Consulting the planets, Astrologer Mahant Raghvir Dass, high priest of Delhi's Hanuman (Monkey God) temple, made a direful prediction: "The 13 months after May 5, 1955, will be inauspicious for marriages." The news had Delhi state in a marital dither last week. Unmarried thousands hurried to get hitched before the full moon in the sign of Vrischika.
Newspapers were full of matchmaking advertisements, e.g., "Husband wanted for beautiful graduate girl, 23, with fine arts and classical music qualifications. Domesticated." Wedding music blared from hundreds of houses, and Delhi's 40,000 beggars reaped a rich harvest...
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