9/6/03

Sakes, the rain is coming down hard... beautiful sound, and the scent of ozone and sky-water is intoxicating.


I'm getting envious of all the northern talk of the temperatures going down to the 50s... I guess turnabout's fair play, since I don't freeze in the winter or totally melt in the summer. I've had quite an appetite this week... I think the body’s adapting to me not having just one lump meal a day.

The Gallery of Monster Toys. I had, or at least got to play with a lot of these over the years.

When I was little (Maybe 6?), I had this Wolfman... I wonder if that's part of the reason why I like earth tones? I would've loved to have the Bionic Bigfoot too.

We were living in Richmond, VA when Sally and Bill Brunot got my brother The Glow-faced Dracula, and I got the Wolfman again... I remember being especially happy, the old one was missed terribly. The newer one was even better, because my brother was old enough to play monsters with me, and they had "monster action" sort of a hug move when you pressed the back... plus, glow in the dark is always better. (I was maybe 11 at the time)

Picked up the Predator vs. Aliens set for Kev's sis, Karen, and she really loved it. I almost kept the alien for myself. (This was well after graduation from college)

Managing a movie theater that had a ton of Nightmare before Christmas stuff left over from about a year or so before. ... I hooked Pam, Rik and a few other pals up with all sorts of movie stuff at that time... It cost my very little, and went over well. I still can't believe that was almost a decade ago.

I eventually gave away my Creature from the Black Lagoon that I got on a whim at Suncoast Video... they were always selling goodies for next to nothing when they were tired of storing it... sort of like Kay Bee. Some great new action figure comes out, wait six months, and get 'em 3/$10, or less. I had all of the burger king monsters, too. That Creature was the basis for my "Aquatic Elf" character in the Wu's multi-genre game. He was great... you could squeeze his chest and spit water at things. I should've gotten a bit of white string for Wolfman to use as a belt, but never did. I think those guys are still in the old IMT building at 910... more likely, they got chucked when the company moved to 760.

Two Lives of Nepal's Child Goddesses

KATHMANDU, Nepal (Reuters) - Twenty-two-year-old Rashmilla Shakya is like any other eager student in the crowded Kathmandu classroom, working toward a bachelor's degree in information technology.

Once in a while, though, people step aside and fold their hands together in respectful greeting as they recognize Nepal's former child goddess.

Rashmilla was 4 when she was taken from her home and enthroned as the Kumari, or virgin goddess, in an ancient three-storied palace with ornately carved balconies and window screens in Kathmandu's historic Durbar square.

For eight years, until she reached puberty, both Hindus and Buddhists revered her as the protector of 23 million Nepali people and the king in a tradition dating back to the 18th century.

Once she started menstruating, she lost her divine status and was returned to her family in a tiny, brick-and-mud house along an alley in a low-income Kathmandu neighborhood.

A 5-year-old girl replaced her as the living goddess and Rashmilla, who could neither read nor write, started rebuilding her life from scratch.

The tradition of worshiping an ordinary girl as the source of supreme power has endured in the world's only Hindu kingdom, despite criticism from human rights activists.

"Rashmilla considers herself lucky," her elder sister, Pramilla, told Reuters in an interview in their home adorned by pictures of the living goddess.

"She says she has had two lives, being a Kumari was one life, and now she is born again."

A shy and smiling Rashmilla sat in another room, preparing for her computer science class at Kathmandu's Institute of Science and Technology. She said her sister would speak on her behalf.

ISOLATION

Critics argue it is cruel to take a child from her parents, deny her a childhood and then toss her back unprepared to handle the realities of life.

As a goddess, Rashmilla lived a life of extreme privilege in an ornate cloister, but also a life of isolation.

She could leave her palace only a few times a year to be wheeled through the capital on a chariot pulled by devotees.

And she could never visit her home and her family.

The Kumari must wear red all the time, her hair is tied tightly in a topknot -- which permanently damages her hairline -- and she has a mythical third eye painted on her forehead to ward off evil spirits.

Rashmilla's playmates were children of the family that took care of her in the palace.

"The Kumarighar became her home," said Pramilla, who is a college physics lecturer, referring to the house of the goddess.

"She was completely adapted, the caretakers were her family."

The selection of the goddess, who must come from the Shakya Buddhist clan, is an elaborate process of secret rituals. She must spend a night in a darkened room with the heads of slaughtered buffaloes.

"No girl is forced to become a Kumari," said Mukunda Raj Aryal, who teaches culture in Kathmandu's Tribhuvan University.

"This is part of Nepali culture where even parents compete to give daughters as Kumaris."

There were three other candidates, but Rashmilla was chosen after her horoscope matched that of then-King Birendra, the popular king who was later killed by his drunken son in a palace massacre in 2001.

"We had mixed feelings when she was going. She was too small to remember anything," said Pramilla.

A tutor came to teach Rashmilla but he was too scared to order her to study. When she "retired" at 12, she started school in grade 1. Other 12-year-olds were in grade four.

Leather -- which comes from cows, which are considered sacred -- is not allowed anywhere in the palace, and Pramilla recalls how her sister recoiled in horror the first time she had to wear shoes to school.

"She is strong inside -- she told herself, 'The only way I can get over this is to wear it."'

Rashmilla will get a lifetime pension of 3,000 Nepali rupees ($40) a month from the government. The pension used to be 300 rupees until the age of 21.

A child rights activist said conditions for the kumaris, past and present, had improved after criticism.

"Human rights became an issue about 12 years ago," said Gauri Pradhan, head of the Child Workers group in Nepal.

"Most of the concerns have been met, they are getting an education, friends and families can now meet them."

But few in Nepal believe that the tradition should end.

"The system of Kumari is a tradition linked to many people's faith and pride," said Pradhan.