Interviewing a street palmist

“EK LAKEER”
Syed Wahab Shah

9:15 am. Monday, 28-11-11.

On the busy streets of Lahore, we met several people who claim to be fortune tellers; sitting on the footpath with their stuff such as parrots with tarot card readers, books etc. only one out of them all had the courage to face the camera. He agreed to give us some time and answer our questions.

Two minutes from Data Darbar, was the ‘landa bazaar’ where aged men were sitting with their boards and banners. Among them was Syed Wahab Shah, a middle aged man, dressed up wearing a pants and dress coat which was unlike all others who were in shalwar kameez. He was sitting on a dirty piece of cloth. He had a board with his name and details on it.  Wahab shah has been practicing palmistry since 22 years. His professional life starts at 7.00 a.m to 3.00 p.m daily. When we asked for his interview, he refused as he thought that we are from some television channel. He knew that people like him claim to be palmists but they do not have proper knowledge and education about palmistry. Such people can be arrested by the police as they misguide people and charge for it. After talking and talking, we finally convinced him that we are students who are doing research on palmistry.

INTERVIEW:

Q. what is your name?
A. Syed Wahab Shah

Q. where do you live?
A. Sadar. I travel on bus

Q. how do you carry all your stuff along?
A. I leave them here. A guy charges Rs.10 to look after my things.

Q. For how long have you been in this profession?
A. 22 years.

Q. from where did you learn the art of palmistry?
A. I had 2 Ustaads. It took 6-7 years to learn before I started reading palms as a profession.

Q. is it just for a living or for your personal interest?
A. I started this as my personal interest but now it has become a the source of living for me.

Q. How much do you charge?
A. Rs.25.

Q. How much does it earn you in a day?
A. I sit here from 7a.m till 3p.m and earn between Rs.300-Rs.500.

Q. what type of people visit you?
A. Illiterate as well as literate people from different areas. Often they have no idea about what they are asking about but they agree to whatever I tell them.

Q. What do people usually ask about?
A. Business. Because of our country’s economic problems. Some also ask about travelling.

Q. how accurate do you think is your palmistry skill?
A. I tell them the possibilities. There is no definite answer, as lines keep changing. The hand tells a lot of possibilities… “ek lakeer pe puri kitaab likhi ja sakti hai.”

Q. How is it different from tarot card reading?
A. Tarot cards only tell what is pre-written. Whereas, the lines in our hands keep changing and thus have different meanings. The hand tells a lot of possibilities… “ek lakeer pe puri kitaab likhi ja sakti hai.” (a whole book can be written on one line.)

Q. Majority of the people say that palm reading is forbidden in Islam. What do n have to say about this?
A. It is in the Shariyat that it is allowed, only if it’s done in the Islamic way. People who don’t know what palm reading is would obviously declare it as forbidden.

Personal Experience:
 Syed Wahab Shah read my hand and told me about my personality. He told me that I listen to my heart rather than my mind, he said that I’ll become famous in 2013-2014, he gave a positive view about my health, he also said that I will travel abroad and that I don’t spend money on the things that I should spend on. I found his statements quite random and something that every other palmist could say about any other person. It seemed as if he had learnt all the statements that he was telling me, as he wasn’t pausing to actually read any of my palm lines, he kept on talking without any break. He didn’t really answer my questions or told me anything about my past. When I told him to predict my exact future, he said that it can’t be done by just reading the palm, but he’ll have to make a “zaicha” in which he’ll link my lines to my stars, which is calculation. I told him to make my zaicha but he refused to do that in front of the camera. 

Posted by Ifrah

PROPOSAL

Documentary - Palmistry

Theme:
                The documentary will show an insight into the reality about palmistry – especially for those with a misconception about it.

Segment 1:

·         Documentary begins with  3 graphic shots to introduce the location where the service of palm reading is offered.  

·         Local, mysterious music will be played in the background.

·         No vocals for this scene.

·         Duration: up to 10 seconds

Segment 2:

•           Introduction to the location is followed by a palmist with his costumer on a street.
•           Graphic, cut away shots of the features of both men, as the conversation proceeds.
•           The conversation ends, and the man showing his hand gives Rs. 50 to the palmist.
•         He stands up and walks away – camera follows his movement.
•         The street is captured, to establish the location of where the palmist offers his service.
•         Music is changed. A heartening music is played which connects this to the next scene.

