Acts of assertion At airports: Bole International, Addis Ababa One would think it a gold-plated oil pipe if it was found anywhere else but on the passenger’s wrist. Even then the dimensions were adequate to traffic a newborn. Definitely more of what it was made of in little pellets or pewter format inside. The stuff usually dug out by officers wearing surgical gloves. The passenger began to yodel protests when the customs official, a swell lassie – if she wore aviators, it would be a living Ray-Ban ad – motioned
Once a kolam Extraordinary experiences make one a raconteur. Gopi sat in our midst, narrating tales animatedly but unhurriedly from his outings as a kolam, theyyam performer. Elaborate, gilt-laden headgear, sharp gleaming nails, metallic bulbous eyes, jangling anklets, all came out one by one from an ancient box unopened for many years. Most of it was a legacy handed down from his father. His own son, a schoolteacher, evidently proud of what his dad was, showed us time-stained photographs of a focused looking youngster with heavily kohled eyes, sporting a
If you are a fence-sitter when it comes to the supernatural – and its different ways of coming alive – Indonesia is a not-so-gentle nudge into adherence. The folklores and urban legends abound with spirits infamous for a lack of benevolence – some shriek forcing you to veer off the highway in the middle of the night while others beckon you sultrily into the deep sea. Every kris has its own unseen resident if the locals are to be believed. Some collectors I know vouch for it. ‘Just let them
