Parrot fortune-telling is a type of astrology popular among Tamils. It involves using green parakeets which are trained to pick up Tarot cards. A parrot astrologer/fortune teller typically sit by the side of the road where people congregate in numbers. He has a cage which contains one or two trained parrots. The tarot cards are either spread out or stacked in front of him. They are 27 in number representing the Indian cosmic system. Each card contains the image of a Hindu deity. When a patron sits before the fortune teller, he opens the cage and lets the parrot out. He instructs the parrot to pick a card. The parrot walks over to the cards, picks one from the stack or the spread with its beak and gives it to the astrologer, he then walks back to its cage. The astrologer opens the card and based on the image tells the fortune of the patron.