The all-knowing parrot

The man sat cross-legged on a raised platform with only a caged parrot for company. He carried the weight of the world on his slouched shoulders. A painted stripe on his forehead gave him a quasi-spiritual air - there were clearly important things on his mind. Laid out in front of him were two columns of blue patterned cards, as if he was engaged in a game of solitaire. Intrigued, we enquired. The parrot, it turned out, was able to predict the future. The parrot master said something in hindi (not unlike abracadabra) and theatrically raised the door to the cage. The all-knowing parrot leapt out and after a few seconds of frantic activity picked a card from the pack. And so our futures were told. Some were promised twins, others great wealth. I was told my business (?) would expand in the coming year, but I would have to make it happen on my own. And something bad that was to have happened was no longer going to happen (unclear whether the parrot had intervened on my behalf or not). Another random interlude in Delhi town.