WEBVTT - Skyline Drive: It’s Supposed to Be Fun 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:03.000 Hey, there are podcast listeners. It is Mango here and 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.280 I've got something special, a little different for you today. 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:09.360 It is a show called Skyline Drive that I made 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:11.959 a couple of years ago with my friends. I'm actually 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.440 working on season two right now. It's going to be 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.000 out in June, so I thought this would be the 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.480 perfect time to catch up on season one. The first 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:23.080 season of Skyline Drive is a show about astrology, or 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:25.720 kind of about astrology. At first, I thought it would 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:27.880 be a bit like Part Time Genius, with facts and 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:31.760 fun stories told by me, a total skeptic. But then 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.800 this astrologery made a terrible prediction about my dad and 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.159 it came true, and it really changed the trajectory of 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:41.560 this series. So I went on this epic journey across 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:43.680 continents to find out what it means when you don't 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:47.760 believe in astrology, but astrology happens to you. And along 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.559 the way I still found all these wild facts, like 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:53.479 the true story of Nancy Reagan's obsession with astrology and 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:57.360 how it affected the world, or these two baseball astrologers 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.360 who actually help managers figure out which players to pick 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:02.880 in drafts. There's even a woman who turned to the 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.360 stars to write the last chapter of her life. It 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:07.760 was a joy to make. It was hard to make, 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.560 but Apple actually called it one of their favorite series 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:13.960 of all times, which is kind of incredible. So I 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:16.680 hope you'll check it out starting today with episode one. 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.480 We're going to air it every Sunday through the course 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.520 of the series. And the first episode also features one 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:26.280 of my favorite favorite people, aj Jacobs, who has a 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:30.080 hilarious story and he's obviously one of our favorite guests 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:35.319 at PTG, so I hope you enjoy. 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:46.720 Warning. The following episode contains adult language, discussion of miracles, 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.720 arranged marriages, Channing Tatum, and disclosure of at least one 0:01:49.760 --> 0:02:02.560 Bible approved stoning. Sensitive listeners take care. 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:11.760 So here's a confession I'm gonna make right at the 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:15.360 top of the show. I don't believe in astrology, but 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:20.520 astrology keeps happening to me now. Everyone says podcasting is 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:24.320 the most visual medium, so I made you a slideshow 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:28.160 to try to explain. This is the real skyline drive. 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.919 It's in Delaware, and growing up when I couldn't sleep, 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.160 it's one of the many places I would drive to 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.600 look at the stars. This is the moon. It rules 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.640 our emotions. This is mercury in retrograde. You know it 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:45.720 because it makes life miserable. This is Rahu and Kitu. 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.800 They're important and mischievous nodes in Veda astrology. They're prominent 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.280 and Donald Trump's horoscope, and they're also responsible for Paris hiltan. 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.080 This is me. I was born May one, nineteen seventy nine. 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:00.840 This is the sky at the time I was born. 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:05.040 In Western astrology, it makes me a Taurus. These are 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:10.720 some other tauruses, polepot Iatola, Komeni, Saddam Hussein, Adolf Hitler, 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.480 Barbara Streisan. The fact that we're all tauruses has made 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.000 me doubt astrology for a very long time. These are 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.120 my parents. They've been hitched fifty one years and every 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:23.400 morning my dad makes my mom a cup of tea 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:25.800 and then they sit and do the spelling being pencil. 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.600 It's adorable, right. These are my parents calling. In the 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.720 middle of this recording, sim Marisha, I thank you a girl, 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:36.280 so it's calling back, give me a call. This is 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.320 India when I was growing up, where it's like yoga 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:43.200 and meditation and turmeric and astrology. These are words that 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.480 were part of my Indian life, but they weren't a 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.920 part of my going to school fitting into America one. 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:52.480 But now now everyone has an opinion about it. I'm 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.280 a Gemini, which I've heard is bab. 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.400 I'm a Libra, so I'm indecisive. 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:58.360 That's definitely true. 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:01.280 I'm a torus. Find it starts to be beautiful. It 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:03.000 sucks that we can't see you starting New York because 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:03.600 all the lights. 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:05.960 I know a few people who are kind of into it, 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:08.560 and they like, ask, yo, do you see the horoscope today? 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:10.920 And I'm like, nah, bro, not really, I'm not worried 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:12.080 about what the horoscope says. 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:13.840 I know a lot of people don't believe in it, 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:16.200 but why can't people just believe in things for fun, 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:17.120 Like it doesn't. 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:18.080 Have to be backed up by anything. 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:20.120 But if you believe in fantasy football, why can't you 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:21.080 believe in astrology. 