"Is there a daughter who will give me breakfast?" I hear a man call out loud.

I step out on the terrace and see an old man in worn-out gown and colourful malas (beaded strings) around his neck standing outside my home gate.

"Wait," I respond.

I have bread. I fry an egg and take the food and water to him. I tell him to ring the bell when he is done and I shall take the plate and glass back in.

The bell rings shortly. I go to the door to get the utensils. The old man thanks me and asks for a cup of tea. I return with one, only to find that he wants to converse with me.

"I am very happy with you," he says. I thank him and want to take leave but he has already started commenting: "You are beset with problems!"

He pulls out some orange thread from the embellishments he is wearing around his neck and puts them in the palm of my right hand. "You must not disclose this to anyone," he cautions me before asking me to clench my fist with the thread in it. He closes his eyes and murmurs, "Please God, take her to Madina!"

He asks me to open my fist. The next I find are two deep pink rose petals. I am overwhelmed. He seems to have special powers.

He tells me I will certainly be called to Madina. Then he asks me to recite the kalma. I comply. He tells me to put green juzdaan on the divine book. He pulls out money from his pocket and tosses it in my palm. These are seven notes of Rs10.

"Don’t refuse!" he booms. "This is a gift from baba because he is happy with you. Go, put it in a safer place! Do not tell anyone what I am telling you, or you will lose the chance to go to Madina."

He then asks me if I do qurbani (sacrifice). "You must. Bring me money and everything will be taken care of."

I try and tell him that I don’t have money to spare. Right then our milkman shows up. He seems to have overheard part of the conversation, and looks befuddled. The old man puts a hand on the young milkman’s head and recites some dua (prayer) for him. The milkman hands over the polythene bag (containing milk) to me and leaves.

The old man asks for a thread. I go in and come back with two strands of thread and a hundred rupee note. He takes a thread in his hand. Right then the garbage collector appears at the gate. Seeing me he doesn’t ring the doorbell. By now I don’t have the energy to go inside one more time and get the garbage. My land lady who is based on the ground floor leaves her garbage bag. She walks towards us and inquires what is going on. The old man asks her to hold out her hand. When she complies, he places a thread in it.

"All your pains will go away if you recite the kalma 41 times, put the thread in a glass of water and wash your face with it," he tells the landlady.

I suspect something fishy as he sends her off. Maybe it’s a ploy to once again try his luck with me to extract more money.

The old man pulls another orange thread out of his mala the likes of which are often put around sacrificial animals on the occasion of Eidul Azha, and shoves them in my palm. "Tie a knot, quickly. Waste no time," he ordains.

I can’t seem to get the knot right; the threads are going here and there. I am becoming anxious. The old man takes the thread back and asks me how many children I have. I say, three. He asks me to break the thread into three parts, and takes each of them from me. He runs his fingers round the broken thread and clenches his fist. When he opens it there is one long thread. Where have the broken threads gone? I wonder. Perhaps, he has special powers.

"I tell you, your children’s lifespan has increased now, and you should give money to the baba for sacrifice right here."

Amazed, I fetch him some money and say thanks. My landlady also returns with some money for the old man. He sends her back again, this time to get him water and insists I bring all the money that I have kept at home and do not tell anyone about it.

I tell him, "I cannot give more."

"You can take it back, just bring it once. It’s important."

I have only Rs5,000 on me. The baba is visibly delighted to see the colour of money. He asks me to tie the notes in his orange scarf with my own hands. I do so. Then he goes, "Your qurbani has been accepted. You recite kalma 51 times, make meethi roti and give it to someone as charity."

The old man gets up to leave. "May Allah solve all your problems. I am done!"

I sum up courage, get hold of his scarf, open the knot and take out my Rs5,000. He looks startled, "Are you angry? You don’t mean to give the money to the baba?"

"You are in trouble," he gets louder. "Your children are in trouble. The sacrifice is due today, you’d better mind that."

I open the gate for him. The man leaves in a flurry -- annoyed.

I thank God for restoring good sense.

While there is a demonstration of joining the threads trick on youtube, I cannot find a demo of turning thread into rose petal on internet. Wonder how they do it.