Leonard alerted me to an Antarctic weblog (use a graphical browser -- neat pictures!), and an Indian reports on his country.

Yesterday Adam interviewed me for items of folklore, e.g., superstitions, myths, jokes, etc. I told him my mother's explanation for the origin of the bindi (a.k.a. kumkum or kunkma; a red dot Hindu women wear between the eyebrows). Mom says that, long years ago, women ground a red stone into powder and wore the powder there as a depilatory (nobody liked the unibrow even then), and that the powder eventually acquired ritual significance. Only yesterday did I realize how reassuring this explanation is. Someone who had never heard this story would probably think the red dot implies blood or a wound. And, for all I know, the bindi really originated in a smear of sacrifice-blood on a pujari's forehead.

In other mythical news, Leonard and I realized that the Amar Chitra Katha "Nasruddin Hodja" stories were the same as these Turkish tales starring Nasr-ed-Din Hodja. I can't believe I didn't realize before that of course Nasruddin was a Muslim. Hello? Hodja=hajji?

Postscript: "You're right, too", and ACK said this was a Birbal story. Also, in ACK, this story ends, "They were arguing over who would get to take my blanket when I came outside," but I like the idiom, "the quilt is gone and the fight is over."