Segment 3:

·         The title of the documentary is introduced.

·         The music would be very exhilarating.

·         The scene shows views about palmistry - of the general public including students, as well as  professionals.

Segment 4:

·         Music sinks and narration begins.

·         The topic of palmistry is introduced with the history of human interest and obsession in knowing the future, and its form of existence in the present day.

·         As the narration proceeds, references of old books, images, documents and web pages are shown as to point out how humans have been trying to calculate and predict future.

·         Expose palmistry as one such obsession to know the future.

Segment 5:

·         Narrator tells how palmistry in our country is seen as – lack of awareness and knowledge has lead to a lot of misconceptions regarding palmistry.

·         The people who are/or claim to be palmists.

·         How they work. And the kind of people who visit them.

Segment 6:

·         Interview of a street palmist follows up.

·         We ask him basic questions regarding palmistry and why and how he does this work.

·         Similar questions are rephrased and asked from the actual authentic palmist.

·         We highlight the contradiction between both palmists.

·         People can distinguish between the right and wrong - fake and real palmists.

Segment 7:

·         Certainly not everyone believes in palmistry as an actual art or a tool of assessment of a person.

·         Interviews of a religious scholar and a sociologist/psychiatrist will follow to show the conflict of beliefs and how they strongly criticize palm reading.

Segment 8:

·         The authentic palmist gives proof that palmistry is actually a study and it exists all around the world, not only to predict future but is diversified towards telling an individual’s personal characteristics about him and his life.

·         We leave an open ended conclusion – given both sides of the matter, we leave it upon the people’s individual intellect on what to believe in.

Posted by Shahbano

The Concepts.

DOCUMENTARY CONCEPTS

Shahbano and I thought of 3 concepts in total, out of which we will choose the best one and work on it.

CONCEPT 1:

  As our documentary is on “Astropalmistry”, we thought of linking our starting with fate. The documentary would start with shots of fame, poverty, politics, war, love, birth and death. We’ll take a shot of soccer player making a goal for fame, a beggar for poverty, a shot of politician making a speech for fame, a shot of a terrorist act for war, a shot of a young couple holding hands for love and a shot of an accident for death. These shots would be short and precised and the sound would play according to the scene. E.g. a crowd noise when the soccer player makes a goal. Along with this sound, a soft mysterious music would also play. After these scenes, the screen would black out and the title of our documentary would appear and the music would stop. Then we’ll show personal experiences that people have had with palmistry and good or bad it was and the music would stop. Then we’ll show personal experiences that people have had with palmistry and good or bad it was. The main body of our documentary would mainly consist of interviews. We’ll interview three people; a palmist, a psychologist and a person who have had an experience with palmistry. Our documentary would be left open ended, so that people could decide for themselves.
The advantage of using this concept is that the starting would create a huge impact on the audience which would lead to interest in watching the rest of the documentary. Secondly, we would mainly focus on fate which is something that almost everybody would like to know about. The disadvantage is that the shots in the beginning could be too costly to shoot. Creating an appropriate environment for each and every shot would not only be expensive, but it would also be quite time consuming. These two factors are very important for us and they would be looked into deeply before we finalize any concept.

*Concept by Shahbano.

CONCEPT 2:

The main theme for our second concept is “Palmistry” itself. We’ll focus of what palmistry is, the misconception that people have about it, how palmistry started and where it lies in today’s world. The documentary will open with the history of palmistry. We’ll show pages from old books, articles, newspapers, web etc. The narrator would talk about the history of palmistry, people’s different believes, how it started in the ancient times etc. After the introduction, we’ll move on to our interviews. We’ll interview three people; a local palmist, an experienced palmist and a psychologist. This documentary would be very informative; there would be no conflict as such. Whole documentary would run smoothly and it would end with the idea of supporting palmistry and how authentic it can be.
The advantage with using this idea is that it’s comparatively easier to shoot and its less time consuming so we’ll get more time for the editing. Secondly, the editing would be simple as there would not be complicated shots. The disadvantage is that this can turn out to be boring. People might not have an interest in watching the whole documentary. The ending doesn’t have anything epic which might turn out to be a disappointment. 