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:23.920 A few months ago, my friends and I set out 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.360 to make this show about astrology. We wanted to run 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:29.760 around the city and have some wild adventures and understand 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.040 why after so many millennia, people still look to the 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.560 sky for answers. This is an astrologer I met in 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.039 Queen's He promised me, you're gonna dig this show. 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:41.560 But I think if you do your own show, it'll 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:43.760 become a super hit, no doubt about it. 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:47.400 This is a graph of how much I believed in 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:51.760 astrology before our session. Not that much. This is a 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.080 graph of how much I started believing thirty minutes later 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.080 when something horrible he said came true. 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.040 That's why I asked. From the time it started a 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.360 couple of years back till now, the situation doesn't look good. 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.400 This is me traveling halfway around the world to answer 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.600 the biggest question my entire life. This is a shop 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:14.920 in India where your fortune is waiting for you. It 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.080 was written centuries ago and put on a shelf and 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:19.880 the shopkeepers know which one to pull because it's coated 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.160 by your thumbprint. And the time you're going to walk 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:26.560 through that door, this is me walking through that door. 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:35.960 I'm Munga's Particular from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. This is Skyline 0:05:36.000 --> 0:06:14.240 Drive Chapter one. Leave your acts at home. 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:22.000 So I figured, you know, I do need to sown 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:25.400 an astrologer. And there are a bunch of astrologers on 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:27.960 the Upper West Side who have set off with these. 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.480 Wait till you're looking for an astrologer to sewn. 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:32.120 Oh yeah, well. 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:35.200 I need to check it off the list. 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.360 I've got a hundred, you know already, This reporting and 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.000 starting off weirder than I thought. It's ten o'clock on 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:44.400 a bright summer day, and I'm standing here with Aj Jacobs. 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.960 I am an author and a journalist and a pisces. 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:50.919 In addition to being a pisces or technically on the 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:54.120 cusp of pisces and ares. AJ's a friend and he's 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.520 one of my favorite writers. I've come to meet him 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:58.760 in this neighborhood because in two thousand and seven he 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:00.960 wrote a New York Times best called The Year of 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:05.000 Living Biblically. The book was a phenomenon. It came out 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.640 in multiple languages, There were magazine and TV pieces about it. 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:10.840 It was such a big deal that at one point 0:07:10.960 --> 0:07:13.560 Marlon Wayne's was lined up to play Aj in the 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:14.800 Network TV version. 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.520 The premise was that I would follow all the rules 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:22.480 of the Bible as literally as possible. So that meant 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:25.320 the famous ones like the Ten Commandments and love your neighbor, 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:30.080 but also the lesser known ones like you cannot wear 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.520 clothes made of two different kinds of fabrics. So I 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:35.760 had to get rid of all of my polycotton blends. 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.040 Giving up polycotton blends is just one of the hardshifs 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.960 Aja endured in the name of journalism. He also grew 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.840 a massive beard, shoved of wild birds so he could 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.200 steal its egg and say a prayer on it. And 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:51.200 he followed seven hundred other biblical rules literally in an 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.520 attempt to understand religion. And somewhere along the way, he 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.040 decided that to fully appreciate the Bible. 0:07:56.920 --> 0:08:01.720 You actually had to stone people who who committed these abominations. 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:06.640 And the abominations included adulter a, breaking the Sabbath, but 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:11.600 also astrology, witchcraft, divination, they're all sort of lumped together. 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:15.040 Just the fact that he decided to stone someone was 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:17.560 a shock to me. I mean, Aj is one of 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:21.000 the nicest people I know, but that's how committed he was. 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:23.920 I didn't want to go to jail for assault. I 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.280 just wanted to check it off my list, you know, 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:31.520 stone and astrologer check. So I walked by this astrologer 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:35.800 on the street and just very subtly dropped the pebble 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:38.160 so that it landed on her. 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:41.679 Shoe, kind of a drive by stoning, And I. 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.880 Was thinking she's probably not even gonna notice because I 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:49.920 just kept walking. Oh she noticed, and she's like, what's 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:53.160 going on? Why did you do that? And so I 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:55.840 had to tell the truth. Because I was following the Bible. 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:58.560 I thought maybe she'll think it's funny. She did not 0:08:58.640 --> 0:08:59.400 think it's funny. 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:00.760 She I was pissed. 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.680 She started yelling at me like, F you go to 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.439 f and hell, I was rattled. Even if you're trying 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:11.400 to stone someone in modern day using pebbles, people don't 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:12.600 like it. Well that's a lesson. 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:17.840 That's a takeaway rule number one, don't stone an astrologer. 