By ATIBA ROUGIER, 7/23/2015. Day Three: Morning Prayers and Bespoke Kurta
I drank caffeine last night at the soiree and was unable to sleep peacefully throughout the night—caffeine affects me, extremely. It’s four fifty-one in the morning and I cannot sleep and had an amazing idea so I leap from my bed and head straight to my laptop to jot it down. As I sit to write, the sound of prayer is vibrating through the air. Bhopal is a religiously conservative community and the visibility of it is everywhere. It is my first time hearing such potent and distinctive sounds—it’s a nice wake-up call!
Today, I will excavate information by going through the archives in the library that is dated back to the 1984 disaster. I am excited but also nervous as to what I will find—the atrocities and the injustice around this historic disaster, though, one cannot be afraid to make the implicit, explicit.
I also have plans today to go into the old market with Devender, who has become my guide and point person when I have questions. He has been at the clinic for quite some time and has access and knowledge of crucial information. In anthropology of the past, he would be considered my ‘ethnographic informer’, though, that term is dated. He is not ‘informing’ as it is typically used, rather, he is enlightening me on the history of the clinic, the history of the disaster, and how it lives in the present. He also has an extended knowledge of how the clinic works, what they do, and which personnel’s perform which task. This afternoon, we will be going to the old market to buy fabric and return it to a local tailor to sew a few kurtas that fits me—my very own haberdasher! How charming!? It is advised we dress conservatively and preferably in traditional attire, henceforth our trip this afternoon.
As I sit at my desk reading and writing, I look out the window to the sight and sound of rain drops falling. It is my first rainfall here, and it is the rainy season so I expect many more showers of blessings. I will now take a break from my studies to enjoy the calming sound of the rain….The bounty and beauty of flowers and plants around the ground is breath-taking and it also reminds me of my grandmother’s house. There are rows and rows of hibiscus plants amongst other tropical flowers flourishing. There are aloe vera plants amongst other natural herbs that are utilized for medicine for the patients—this clinic is holistic in its practice and medical remedies. I will give a run-down of the various forms of medicine and traditional practices used here during my stay. I walked into the garden to cut myself flowers for my room, I am staying in one of the guests’ house. On my way to the garden, I noticed that patients are already lining up to seek medical attention, the clinic does not open until 8:30 am and it is now 7:30 am—amongst all this natural beauty there is suffering.