The short story "An Astrologer's Day" by R. K. Narayan tells of a man who takes up the occupation of astrologer in an Indian town far from his home village. Long ago, when he was young, he thought he had committed a murder and ran away from home. However, the man he supposed he had killed shows up at the astrologer's workplace and demands information. Because the astrologer recognizes him, he is able to give his customer details about who he is and how he almost got killed. The astrologer is also able to tell his supposed victim to go home and never search for his assailant again. At the end of the story, the astrologer is relieved to find out that he was not guilty of murder after all.

Narayan makes it clear early on in the story that the protagonist is not a real astrologer. To give the impression that he is genuine to his customers he wears a turban, puts ash and vermillion on his forehead, and carries cowrie shells, mystic charts, and other props.

He was as much a stranger to the stars as were his innocent customers. Yet he said things which pleased and astonished everyone: that was more a matter of study, practice and shrewd guesswork.

The reason the astrologer never says anything until his customer has spoken for ten minutes is because he wants the customer to inadvertently offer him enough information, so he can pretend to answer the customer's questions. The astrologer has enough practical knowledge and experience to be able to piece together advice and answers if his customer talks to him long enough. He then has sufficient information to be able to offer generalizations that please his customers.