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.040 It wasn't the advice I'd come for, but I wrote 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:24.280 it down anyway. But the thing I really wanted to know. 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:27.120 The reason I traveled all the way out here to 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.840 meet with AJ was to ask him how to make 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:33.560 the show, because doing the show on astrology it actually 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:37.000 makes me nervous, like is there a way to talk 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.920 about how accurate a fortune telling parrot could possibly be? 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.559 Or is there a way to joke about whether an 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.720 astro curse can make you bald? Because even if the 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.599 show makes me look silly, like I don't want to 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:54.160 get disinvited from a family wedding because I said something 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:58.160 that hurt friends or family or really anyone who puts 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.880 stock in these subjects. As I'm trying to uncover threads 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:04.840 and things like, how do you tell a story delicately 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.560 where you're not offending people but still engaging with all 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:08.120 the subjects. 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:12.280 I had that exact dilemma when I was writing The 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:15.960 Year of Living Biblically, because I was coming in as 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:21.280 an agnostic writing about religion. My big overall advice is 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.960 go in with deep curiosity. Don't go in with an 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:30.760 agenda that you're trying to disprove or prove astrology. You're 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:35.319 just an explorer, So just go in like with no acts, 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:36.679 leave your axes at home. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:43.360 That I think I can do. After the break, we 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:46.360 talked to an astrologer who doesn't believe in astrology. Take 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:50.160 a subway ride to Queen's and hear this from my mom. 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:51.760 I felt like a josic though. 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:16.560 Chapter two, just for fun is the phone listening? Are 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:17.920 you listening through the phone pattern? 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:18.440 AI? 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.400 The algorithm that is the pattern? Back in twenty twenty, 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.400 one of my friends shot me a text linking to 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:26.640 this video of Channing Tatum, the actor had uploaded it 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:30.640 himself after using an astrology app called the Pattern, But 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.920 when Channing's readings became a little too spot on, he 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.480 freaked out, are you listening through my phone and then 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:38.800 just regurgitating the stuff that I'm afraid of and the 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:39.800 stuff you know what? 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:41.040 Pattern? 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:41.360 People? 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:43.920 You should just call me. I need answers right now, 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.360 poor Channing. I don't know if he ever got his answers, 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:51.160 but what I do know is that astrology is ubiquitous 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.280 and lucrative. One venture capital investor told The New York 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:59.559 Times that the app co star this Pattern competitor had 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:03.080 the POTENTI to be a twenty four billion dollar business, 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.960 claiming you could one day be as big as Spotify. 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.880 But if astrology is as big an opportunity as everyone's saying, 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:12.840 I'm wondering if my company should get in on the act. 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.360 After all, it feels so obvious that I don't know 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:19.160 even a nine year old could see the potential. So 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:20.920 I decided to try to pitch out on my nine 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:22.200 year old Ruby. 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.080 Hey, only, why let me get this closet. 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:28.560 I brought you to this closet because I wanted to 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.559 pitch you on an astrology app. Are you ready for it? 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:36.800 Why is that? What do you think about astrology? 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:37.600 It's dumb? 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:41.400 Oh gosh, Well, maybe you're not the right person for it. 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:43.840 But the reason I came to you is because you 0:12:43.960 --> 0:12:47.199 actually have a bank. You spend only my money. You 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.719 seem to hoard all your money, and you keep all 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:51.800 of Henry's money as well, which you charge him a 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.480 small fee for. So I thought you might be the 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:56.480 savviest person in this family. Is it okay if I 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:57.520 pitch you an astrology app? 0:12:58.360 --> 0:12:59.040 Okay? 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:02.760 So, so here's my case for it. These aren't your 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:05.360 grandmother's horse ghosts, right, They're talking to you in this 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:09.800 very fresh and fun way. They're up to the minute 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:14.080 with NASA data. They look beautiful, and they have a 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:17.320 chat feature where astrologers will chat with you live about 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.440 your birth charts. Right. And then by twenty nineteen, right, 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:22.520 like you could see, astrology are starting to take over 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.679 Bumble the dating app. They start allowing you to sort 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:29.000 your matches by their birth signs, so like you could say, 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:30.800 like I only want to date Tauruses, or I only 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.240 want to date Geminis or whatever. In fact, astrology in 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:38.680 twenty nineteen was a two point two billion dollar market. 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:45.920 What do you think about that? Mind, I can't help 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:50.600 whether you're serious or not. But apps made forty million 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:54.000 dollars that year, and in fact, the next year, when 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:58.840 COVID really hit, people started searching for birth charts and astrology. 