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PATNA, INDIA, August 10, 2002: Want money? Praying for health? Having trouble in your marital life? Driven by anxieties and apprehensions of modern lifestyle, Patnaites are now trying to find one-stop solutions to their problems in ancient practices of Vastu Shastra and Feng Shui. Feng Shui, a Chinese set of principles of spatial arrangement and objects, with its aesthetic value, is enjoying growing popularity in the state capital. However, what has left architects in the city squirming is the newly-acquired fame of Vastu Shastra, a set of ancient architectural rules. “Vastu is enjoying so such popularity in the city that we are forced to incorporate Vastu elements in our plans. Seventy per cent of my clients want Vastu designing elements,” says Neeraj Saunik, an architect. Another architect, Ashesh Kumar, has lost out on clients on his refusal to toe the lines of Vastu Shastra. “Often it clashes with architectural sense….” But the mushrooming of fake Vastu consultants and the entry of black sheep in their profession, is not going down well with city architects. Says Kumar, “People from Patna, Muzaffarpur and Begusarai are calling expensive Vastu consultants from Mumbai and Delhi. Today such consultants are flourishing in the city and earning anything between US$204 and $1,000,” he says. “Even pundits and purohits have extended their services to include Vastu consultancy,” he adds. “Are these Vastu Shastris backed by a degree or a course? Many of them just read books on the subject and start advising,” says Saunik.
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