The trials and travails of the Leonine

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It must have been about fifteen years ago. I was travelling in train and got talking to the girl sitting next to me. Sensing a certain parallelism of thought, I ventured to ask her star sign. As I expected, her proud answer was, "Leo."
I shrank in my seat and did not offer the valuable, un-requested piece of information that "so am I."

A few years later, a friend remarked to me, "I adore Leos." I grimaced and informed her that, contrary to public opinion, there was nothing remarkable in being a Leo. The star-gazers have been kind enough to glorify the shortcomings of which Leos have aplenty - or maybe, just maybe, one of them was a Leo!

Look at the commonly known traits of a Leo, I said to her.

- Leadership, the envy of every other star sign, borders very closely with Bossiness.
- Romance, the admirable Leonine Romance, interleaves alarmingly with Blind Stupidity.
- Pride hovers dangerously over Arrogance.
- Temper, the majestic Roar that makes the World tremble, does not require a particular reason for its Existence.
- Friendship, Ah, Friendship! Though not Universally acknowledged, this is where the Leo could score. A Leo would die for a friend, and even be ready, at times, to take hit after hit, until one final blow destroys the relation forever.
- Disappointment and the Feeling of being let down are things that a Leo knows not how to handle. It would probably be wise to stay away from them when one of these emotions is in action. Unless you are ready to offer a pair of hands to hug and a shoulder to cry on.

I was so ashamed to admit the Leonine traits of my character that, at one point in life, I used to pretend to be a Taurean, whenever it was not really important. To those who needed specific info, I gave a date, one that did hold some importance for a different set of reasons. And so I was taken aback, when one day (in May), a friend turned up with a thoughtful gift thinking it was my birthday, and I admit that my surprised reaction was not very kind. I did make up to him later, but he naturally did not think well of my sense of deception.

I rather suspect that the very concept of star signs had been introduced so that we can all blame our respective constellations for our deficiencies and sit back in peace!

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