There’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip. Halime Tastan lives this reality every other day with tasseography. Turkish coffee fortune telling is more of a passion for this Bengaluru based Turkish lady, who has a large fan following of city folks who flock to her for coffee reading sessions. Turkish coffee and fortune telling are an inseparable part of the conversation associated with coffee.
“I moved to India from Istanbul a few years back and this motherland hugged me with open arms. I fell in love with Bengaluru from the time I landed here. I’ve grown up in Turkey and Turkish coffee reading, just like belly dancing and Turkish football is part of our culture and almost everyone imbibes it from their childhood. I was really intrigued about this art, so I attended a few courses and read about the entire history and its nuances of symbols, emerging with the emotions. Even though it is an ancient ritual, it holds relevance in today’s online world, as it gets people to come together and share some personal moments. I’m doing my bit to share our bit of Turkish culture with the Bengalureans as sometimes it’s easy to tell your problems to strangers than to someone you know closely. I get in touch with the other person’s personal life and soul through this art of Turkish coffee reading. It is interactive, sometimes addictive and leaves one with a feel good factor.
The left overs from the person’s coffee give us hints of specific details about their life that we merge with some of the basic symbols that we have learnt,” says Travelshop Turkey India Head, Halime Tastan. For someone who’s been practicing the art of coffee reading for many years, it now comes pretty naturally. Halime tries to ignore the negativities in other’s lives. “It requires one to be emotionally strong and have a good sixth sense to have that kind of a strong bond and connect with the other person. I do it sometimes from home and from Otantik Doner Kebabz in HSR Layout for free.” She hopes to tap into many more souls. “When I was going through my friend’s coffee I just told her that something would happen to your eye and after two weeks, she had an eye operation. And I had warned another friend of mine to be careful about her best friend and soon something happened between the two of them,” she recalls.
When she’s not reading your fortune, Halime likes to play with her dogs. “I can never get enough of my dogs. My profession to promote Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece has become more of a passion now and I want everyone to experience more of our Turkish culture and visit our beautiful country,” she states with a smile.
How it is done
After you finish sipping the Turkish coffee, the cup is placed upside down on its saucer. Once you’re done, there shouldn’t be any liquid left in the cup. You then close it with the saucer, shake it thrice and turn the cup upside down. Halime looks at the saucer for your professional life and the cup for your personal life.
The person whose fortune is to be read says, “Let my fortune match my state”. After the cup has cooled, she examines the patterns formed and the aim of this ancient art is to impart good news and to promote a positive outlook for your future.
