In 1983, my wife and I were travelling by air from Bagdogra to Ajmer to place our elder son, Udayan (then ten), at a boarding school. The school is located 1,800 kilometres away in Rajasthan in the western part of India. We first took a two-hour flight to Delhi, followed by another thirty-minute flight to Jaipur and finally a two-hour drive brought us to Mayo College. For the journey, I had picked up a magazine to read. The cover story was about a psychic and the article was titled, ‘The Man Who Sold Luck’.

I was engrossed by this story about Mr Krishna, a man from Bangalore, who harmonised the vibrations of troubled people by designing a logo for them. This logo would then bring them peace, harmony and material success. Having for long dealt with the vibrations of plants, I thought that this was indeed a great soul. The vibrations of humans are far more complex than those of plants, as is harmonising them.

I wrote to Mr Krishna, and after lengthy correspondence, he stated that our 140-year-old logo was unsuitable. I consulted all the members of my family for their opinion. They were all against any change and laughed off Mr Krishna's opinion. Moreover, the psychicdesigner was very expensive. As luck would have it, an insurance policy of mine matured at that point, and its value covered the fees exactly.