense that there should be 12 planets ruling them. My research pointed to the existence of three missing bodies as those missing links. I needed to know about them since they would assure greater accuracy in theorising about the possibility of an event happening in the future, be it sports or anything else.
By the time I finished my research on Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and turned my attention to the other missing links in astrology, two more World Cups had passed—in 2003 and in 2007. I was clueless in both these World Cups about who would win them. I couldn’t come to a proper conclusion since I didn’t have any clinching astrological evidence to ascertain which captain would win the Cup for his country. All the captains were born in the early 70s and their charts didn’t offer solid indications regarding the best planet placements. Or maybe I could not read the signs clearly enough.
Interestingly, Ricky Ponting, who won both these World Cups, had none of the traditional planets in strong positions. It was perplexing that he didn’t even have Uranus, Neptune or Pluto in strong positions.
After intense research for over a decade, I found that there were three more planetoids (let me call them Planet-X, Planet-Y and Planet-Z), besides Chiron, which needed to be added to the analysis if I wanted to know who would win the next World Cup.
Planet-X is an unnamed centaur (akin to an asteroid) that lies between Saturn and Uranus. The astronomical code given by NASA to this body is 2007 RH283. Similarly, Planet-Y is also a centaur orbiting between Saturn and Uranus and the NASA number for it is 1999 JV127, while Planet-Z orbits in the same centaur belt and is numbered 2008 FC76. I call them Planet-X, Planet-Y and Planet-Z for the sake of convenience.
I consider these three bodies as the missing links in astrology that help me zero in on the future World Cup winners.
I was shocked to see that Ricky Ponting had these planets X, Y and Z in the best positions therefore, he could win World Cups back to back. The entire army of the Aussie cricketers, who played under him, had these three planets in strong positions.
I had all my questions answered now and understood why it was Ricky Ponting and not Sourav Ganguly who had won the battle in the finals of the 2003 World Cup.
So, who after Ricky Ponting?
I was extremely enthusiastic about the next superstar in cricket. I had to find this guy. Where was he born? Was it possible that he could be Indian? How nice it would be if this were true! I started searching diligently for the man who would be the next ‘great’ in cricket.
Ponting was born in 1974. Many other sports legends, too, were born around 1972–74. In fact many actors, singers and hugely successful celebrities even from other fields were born during these years. I looked for the next period after 1972–74 that would show a big spurt in the number of mega-achievers. Many indicators pointed at 1981–82 to be the next great astrological season.
Looking at the other sports, I picked up some clues regarding the year in which the next superstar of cricket would be born. After the early-1970s-born Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras (both American), it was the 1981-born Roger Federer (Swiss) who had become the undisputed superstar in tennis. Iker Casillas from Spain was making waves and had attained an iconic status in football with extraordinary successes after the 1973-born Fabio Cannavaro from Italy.
In women’s tennis, it was a straight jump from the 1969-born Steffi Graf (German) to the 1981-born Serena Williams (American). After the Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan—a 1974-born, Ranbir Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor were the rising superstars of Bollywood, born in 1981–82. There was something about this period of 1980–82, especially 1981. All pointers indicated that the next superstar in cricket had to be someone born in 1981.
It is interesting to note that great people come in clusters. I mean, all the greats of the world are born during similar/same moments in time. They may be great in different fields, but their grandeur would be similar.
We can extrapolate that from the birth year of superstars from other fields. Let me explain with a few examples.
Did you know that the famous superstars of the Indian film industry, Amitabh Bachchan, Jeetendra and Rajesh Khanna were born in the same year—1942? Now, besides the Bollywood legends, even Western legends—musicians like Paul McCartney, Barbara Streisand, Jimi Hendrix and also the Einstein of our generation, Stephen Hawking, were born in the same year. Also the greatest boxing champion ever, Mohammed Ali. The World Cup
-winning Italian football legend and one of the greatest footballers of all time, Bobby Moore, Eusebio, and the greatest football manager in the history of the sport, Alex Ferguson, too, were born in 1941–42. The all-time leader in the history of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Giacomo Agostini, was another one born in 1942.