 *Concept by Ifrah.

CONCEPT 3:

   For our third concept, we’ll show the authenticity of palmistry, we’ll compare the fake/local palmists to the experienced ones, we’ll also show the contradiction between those people who believe that palmistry is true and those people who think that its just a matter of mind. We’ll also relate palmistry with religious beliefs.

     The documentary would start with a man showing his hand to a street palmist. We’ll take graphic short shots of features of both men. E.g. extreme close up of hands, eyes, lips, etc. The background music for this clip would be local and mysterious. The palmist would be answering questions of his customer. The music would change as the camera zooms out and the man gets up to walk away. The camera pans away to establish the location i.e. the streets of old Lahore. The scene would fade out and the music will connect the next scene which is cut away shots of general public giving their personal opinions about palm reading. We’ll show university students, various professionals, working class, labour class etc. Between the public reviews, we’ll show shots of some road happenings, e.g. street venders, traffic, buildings, etc. This fast scene would go perfectly with the music that we have chosen for this segment. the scene fades out and our documentary title would appear on the screen.
We decided to take a part from our second concept and add it to our third one. We’ll show the history of human desire and obsession in knowing the future. While the narrator would talk about this subject, we’ll show references of books, web pages, documents and images to show the ways of how humans have been trying to calculate and predict the future.
In the next few minutes we will step into the very intimidating and controversial world of palmistry. We’ll relate palmistry to religion too. As our sub topic we’ll show how commonly we can find local palmist in our country, who charges low to predict one’s future but there’s no guarantee of his prediction to be true. In this way so many people are misguided. Secondly, we’ll compare those people who believe in palmistry to those who do not. We’ll tell those people to prove their point to support their opinion. We’ll include four interviews; one of a local palmist, one of an experienced palmist, one of a scholar and one of a psychologist. After all the arguments and interviews, we’ll leave the documentary open ended so that people could decide for themselves. 

*We came up with this final concept together.

Posted by Ifrah

A Referrence Video.

                                                            HELP US, HELP THEM

                                                               DOCUMENTARY

“Help us, help them” is a documentary by Deceptions. A team of 3 members made a video on “Fountain House” which is a mental hospital. Their aim was to create such an impact on people that whenever they think of mentally ill people, Fountain House should be the first place that should click their minds.

         This documentary is shot with HD Cameras. Proper documentary lights have been used with reflectors. Their total budget was Rs.50, 000 and this video was shot in a total of 3 days.

     This video has been a huge inspiration for me. The stories in this documentary are touching for sure, but the music and the cinematography has played an equal role in making this documentary so emotional.

   

INTRODUCTION:

The video opens with some shots of old Lahore and the background voice tells about the importance of life and relates it to human mind. Then close ups of mentally ill patients are shown with slow background music to create a sad environment. I like the way every shot has been blurred in the beginning for a few seconds and then it turns out to be clear. The music then starts to take a beat and actions of those patients are shown.

INTERVIEWS:

President of Fountain

Chairman Management Stearing committee

Chairman of the Fund Raising Community

Hon. Executive Director

Vice President

Doctor of Fountain House

Patients of Fountain House

General Secretary (LMHA)

SCRIPT:

   The script of this documentary is very strong. Every dialogue leaves an impact on the viewer. Easy words have been used so that it’s understandable for everyone.  The introduction of Fountain House has been made properly. The emotional sentences in the documentary helps the views understand the importance of life, health, and mind. It makes the viewer think about the souls that are caged in Fountain House and realize how helpless they are. Then the voice tells the general information about the institution (where it is located, the area etc) and the importance of this institution. Then it tells us about the people who live there and how they feel. After that we get know that patients are employed in this institution and they get a chance to use their abilities to create something. The voice then introduces the Women Block of the Fountain House and it also talks about how women are easily targeted in our society. After that we introduced to a hospital of Fountain House that is located in a village. In the end, a short message is conveyed about the significance of life, time, and one of God’s greatest gifts, Mind.