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.040 Both of those search hit five year peaks on Google. 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.640 So it's no wonder that all these venture capital funds 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:09.560 had started investing in astrology apps early and then continue 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:13.720 to invest. And I'm here to ask you to invest 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:15.480 in my astrology app. What do you think? 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.840 Oh? I know, I'm just speenning. Oh my running on 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:21.120 a skateboard? Now on you? 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:25.440 Okay? Well, so Ruby, what type of business would you 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:44.400 invest in? Bubble gum? Okay? Chapter three, Truth and Poetry. 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:47.000 When you go out with the recorder in hand, it's 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.960 interesting to see who will talk on tape. We found 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.800 scientists at NASA who actually wouldn't talk about their interest 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:55.560 in astrology to us because they were afraid of losing 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:59.200 their jobs. We found PhDs and postdocs who are worried 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:02.360 that if they talked at all to our podcasts, even 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:07.200 to say that astrology was nonsense, they would face professional repercussions. 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:10.960 I mean, it is insanity. What a lightning rod astrology 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:14.480 can be. But luckily we found Jamie Green. 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:18.440 My grandfather showed me a little half of a peanut 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:20.600 that had the germ in it, and he said, that's 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:22.880 going to become a plant. And it was just things 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:26.040 like that that got me interested in the world, which 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.040 is the same as being interested in science. 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:30.080 Jamie is a celebrated science. 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:34.160 Writer, and I'm Sagittarius, although you would not know it 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.080 from looking at anything about my life. I've got some 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:43.359 planet in Capricorn that explains why I'm not an impulsive adventurer. 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:46.120 She has a new book coming out called The Possibility 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.600 of Life, and she's co editor of the annual Best 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:52.440 American Science and Nature writing volumes. And whether it's chatting 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:56.560 about our garden or the way we perceive constellations, her 0:15:56.600 --> 0:16:02.480 capacity for wonder is incredible and infectious. But perhaps what 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.720 I love most about Jamie was how she clarified that 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.200 science and astrology don't actually have to be at odds 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:13.360 with one another, that we don't need science to disprove astrology. 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.760 Not that she thinks astrology is a science. 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:23.120 Exactly scientifically, in terms of astronomy, astrology doesn't hold a 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.200 lot of meaning because it's all very human centric. From 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.080 the point of view of looking at the stars from Earth. 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.360 The stars are light years apart. They have no real 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.320 relation to each other except in our minds. But that relationship, 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.320 the one we make up while looking up at the stars, 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:44.760 that means something, or it can mean something if you 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:47.720 want it to. It's like a much more. 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:53.320 Eloquent, poetic personal fortune cookie. And I don't mean that disparagingly. 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.720 I just think that it's for you to take from 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.240 it what you need. And like, we don't think it's 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:01.240 anti science to say a poem is true. I think 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:05.439 that's where science gets defensive, is when people say that 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:10.240 astrology is a science and has physical roots in the stars. 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:12.520 It's like, oh no, it doesn't, but it's true the 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:14.400 way a poem is true. 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:16.879 I can't tell you how much I love that. I mean, 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:21.000 as someone who's a skeptic but also a romantic, this 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.200 idea that astrology is true the same way a poem 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:28.359 is true. That feels right to me. And it's something 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.119 my friend Pete also said when I talked to him, 0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:36.240 Pete Steele is, well, it's complicated, so. 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.960 Like, even though I was in like a semi successful musician. 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:43.639 I was like, I need to make money somehow, like 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:45.520 right now, Like what other skills do I have? 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:45.760 Oh? 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:47.919 I do astrology. 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:51.240 He is a rock star, like a real rock star. 0:17:51.520 --> 0:18:00.640 He used to be in the Walkman, Oh, that massive 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:05.560 seminal indie rock band. And yes, his backup career was 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.240 professional astrology. When he was younger, he trained with this 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.480 big famous guru. He was living in his guest house 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:14.959 and that's where he learned to read star charts. 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:16.880 You would take him back to him and he would 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:19.600 say like, no, it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, 0:18:19.640 --> 0:18:22.760 Like you're wrong, you know, And then he kind of 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:27.520 in very traditional style like yell at the apprentice sort 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:27.960 of thing. 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.520 Kung Fu master right, a very. 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:32.920 Very karate kid kind of feeling right. 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:34.480 Sign. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:38.320 But here's the other thing. Pete doesn't even believe in astrology. 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:42.040 He's a rock star who does astrology for politicians and 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:46.520 World Bank economists and all sorts of interesting folks, but 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:48.400 he doesn't believe in it. 