Planet-X was in deepest and greatest exaltation in 1941–42. As we can see, either legends, or at least the most powerful people from various fields, were born during this period. And if you think 1942 was an aberration, the next set was born in 1944–46. This was the time when Planet-X was deeply exalted and Planet-Y was in its own house, the zodiac sign Virgo. You can gauge the importance of this span by the simple fact that there were three American presidents born in 1946: George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and—guess who—even Donald Trump, with a total of five presidential terms between them! Big screen legends like Sylvester Stallone, Steven Spielberg and Michael Douglas were born in this period too. So were the football legend, Franz Beckenbauer and the basketball legend, Phil Jackson.
In cricket, Clive Lloyd, the first super-successful captain from West Indies, was born in 1944. He was the chosen one to win the first cricket World Cup. In fact, the two strongest planets in his horoscope—X and Y—gave him two World Cup wins—in 1975 and 1979.
The next important spell was 1950–52, where Pluto was in its positive exaltation. The men who had seen great adversities in life, or who were from humble backgrounds and had risen to script extraordinary stories, were born in this period. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one. Apart from actor Rajinikanth, tennis legends Jimmy Connors, Guillermo Vilas; football legend Dino Zoff, the 1980 hockey gold-winning V Bhaskaran and Mark Spitz, the swimming legend, were some of the extraordinary sports heroes to be born in this duration. Cricket produced the legendary Imran Khan, who was born in 1952 and won the 1992 World Cup at the age of 40. Besides Pluto, Imran Khan also had Saturn in exaltation in his horoscope. Saturn indicates late success and hence Imran Khan achieved peak success at a later age.
The next great period was 1954–55. Saturn and Jupiter were in exaltation simultaneously during these years. This strong phenomenon happens once in about sixty years. While Indian actors Kamal Haasan and Chiranjeevi, Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan and American talk show host Oprah Winfrey are examples of screen legends, France’s Michel Platini is the most famous football legend, and Chris Evert (American) is one of the best-known tennis greats. Great entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (American) were born in this stretch too. The cricket World Cup was won by the 1955-born legend, Allan Border, of Australia, in 1987.
Next came the negative exaltation of Pluto in the years 1958–61. The legends born in these years saw some extraordinary success, but also faced some troubled times in their lives: Argentina’s football legend, Diego Maradona; Ayrton Senna—the legendary F1 champion from Brazil; John McEnroe—the American tennis champion and the American basketball champion, Magic Johnson.
History was made when India (outsiders with a 500:1 possibility of winning, according to the book makers) won the cricket World Cup for the first time in 1983, under the captaincy of the 1959-born Kapil Dev. Indian actor, Sanjay Dutt, and the American singers, Michael Jackson and Madonna, are legends personified—who had Pluto in negative exaltation in their charts. All these 1958–61-born legends had some tragic incidents in their lives. Even Barack Obama, a 1961-born, became the president when America was going through its worst economic crisis.
The next best period came in 1963–64. A positive Pluto was in exaltation and Saturn was also in a strong position. The people born then achieved success, yes, but after facing tough ordeals and many obstacles. Besides Sri Lanka’s Arjuna Ranatunga, examples include Michael Jordan—the basketball legend from America. American actors, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp; singer Whitney Houston, Indian actress Sridevi and Canadian actor, Keanu Reaves, are the legends from the field of entertainment born during this period.
The subsequent great planetary marvel happened in 1965–67. Pluto was in its deepest positive exaltation. People with this placement saw dizzying successes and became the undisputed numero uno in their trade, but they also faced some tragedies in their lives. It is interesting to note that the greatest superstars of our times—Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan, all were born in 1965. The only superstar not from the ‘Khan’dan—Akshay Kumar—was born in 1967. And so was the musical legend, AR Rahman.
The golden period after that was 1972–74, where Planet-X and Planet-Z moved into strong positions. We will discuss these planets in detail later. But I must tell you that the Fab Four of Indian cricket were born in this very period—Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman. So was Ricky Ponting, who won the World Cup in 2003 and 2007—one each for Planet-X and Planet-Z.
As you can see, every time there is a major planetary phenomenon, the best in the business are born. This can be applied to any industry. I conducted extensive research on this subject and noticed that even organisations born during a great planetary phenomenon can have a great future. For example, India’s greatest wealth creator, Reliance, was established in 1966—the same period as the Khans. So, Reliance is the Shah Rukh Khan amongst industries. Microsoft established in early 1975 is the Hrithik Roshan or Ricky Ponting of the industry. Take a look at the next great wealth creator—Infosys—established on 2nd July 1981—the week when MS Dhoni was born!
