The Astrologer's Setup and Location

Study Notes

The astrologer sets up his professional equipment at midday, consisting of cowrie shells, a square piece of cloth with mystic charts, a notebook, and a bundle of palmyra writing.
He wears sacred ash and vermilion on his forehead, and his eyes sparkle with a sharp, abnormal gleam, which is actually a result of his continuous search for customers.
He wears a saffron-colored turban, which never fails to attract people.

The astrologer sits under a spreading tamarind tree in the Town Hall Park, where a surging crowd moves up and down the narrow road from morning till night.
The area is filled with various trades and occupations, including medicine-sellers, sellers of stolen hardware and junk, magicians, and an auctioneer of cheap cloth.
A vendor of fried groundnuts nearby gives his ware a fancy name each day, attracting a large crowd.

The astrologer transacts his business by the light of a flare, which crackles and smokes above the groundnut heap nearby.
The place is lit up by shop lights, including hissing gaslights, naked flares, and old cycle lamps, creating a bewildering criss-cross of light rays and moving shadows.
The astrologer's business is based on study, practice, and shrewd guesswork, rather than actual knowledge of the stars.
He charges three pice per question and never opens his mouth till the other has spoken for at least ten minutes, providing him enough material for a dozen answers and advices.

The astrologer was not born into the profession, but rather turned to it after leaving his village without a plan or intention.
He would have otherwise carried on the work of his forefathers, tilling the land and living in his ancestral home.
He had to leave home and travel a couple of hundred miles, which is a significant distance for a villager.