8416 – ook

Tailing a monkey man in search of healing powers

KOLKATA (Reuters) – Thousands of people are flocking to an impoverished Indian village in eastern West Bengal state to worship a man they believe possesses divine powers because he climbs up trees in seconds, gobbles up bananas and has a “tail.”

Devotees say 27-year-old villager Chandre Oraon is an incarnation of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman — worshipped by millions as a symbol of physical strength, perseverance and devotion.

“He climbs up trees, behaves like a monkey and is a strict vegetarian, but he is no god and his condition is just a congenital defect,” says Bhushan Chakraborty, the local medical officer.

Tucked away in a hamlet in Banarhat, over 400 miles north of Kolkata, the state capital, devotees wait for hours to see or touch Oraon’s 13-inch tail, believing that it has healing powers.

Doctors said the “tail” — made up of some flesh but mostly of dark hair — was simply a rare physical attribute.

“It is a congenital anomaly, but very rarely do we find such cases,” B. Ramana, a Kolkata-based surgeon, told Reuters.


“He climbs up trees, behaves like a monkey and is a strict vegetarian, but he is no god and his condition is just a congenital defect,” says Bhushan Chakraborty, the local medical officer.

If I had a dime for every time I heard someone say that…

8415 – What speak you words that have no meaning?

Danny and I were pretty bushed yesterday, after work.. not in the mood for movies about weather or bigh boats or wacky couples sharing an apartment. Instead, we walked around toys ‘r us, had Thai/Japanese food. (interesting to have veggie rolls as appetizers, and then Pad Thai with tofu for main meal.)

Waitresses were stern, but massively skilled, superb service and swift… smiles flickered to their faces when eye contact was met… only to fade out as they moved on. Danny ventured that they were under cover martial artists, due to the clockwork precision. They were tipped well.

We went back to my place to do a little game of pirates, but were feeling too lazy to roll dice or push 2 inch plastic boats, so we watched an episode of Red Dwarf, Zefrank’s video journal, and about 10 minutes of Land of the lost.

Sleestak and Enik pics from the library of skulls