Can this also be reverse engineered? YouTube, Google and Facebook were born in the 2000s. You can examine these years carefully and predict in which year the greatest future superstars will be born. Or look at any sports star’s birth details and find out how far they will go in their career. I arrived at this simple theory after examining hundreds of horoscopes of sports stars, screen legends, entertainers and political figures.
Coming back to the 2011 World Cup, who would be the next superstar?
In the period between 2007 and 2010, this was the biggest question in my life. I looked in every direction and hung on to every clue possible to know who that would be. Interestingly, I got a clue about who would win the 2011 cricket World Cup while studying other sports like tennis, football and even shooting and the Olympics. And all pointers pointed in one direction: that superstar would be born in the year 1981.
Yes, the 1981 phenomenon was probably the greatest for a sportsperson born in the 21st century! We were very lucky that in cricket, that superstar was born in India!
4.
Lessons from Football
7th July 2006. Mumbai.
I remember the date distinctly. It was India’s brave young wicketkeeper Dhoni’s 25th birthday and the newspapers had wished him well. On that Friday morning, I was waiting to meet the head of Talent Management of a multinational bank for the final round of a job interview for the position of a training manager.
Anupa Sadasivan looked too young to be in that position. However, I understood why she was there when she started asking those intelligent, probing questions for which not many would have been prepared. She brought out my characteristics clearly in her attempt to know if I was the right fit for the job advertised. One of her questions was, ‘So, what do you do to de-stress?’ I told her about astrology being my passion and how doing research on sports astrology was therapeutic for me. She was intrigued and probed further for examples. I explained how I had researched on cricket and how I thought a 1981-born would win a World Cup. I even said that Dhoni, whose birthday it was that day, could win a World Cup for India if he was made the captain.
Then I looked straight into her eyes and said with a theatrical effect, ‘I’m going to predict something that will come true two days from now. On the 9th of July 2006, when Italy meets France in the football World Cup final, Italy will win.’
She was taken aback. Then she smiled and said, ‘Consider your job confirmed if Italy wins.’
I smiled too.
Italy won. I received my offer letter and joined the bank. Even today I’m not sure if it was the astrologica
l prediction that did the trick or my knowledge and experience in the domain of learning and development. A decade after that incident, Anupa who is now the HR country head of one of the largest banks in the world still wouldn’t tell me. HR people have to keep certain secrets to themselves, you see.
Now, if you ask me how I deduced Italy winning the World Cup, well…it was very simple. The two captains in the final were the 1973-born Fabio Cannavaro (Italy) and the 1972-born Zinedine Zidane (France). This was almost like the India versus Australia Cricket World Cup final in 2003—Sourav Ganguly (1972-born) versus Ricky Ponting (1974-born). I saw that Zidane had a horoscope very similar to Ganguly’s and Cannavaro’s was closer to Ponting’s. Planet-X and Planet-Z both were more powerful in Cannavaro’s horoscope. I had used the cricket logic to arrive at a football prediction. Later on, during my research, I realised that vice-versa happened more often.
Though I always wished that I would be better known for my credentials as a facilitator, trainer and coach, this interview incident made me more popular for being a predictor of sports events. The next big event happened in 2007 and I predicted to my colleagues that India would not win the World Cup under Rahul Dravid, but also that I wasn’t sure which team’s captain would. Ricky Ponting, the 1974-born, had already won it in 2003. Now, the sequence of the birth year of the captains who had won the biggest prize in cricket looked like this—1944-1959-1955-1952-1963-1965-1974. The next year in the sequence, using astrology, had to be 1981. But I wasn’t sure whether the 1972–74-patch had produced only one World Cup winner or more.
Looking at Dravid’s horoscope I knew that there were many other captains who had equivalent or better horoscopes—such as England’s Michael Vaughan or even New Zealand’s Stephen Fleming. I was also wary of the threat posed by Brian Lara of West Indies and Inzamam-ul-Haq of Pakistan, who were born in 1969–70. The 1969–70 period was very important and hadn’t produced a World Cup winner in cricket yet. In football, the previous World Cup winner had been the 1970-born Cafu. So, I wasn’t sure. Besides, there was this young man, Graeme Smith, born in 1981, who captained South Africa (SA). Their team looked menacing too. If the sequence of the years went as I believed, then even SA could win this time. I thought I was going to learn a lot from that World Cup and decided not to hazard a prediction but to just wait and watch.
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