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Friday, September 18, 2020

Arnab Goswami – what lies behind his television persona?

Arnab Goswami photo

Arnab Goswami has made a name for himself with a flamboyant type of journalism, heading/owning as he does two of the most popular channels in India, of the Republic stable. There are critics galore but then there are devoted fans too. 

One wonders what makes the man who he is. Shouting and being rude is a part and parcel of his grandiose television persona and at times the “debates” get so heated as to sound almost deranged. Some feel that Arnab is not altogether sane…well, his hands tell us otherwise! 

The shape of his hand is normal, in the sense that he has a rectangular palm and medium-length fingers, tapering at the end. All of his lines – the head, heart and life – are well etched, although the heartline with its large fork dominates. The headline is clearly separated from the lifeline and is very high. Not only does it start high (at the base of the mount of Jupiter) it keeps going higher (not so common at all) and remains in this high position till around the time it reaches the ring finger. This narrows the space between the head and heart lines. It’s not too dissimilar on the left, passive hand. The Fate or Saturn line, though deep at the start,

is not that good (considering the strength of his other lines) as it makes its way up to the mount of Saturn. The mounts of Jupiter, Mars and Moon seem the most developed mounts. The thumb surprisingly is not that strong, considering the rest of the hand. 

You can check out the photographs of his hand here and here.

The hand shows extremely high ambition; an intense desire for worldly success. Any extreme ambition can have not-so-desired consequences. The heartline is dominant and this creates an interesting complexity in the personality. Generally speaking, in those with very high ambition, the head is in the lead and such people can be calculated, even ruthless in their drive. If neither the head nor the heart rules, it creates a balanced approach to the fulfilment of ambitions. In Arnab's case, the heart is in the lead. How this plays out in real-life behaviour and attitudes is difficult to assess. To add to this, his hand shows a genuine difficulty in seeing another point of view, although this quality is moderated as he gets into his fifties. People who tend to be emotional and are unable to see other points of view can be very difficult indeed.

Another complexity is that Arnab Goswami’s hand does not show a very strong executive ability. He would find it difficult to motivate people and get things done through them. Basically, it translates into not-too-good leadership qualities. His hand does not show that he is a true leader; he is either not interested in leadership and wants to do his own thing or maybe he is a follower. Such people can bend under pressure. Again, this is different from the ability to withstand adversity and fight because that particular ability is shown in Arnab’s hand. A certain battling element is intrinsic to his nature. 

The hand shows good balance otherwise. Arnab knows what he is doing and is very clear about what he wants. When combined with the reading of his other lines and hand shape, his hand shows a well-grounded person. And he is certainly not a heartless guy. His hand doesn’t show this at all. In fact, he is a very emotional person. Another thing. The way his hand is currently, it shows that he is not satisfied with his achievements. As a journalist, one would think he has made it, with two channels under his belt but there is something he probably feels is missing. Maybe.

Read about the personality of movie actor Sushant Singh Rajput who was in the news because of his suicide, or journalist like MJ Akbar who was under a cloud because of Me-Too allegations, or read about Chris Cuomo, the American TV anchor.

or read the personalities of Indian politicians like Subramaniam Swamy, Shashi Tharoor, or Arvind Kejriwal or the bureaucrat, Kiran Bedi.

(Photo credits: Abhinav619 / CC BY-SA [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0])





4 comments:

  1. A very interesting read and it's amazing to see how so many personality factors counteract the others. I don't know much about the guy. Saw him once or twice having a QA session with Sadghuru but I did notice in the comments that reviews about him are polarizing. Though I think adding controversy to the mix does help in a journalistic career.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, he is a very complex guy.

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    2. He appears to be a very straightforward person looking at his little finger. Are there two rings one around the base of the Mercury and second joining Mercury and Moon? I am not sure but two photographs gave me this doubt.

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    3. Actually it's difficult to be sure from the photos as they are not clear.

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