- Playing
- Parrot Fortune Teller
- From
- Jessica Partnow
People come to fortunetellers for answers and entertainment, but not all fortunetellers use a crystal ball. In Karachi, Pakistan, one street vendor tells fortunes with the help of a squawking parrot. Jessica Partnow had her fortune told by the bird and sent us this report.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
People come to fortunetellers for answers and entertainment, but not all fortunetellers use a crystal ball. In Karachi, Pakistan, one street vendor tells fortunes with the help of a squawking parrot. Jessica Partnow had her fortune told by the bird and sent us this report.
Broadcast History
Produced for the World VIsion Report
Transcript
SCRIPT (2:36)
At Clifton Beach in Karachi, you can ride a camel or a roller coaster. Dip your feet in the Arabian Sea. Or, ask a little green parrot to predict your future.
Khadem Hussein Shah uses a bird to tell fortunes. The sixty two year old is sitting on a small carpet at the side of the road. He’s laid out a row of tattered envelopes at his feet. A 2 year old green parrot sits in a cage behind him.
First, you tell Shah your name.
Next he lets the bird out of the cage and tells it your name. Then it walks up to the envelope containing your fortune and gives it to its master.
Shah studies the Urdu characters scribbled onto the card before he starts to read.
SHAH: Urdu
FARIS: He says don't worry about making money or being wealthy, cause it will come to you.
JESSICA: No problem!
SHAH: Urdu
FARIS: If someone comes to you for business means then you should pursue it, you won't...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:People enjoy having their fortune told all over the world. But in Pakistan some fortunetellers have an unexpected helper. Jessica Partnow sent us this street vendor segment on a parrot fortuneteller in Karachi.
OUTRO:Funding for this report was provided by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
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