Any one of you has experienced a premonition? I bet all of us did.

As a child I grew up listening to elders saying, "today we can expect the arrival of guests", upon hearing a certain type of crow and if it rains with sun shining it is marriage time for the Jackals. I am sure there are several similar incidents experienced by readers time to time. Again we have encountered the not so famous twister, if a person is having black tongue whatever the person says happens and this is normally taken in negative spirit for instance, if the person says "Oh, how many mangos in this tree??" from next day onwards the mangoes on the tree start falling to the ground.

However, the subject that I ponder on in this article, is our own experience in life. Premonition is defined in the Oxford dictionary as "A feeling that something is about to happen".

There are famous people in the world who have spoken about their own death and many a times it has happened in the same way. I remember, Mrs.  Indira Gandhi"s final speech whereby she said, "my blood would invigorate the nation."   And in a couple of days we lost a great leader, blood spilled all over. Remember Lalloo Prasad announcing on his final Budget of Last Government that he had the best accident free year and on the same day, a train accident had been reported. Good reason why airlines will never advertise that they have hundred percent safety records. I remember a great Minister who fought for an electrical crematorium and got the approval after great fuss. He was scheduled to inaugurate it but by a strange turn of fate, he became the first person to be cremated from that facility.

Premonition could happen for self, for family member, friend and even for totally distant unknown person. I can only share from experience.

As recently as in June, while visiting Mangalore, I had a discussion with my dear sister in law from Bangalore who was also on a visit to Mangalore. The discussion was regarding a bible incident which she had never heard before.  In the very next hour our families who had gone to Milagres church for our Sunday obligation Mass, were shocked to hear the reading of the mass which was on the same topic, further highlighted by the sermon. My poor sister in law was trying to find out if I had anything to do with that days reading or sermon. She was convinced I had no role but had to listen to my virtues on my knowledge of our religion as against hers. 

...my absence in chat had already sent wrong signals to my wife and she feared the worse sitting at home in Kuwait....

Or in the Kuwait office  years before,  during our sales meeting attended by six of our executives whose Sales performance was not so impressive and I was disgusted with all of them since normally I am considered as pro-staff Manager than pro-Management and I shouted - All of you are not Good, and "Only Alexander (name changed) can bail me out". (Alexander was a customer, who had earlier given me good business) and I wrote this statement in my note book, which normally I use in the office to write meeting minutes / points, and here walks Mr. Alexander, to my office and I have, prior to his departure from my office that day, signed the biggest business deal to date, to the surprise of all  that were present.

Since the above incident and quite a few other lesser significant incidents, it was understood amongst the staff that what I write in that note book, normally happens. One fine evening one of our accountants approached me saying,

He: Vivianji, can I borrow your blue book……..
Me: For What?
He: I wanted to check if you have written anything on me in that book?
Now this person was ill treating many of lesser position staff in the office and many had complained to me, however I could not do anything since he was not under my jurisdiction, and when he said as above, you could think of my anger / frustration and I said:
Me: Duleep, why you want my book?? Since I have written in this book that you need to be terminated, it is ages, but nothing is happening to you……. You may go. I am not giving you my book...

And he walked out from my office.

Next afternoon I was told, Duleep is indeed terminated from our office services connected with some cash fraud that came to the notice of the senior management and which I was not aware of. 

Below experiences could be bits of premonitions, bits of facts connected with my family.  Late 2003 I opted to work in newly set up office in Basra, Iraq, taking care of operations in Umm Qasr Port. While the fear factor was there, it was not as serious initially, as it turned out to be during later days. Initially it was quite simple just one and half hour drive from Kuwait and those days there were no border formalities hence movement was swift and quick. It was understood that I come back home, every Wednesday evenings to be with my wife and two daughters and be back in Basra  on Saturday mornings.

However as I took my new responsibilities, security worsened, border immigration was set up, and due to Indian Government’s insistence, restrictions on Indians to travel to Iraq were put in place, resulting in me to travel to Umm qasr port through Dubai by ship. (travel time of four days) However since I had opted already for the new assignment I had no other way out. This also meant separation from family since weekly Kuwait trips were not possible.

Even though telephone contact was restricted through Thuraya, chat communication with PC was very good, and I used to have daily on line chat with my wife which made life for both of us easy. Incidentally, one fine morning our Iraqi sponsor was kidnapped and this information I chose not to share with anyone including my wife. Only his family and my manager was informed.

The situation resulting in this kidnapping and then eventual release upon payment of ransom amount, resulted in me being away from computer for longer periods giving some kind of nervous signals to my wife. The day of release itself I was totally away from the computer and once our sponsor was released after 15 days of captivity, instant decision was made that I have to take him out of Basra to Kuwait. While this information was passed to my Management I again chose not to inform my wife until I reached Kuwait.

Meanwhile, my absence in chat had already sent wrong signals to my wife and she feared the worse sitting at home in Kuwait, crying and praying. During my return journey from Basra to Kuwait (it is a drive of around one and half hour), and at the same time, due to Bombing incident in Baghdad three of our staff including one Manager got killed and one of our Kuwaiti staff who got this news chose to call my wife and inform her that indeed the inevitable has happened. (That I have died). The premonition my wife hand since morning and now verbal confirmation and my absence from chat, all of it was enough for her to believe that her worse fear has now come true.

Meanwhile I reached Kuwait territory and proceeded to my house without knowing about the other incident.  I reached my house and upon ringing the door bell could see my daughter (ten years of age that time) opening the door and upon seeing me crying as if she has seen a ghost.  And next one I could see is my wife herself also looking like a ghost and upon seeing me without believing what she is seeing, she hit me so hard, I fell down.

Well my friends, it took a while to understand the whole story created out of premonition, actual facts and wrong information. 

It was during last decade, when NTR appeared on TV with a very colorful dress and I opined to my wife, this guy is dressing as if he is preparing for his death. (exact words - Aka Morchya Kalacho vel Aila, taso vo nesla Pale) and sure enough the next day’s news confirmed that he was no more. Too close to believe but very true. But when my wife chose to tell this incident to one of my close friend he would not believe her and challenged me, only to hear from me that a certain Hindi actor of repute would die within a week. And so it was.  

I am sure many of our premonition experiences are connected with our sports passion - cricket. How many amongst us switch off the TV during matches when India is playing?  Do you know one score where Indians get out. Yes you guessed it right. It is 13. If you have missed it so far check it out in the next few games. Getting out in nineties is a fact, in many games. India wins more games when you do not watch the match, why? I do not know.

Premonition could be such a live subject, readers can add their own experience to the list and share their experience to make it more enlightening to all.