Pakistan’s self-inflicted “7 ½ Shani”: Karma’s cosmic home delivery

DIY Shani: When karma strikes from the shadows

In South India, we use a phrase that can make even the bravest uncle clutch his horoscope tighter than his pension papers: “Ezharai Sani” (i.e., 7 ½ Shani).

It sounds like a weight-loss program, and it is, but the astrological way. It’s Saturn’s long cosmic journey through your zodiac backyard, unpacking karmic baggage you didn’t know you’d ordered.

Now, Saturn (Shani), in Vedic astrology, is not some party-crashing planet. He’s more like a cosmic auditor, calm, silent, and absolutely obsessed with karma.

You mess up when you were young, he shows up only when it’s due time for your payback. There’s no escape, no express delivery, just slow suffering with no customer support.

Enter Mushika: Lord Ganesha’s mouse.

My mother once narrated this tale when I was small enough to believe biscuits grew on trees. But it made a deep impact on me and has stayed with me.

The mouse, proud steed of Lord Ganesha, hears he’s due for his 7 ½ Shani tenure.

Outraged, he scoffs: “I’m Ganesha’s VVIP ride! Shani won’t dare touch me.”

He then does what any self-respecting mouse would do in an existential crisis; he goes underground. Literally, it dives into a sewage pipe and stays there, and hopes Shani can’t locate him. He stayed there for seven and a half years.

He finally emerges, reeking of bad decisions and questionable hygiene, proudly declaring, “Ha! Shani couldn’t locate me!”

Shani smiled. “Er… you, the great Ganesha’s travel companion, lived in a gutter for 7½ years at a stretch. That was your karma, served with sewage, solitude, and a Calendar to keep looking at as if almost eternally. It would have been unbearable for anybody, even for a day.”

Moral of the story? You can dodge the punishment, but you can’t dodge your karma.

Now, let’s fast-forward to a more current subplot. No mice, but plenty of mischief.

The recent killings in Pahalgam were senseless and barbaric.

But what did Pakistan gain? A few moments of twisted bravado and hollow headlines?

In return, they’ve lit the fuse on their own “custom Shani”, not based on planetary alignment, but on self-invited disaster.

Now, in Islamabad’s air-conditioned corridors, a special kind of climate change is underway: mental heat.

The generals, ISI chiefs, and politicians are probably wondering:

“Am I on the hit list? My wife? Children? My bank account in Dubai? My prized racehorse?”

Even their mistresses might be sweating under their designer dupattas.

You see, this is where Shani psychology kicks in.

It’s not always the punishment; it’s the suspense.

The longer the punishment is delayed, the more the mind races.

In chess, they say, “the threat is more powerful than the execution.” Expert chess players keep the sword dangling on the head of the opponent’s piece for as long a possible, even when they can simply remove it from the board. It keeps the opponent on tenterhooks.

And right now, that unplayed move is hovering over their heads like a drone with a PhD in vengeance.

Some consequences may be covert. Some may look like bad luck.

Not visible to you and me, but painfully obvious to those facing it.

Is this poetic justice or planetary?

They brought it upon themselves a DIY 7 ½ Shani.

And like Mushika the mouse, they too may find themselves underground, though only metaphorically.

Perhaps in hiding. Perhaps in exile. Definitely in fear.

I don’t wish them any harm. They will pay for their sins, regardless of my wish either way.

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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