Tucked away in a nondescript building in india's high-tech city, Nawal Gani sits in her drawing room drying coffee cups after yet another session of telling people's fortunes.
In Hindu-majority India, where most people consult astrologers for matters ranging from marriages, new business ventures and even what time to step out of their homes each day, Gani has proved a tough competitor despite being a Muslim.
"I have read cups of India's top politicians including Sonia Gandhi (leader of the ruling Congress party), her daughter Priyanka, Atal Behari Vajpayee (former Indian prime minister) and Bollywood actors and actresses," she says.
"My cellphone never stops ringing and I am sure my client list will only grow," Gani, who runs two orphanages in Bangalore, tells AFP.
Wearing a grey scarf to cover her hair and a flowing white satin gown embroidered with coloured stones, 43-year-old Gani says she often yawns while reading the small porcelain coffee cups of her clients, looking for patterns and "Arabic symbols".
"The key is the yawn. If I burp then there is negative energy within the client. I cleanse it by asking my clients to drink water and by chanting prayers," the former policewoman says.
"As soon as I turn the cup containing thick Turkish coffee grounds upside down near the saucer and wait for it to dry up I prepare myself. Sometimes it all comes in a matter of seconds and at times it requires great concentration." Many Indian astrologers praise Gani despite the fact, they say, that reading coffee cups "is not science".
"Traditional astrology involves mathematics and science. Coffee cup reading is difficult and based on aura and sixth sense," astrologer Shyam Sharma says. "I will not dismiss her art."
Gani's parents migrated to India from Syria in 1936. As a child she used to read coffee cups with her mother at the dining table, learning a Middle Eastern tradition that had been adapted from the Chinese custom of reading tea leaves.
Life took a U-turn when her husband divorced her and left her with three children to raise. She left India for the United Arab Emirates in 1991 to become a teacher and then a policewoman.
"Destiny prepares you at every stage of life. As a teacher I learned patience and as a policewoman I learned how tough you have to be to deal with certain situations," said Gani. After eight years, she returned to India and began reading coffee cups seriously to earn extra money to maintain two orphanages her parents ran in Bangalore.
"I can speak seven languages including French, Arabic and Kannada (the language of India's Karnataka state). All I needed was to get confident. My mother egged me on and soon I got appreciation from people as I could tell their past and guide them to their future," she says.
"I am not an astrologer in the strict sense. I warn (clients) of what is in store for them and suggest different paths. I do not let my clients be dependent on me. Reading a cup now is (as simple as) drinking a glass of water," Gani said.
Generally Gani tells her clients of pitfalls that lie ahead, advises them on whether to take up a new career or start a new business, and on family life.
She also warns of any potential enemies and if they are capable of doing harm. A majority of her clients, she says, take her advice on health and even invite her to drive away "evil spirits".
She charges 1,000 rupees (22 dollars) for a reading. For those who want their cup read over the telephone, the amount is doubled as the procedure is more difficult.
"I ask for his or her name and their mother's name. Then I drink the cup keeping their names in my mind and on their behalf. It comes out pretty accurately," she says.
Coffee cup reading has its origins in China where ancient monks predicted the future by reading patterns left by tea leaves in bell-shaped cups, a process known as tasseography. Later, Arabs took up the practice but used coffee as a medium. "I believe we are created as human beings because there is something special in us. Our journey is to find out what it is that is so special inside us," Gani says.
"For me I know it is reading those patterns from a coffee cup."