Moore [Guy Moore, British colonial District Commissioner in Kordofan] delighted in Sudanese culture…spoke Arabic fluently…would eat squatting on his haunches from the communal bowl…renowned for his generosity but equally harsh treatment of offenders…held public floggings…respected the simplicity of Sudanese life and considered that innovation and advance were a dangerous threat to it. Because of this he forbade the people from wearing European clothes and wristwatches.
-In Search of the Forty Days Road, Michael Asher
Desert, scattered camels grazing. Voice (off camera)- What time is it? Yusuf, on his camel and looking at his wristwatch- It’s a quarter to three. Voice- What?
-Voice of the Whip
I knew for a fact that Yusuf’s watch was broken. For him, it was only an adornment like a gold front tooth. For others who asked him to tell them the time, when the sun or the moon could have told them, it was a talisman, like the leather amulet pouches they wore around their necks filled with a shaikh’s religious writing, even if perhaps gibberish, and sewn closed.
The spectre of Guy Moore, called “Meester Moore” by Kordofani mothers trying to get their children to behave- saying for instance, Meester Moore will come for you if you don’t stay away from the fire, or, Meester Moore will take you away if you keep teasing the goats- was a kind of negative talisman. That Moore would have forbidden Yusuf to wear a wristwatch, even flogged him for it, shows how much progress has been made before three o’clock.