EDITING:

   The editing of this video has been done in a way that every shot seems linked to the other shot. The documentary has a certain flow which keeps the interest of the viewer alive. To make it emotional, the camera man has focused on the faces of the people and have captured close ups. The shots fade in and out which maintains a stream in the video.

        This documentary has been a great inspiration for me. I always wanted to make a documentary that leaves a great impact on people and makes them think what they have never thought about before. This documentary has almost everything to make it complete. I loved the background music that has been added and the script was amazing too. The video opens with a sad environment and ends with a positive message. The creators have added contact and donation information in the end which can turn out to be huge advantage for the Fountain House. This documentary opens the minds of the general public and makes them realize that how important His gifts are.

Results from the Survey..

The goal of the survey was to investigate as to what type of television documentaries do people in general watch, and the major aim was to find out about their belief in the study and practice of palmistry.

Research Methodology

We made use of “questionnaires” in order to collect the data. The questionnaire consisted of 9 questions. The questionnaires have been filled by 20 people from different schools and households.

Presentation and Discussion of Results

Of the people that filled the questionnaires, 40% belonged to the 13-19 age group, 35% belonged to the 20-35 age groups and 25% belonged to the 35+ age group.

When asked about how often do they watch documentaries, it is found that 60% watch documentaries occasionally, 20% watch documentaries every week, 10% watch once a month and 10% have never watched any documentary.

The data in the questionnaire revealed that people mostly watch documentaries aired by National Geographic, commonly Jailed Abroad and Taboo. Another popular documentary amongst the respondents was The Arrivals. Some respondents prefer watching religious documentaries because they are informative. Out of the local documentaries, respondents prefer to watch Dawn News documentaries and Geomentary.

The data above shows that 39% respondents prefer to watch documentaries based on real life story, 22% watch documentaries based on comedy and human interest and 17% watch documentaries that are informative.

PALMISTRY!

40% of the respondents believe in the study and practice of palmistry, whereas 60% of the respondents do not believe in palmistry.

65% of the respondents have shown their hands to a palmist, whereas 35% have not. But, according to the study, many respondents who do not believe in palmistry have shown their hands to a palmist which somehow reveals that showing hands is also considered as a source of entertainment and inquisitiveness of human nature.

According to the data above, it is found that 27% people prefer to find out about their future, 22% about their character traits, 18% about relationships, 13% about fate, 8% about life and health and 4% about career.

When asked about the personal belief/opinion about palm reading, the respondents brought religious reasons and said that religion has prohibited palmistry so it should not be practiced, others considered it as a source of entertainment. Most of them believed that what is on their mind is what is on their hands.

Done by Ifrah Khan

Survey on Palmistry.

We did a general survey on palmistry as a part of our primary research. We interviewed about 8 people between the age group of 18 - 25. 4 of these people gave us their honest opinions about palmistry, while the other 4 were rather confused about the topic and wanted us to tell them what to say in the camera. The survey from this survey was quite helpful. We got to know people's opinions which were very different from the stereotypical thought about palmistry. It was surprising to know that ordinary people of this age have so much knowledge about palmistry which is generally taken as a topic of interest for only the elderly. 

Posted by Shahbano.

Samples of our answered questionnaires. 

Questionnaire

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

Q1. Your age:

·       13-19

·       20-35

·       35+

Q2. How often do you watch documentaries?

·       Every week

·       Once a month

·       Occasionally

·       Never

Q3. Do you have any favorite TV documentaries? Please list as many as possible and explain why you like them.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Q4. What do you like to see in a television documentary?

·       Celebrity

·       Real life story

·       Fictional story

·       Comedy

·       Human interest

·       Informative

Q5. What is your profession?

·       Student

·       Employee

·       Employer (small scale)

·       Employer (large scale)

Q6. Do you believe in palmistry?

·       Yes

·       No 

Q7. Have you ever shown your hand to a palmist?

·       Yes

·       No

Q8. What would you want to find out about, via a palmist?

·       Your life

·       Your fate

·       Your career

·       Your relationships

·       Your future

·       Your character traits

·       Other     _____________________

Q9. What is your personal belief/opinion about palm reading?

__________________________________________________________­­­­_______________________

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