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Satrajit Majumdar - Cyberastro.com

Cyberastro.com is India's very own online 'Web jyotish'. The site projects itself as a one-stop shop for all life enquires. Amrita Ghosh of IT@TT met up with Satrajit Majumdar, the brains behind the portal and its COO, during IT.COM 2K, Bangalore. Here are excerpts.

IT@TT: Can you give us a quick capsule of the years leading up to this portal?

SM: I was doing extremely different things. I joined HCL in 1978. But let's not get into the past. A lot of older people love to think of past glory (laughs). From HCL to PSI Data Systems to MMC is a long story. In between, I formed some long-lasting friendships with the likes of Ajit Balakrishnan, Subroto Bagchi and RK Gupta. But I was not happy. By 1984, I realized that the problem is not with the company, the problem is with me. I have to be my own boss. So I left and together with Subroto started the first corporate training company. From there I started a software company called KAI Systems, which was venture capital funded. I realized that my life's mission was the pursuit of wealth – but not necessarily for myself. And I wanted to get into new ways of achieving it.

IT@TT: But how did you get into Cyber Astrology?

SM: We created a software product, and sold it to our first customer in Russia. In 1992, I went into high-end graphics and had a joint venture agreement with a space/military complex in Russia. Unfortunately the Soviet Union broke down and all business activities went haywire, but I still kept my commitments. By paying from my pocket, from my other businesses.

IT@TT: Have you always been interested in Astrology?

SM: No. I did not know anything about astrology; I only went to astrologers. But I wasn't satisfied with the answers I got. My interest grew and I started reading a lot of books that really got me more than just interested. I then realized two things, one is that there is a definite pattern to what they were saying and the second thing is that it is a product and a service. Firstly, there is an intrinsic value and secondly it is a one to one process. But I found out that it is possible to create software where this can be done in a ‘one to many’ mode.

The Internet provided the perfect answer for a very cost-effective medium. And I also found out that there is a market for this service. At that time, I did not want to invest my money any more, so I looked around for venture funding and Cyber Media came in saying that they would fund it and wanted me to run it. So we started 'Cyberastro' and went up on the web on September 1997.

IT@TT: What kind of astrology do you provide?

SM: It is based on Vedic astrology. To begin with, I converted it into a product –made it contemporary and addressed the need. When you go to an astrologer- he asks you questions, you ask questions – he then tells you this and that. We do the same thing, but in a more professional way. It is highly personalized and individualized for our members.

IT@TT: How much of truth is there in astrological matching of horoscope?

SM: Let me put it this way. The usual matching of Kundalis or horoscopes is extremely accurate. We have to see what the purpose of the marriage in that society is. Marriages take place for procreation and continuation and prosperity of families. Plus men and women have different degrees of relationships of companionship and equality etc. We take all this into consideration and build a product that can be used.

IT@TT: Is there a difference between Indian and Western astrology?

SM: No, there's no basic difference between the two approaches. The difference lies in the way we look at the structure and calculation; there is a 23.5 degree difference. The houses remain the same but the signs change because of that. I also realized that Western astrologers are very practical – and it is purely people driven. I have built up in my predictions a whole lot of other information such as nature of the person, his psychology, motivation etc and try and relate it into the profile.

IT@TT: Do you make specific predictions based on horoscopes?

SM: We have about 6 astrologers now in Delhi and Calcutta. And as the order comes in, work gets allocated. We receive the order, acknowledge and give a due delivery date, then the predictions are calculated.

They need to be translated from Hindi (because our astrologers write in Hindi), then edited and delivered to a client. Your horoscope is your very own. But, variations may happen within the gamut of your personal chart. However, there are certain persons who don’t need astrology because they make their own destiny.

IT@TT: Even though you are making a living from it, how much do you really believe in? Do you believe that anything is possible as long as you believe it is?

SM: I believe it completely. But I believe it understanding that one shouldn't expect miracles to happen from astrology. I consider it more like economics, in which they observe and correlate it to other things. So here we have a large number of empirical evidences to prove that certain things would happen but it is true that there has been no research on this to prove that.

To the second part of the question, philosophically speaking, I believe ‘anything is possible’ as long as you think it possible. The way you think affects the outcome of your actions. I believe that man has an infinite potential. So if you desire, then that’s what God desires.

IT@TT: What about Palmistry?

SM: Palmistry is intuitive. I have met many people who do this but was not impressed at all.

IT@TT: What is your customer base?

SM: Today, my customer base, based on personalized readings is around 70,000 people spread around 115 countries.

IT@TT: What would you classify within the gamut of personalized services?

SM: Personalization can be free or it can be paid for. A personalized prediction is done based on the personal horoscope chart and the position of planets. This is done by human hand: daily, weekly, monthly or annually and delivered to you if you're a member of Cyberastro. The zodiac sign prediction is generalized prediction that is given to a non-member. We are going to start a subscription model, where the customer will have unlimited access to asking queries.

IT@TT: Tell us something more about the products of Cyberastro?

SM: We created a range of products. The minimum product is 'asking a question', which is worth $10. We have a range of products all the way to $100 with different value additions. A complete life prediction costs $50.

There's a huge difference when you apply book knowledge to real world. So I made my first recruitment; went back to my alma mater BHU. To the Vedic Science department and recruited Dr. Jain Pande. He has a Ph.D. in astrology and is quite well known in astrology circles.

IT@TT: Do you have any ecommerce tie-ups for your service?

SM: We have a tie-up with Rediff.com’s astrology section. We have another 10 to 12 similar tie-ups with sites like Lycos Asia.

Interviewed By Amrita Ghosh
[email protected]

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