Name of Patua: Ajit Chitrakar
Religion: Muslim
Acquisition Date: 5 January 1993
Age: 58
Provenance: Mednipore District
From the collection of Vinay Lal and Anju Relan, with acknowledgment to Gautam Ghosh
Subject of Pat: AIDS
Panel 1: “Aids is a bite of a tiger; once it gets you, it won’t let go; you’ll die.”
Center Circle: West Indies people, among whose women the disease originated
Panel 2: The United States: The sexes mix a great deal in America, and there is much divorce and remarriage; consequently, AIDS is more prevalent there.
Panel 3: AIDS has arrived in India. Brothel scene; we must stop prostitution; 3 prostitutes and a John.
Panel 4: Government researchers and officials must come up with a cure, similar to something like the malaria pill, to distribute among the people to deal with AIDS.
The woman lying down is sick but not dead; on the far right is a ‘sadhu’ or traditional healer, on the far left is the government doctor, and at the middle is the woman’s man.
Panel 5: We must all — not only the police (in blue) — prevent women from becoming prostitutes. A tree is shown because trees provide oxygen and with more trees and more oxygen various diseases can be cured or eradicated.
Panel 6: Prostitutes say: We will do other sorts of work from now on.
Panel 7: You must only marry one woman, not two.
Panel 8: If you do, then your home and samsara will be auspicious and good.
Panel 9: We need to have meetings and movements, involving both commoners and rich people, to deal with, and eradicate, AIDS.