The astrologer punctually arrives at his makeshift office, at midday. His office is located under the branches of a tamarind tree in Town Hall Park. It is lighted by the sputtering flare of the vendor next door and the lights of the shops nearby. His office is shared by medicine-sellers, stolen junk vendors, magicians, a noisy cloth seller, and a vendor of fried groundnuts. His office equipment is comprised of a dozen cowrie shells, a piece of cloth painted with obscure mystic charts, a notebook, and a bundle of palmyra writing. His work uniform consists of a saffron-colored turban around his head, beneath which his forehead is painted with sacred ash and vermilion. A dark beard adorns his cheeks and chin.

Despite the enigmatic costume, it is his eyes that draw his customers to him, like "bees are attracted to cosmos or dahlia stalks." They...