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.000 It's just art to me. And I don't mean that dismissively, like, 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:52.960 but that's like my whole being, Like that's what I 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:53.440 care about. 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.840 What he believes really is in a more vivid reality, 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.840 a kind of embroidered view of the world. Pete and 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.800 I both spent formative years in India, and we have 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:05.840 a certain comfort in the magical. 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:07.800 If you read like one hundred Years of Solitude or 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:12.280 something like that, world of like this kind of magical Columbia, 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.639 you know, it's like that felt very similar in a 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.200 lot of ways to how we were raised. 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:29.000 Magical explanations have been woven throughout my life, like why 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:31.720 was my family's little community in India so well off 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.160 a century ago? You could say it's because of luck 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:39.119 or global economics. You could say it's because when the 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.560 Civil War was happening in the US, England actually needed 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:45.600 more sources of cotton to replace all the cotton that 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:49.159 the US had been producing. And my family they just 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:51.440 happened to be in the right place to manage mills 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:54.880 and plant cotton on their land. Or you could tell 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:57.680 the story in a way that's way, way more magical 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:01.879 that a great great answer. Sester had this powerful vision 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.560 from a goddess that if he chanted a simple string 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.840 of prayers every single night, and he taught all his 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:10.920 children to sing it, and they taught all their children, 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:16.040 His people would be protected for years, and for most 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:22.480 of my life, I only knew that second story Shatad 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:28.200 would be Maji I must love yea ma Luxhmi Maiji 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:40.320 must love ja ja kadambe I'm babie Chapter four, Mopeds 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:45.200 and Mini Skirts. Arranged marriage has always been this thing 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:47.840 that's hard for me to talk about. When I first 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:50.200 moved to Delaware, kids in my elementary school had all 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.480 these questions for me about being Indian, right, like does 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:57.200 your family sleep on a bed of nails? Can charm snakes? 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:00.600 Just you know, these things they'd seen on cartoon, and 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:03.640 arranged marriage was just another one of these questions I'd 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:08.160 have to feel, except this one actually bothered me more 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:11.040 because this time I'd have to admit that, yes, my 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:14.159 parents did have an arranged marriage, and then I'd have 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.120 to explain that the thing is, everyone assumed my mom 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:20.080 and dad were like forcibly, paired off when they were 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:22.280 nine years old and then sent away to work and 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:26.240 have kids, and that isn't true. It's like my parents' 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:33.879 situation was a little more like pride and prejudice, Like 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:35.800 you come from a good family, your parents want you 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:39.040 to marry into another good family, So they set you up. 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:42.960 They make introductions to certain people, and if you like 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:46.960 each other, they kind of fast track the marriage, or 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:51.000 they make more introductions. But since this was already super 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:54.280 hard to explain, I just left out the part of astrology, 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:57.480 which also plays a big role in the whole arranged 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:01.280 marriage thing. It was like, I don't know, just too 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:06.760 difficult or embarrassing something. After all, it's a weird thing 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:09.760 to have to admit you only exist because of astrology. 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.920 But I'll let my mom explain. Tell me about how 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:16.320 your marriage was arranged. 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:24.720 Oh that's funny, okay. Umish's aunt Shardaka, she came to 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:28.159 see Amma because she'd heard that, you know, I was available. 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:31.600 I guess this story starts, of course, with two families 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:34.600 dusting off their kid's horoscopes and heading them off to 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.800 a trusted astrologer, not some low level quack. 0:22:38.240 --> 0:22:40.720 So they matched it and it mashed perfectly. 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.719 The traditional Indian matching system is way more complicated than 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:48.240 just saying is you a scorpio? A proper celestial marriage 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:50.720 is supposed to be a union of souls, so the 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:54.000 astrologers inspect all the vagaries of your chart and pressure 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:58.879 test everything like your personalities, your feelings about class and status, 0:22:59.200 --> 0:23:01.879 even how a couple health will be affected by one another. 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:05.560 It's all on the scale of thirty six points, and 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:10.000 any match under eighteen points shouldn't be considered, But anything 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:13.359 over thirty two, that's something you want to lock down immediately. 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:16.080 My patents want to make sure that the man and 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:19.160 married did not ye let me, she asked the astrology, 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:22.760 you know, how is his nature? So the Strolgia todama 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:26.440 that Umish was a gentle creature, you know, never lost 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:26.960 his temper. 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:30.439 So this part is one hundred percent crue. I've only 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:33.200