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A walk in Windhoek

Herero, kosher

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

By Thommen Jose

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Walking through rainbows: Victoria Falls

Those who still say David Livingstone discovered Victoria Falls are counting on the slightly tongue-twisty name ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ given by the local Kololo tribe who lived there forever. It means ‘smoke that thunders’ – how straight-from-the-heart-beautiful! But tribe members and other locals who still reside near the park, working as rangers and guides, bear no grudge, just mildly irked at the use of ‘discovered’. Here was the world’s largest sheet of falling water, how long would it have remained undiscovered! My guide looked up at the statue of Livingstone by the

By Thommen Jose

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Theyyam – The folk and the lore

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

By Thommen Jose

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Goree Island – Confrontation as reconciliation

All around me was dark. I think it has been kept that way – midday outside but a kind of gloaming inside – probably the closest a visitor can be made to feel what went on in these narrow corridors and dungeons. The wall plaster is peeling in most places and remains of corroded iron hooks from where chains were once clamped can be seen. Lanterns hung from low ceilings looking like cages purpose-built to make even light struggle to do its work. An array of narrow chambers into which

By Thommen Jose

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