Irreverent, informed and downright eclectic books and reportage from South Asia and beyond
This anthology features Tom Vater’s essay Sadhus, Sannyasis, Ascetic Mendicants And Renouncers.
‘ Strange Attractor is a journal that celebrates unpopular culture. We declare war on mediocrity and a pox on the foot soldiers of stupidity.’
Published 2004.
“One of the most weirdly beautiful, beautifully weird magazines of the past hundred-odd years. It smacks far more of the late [...]
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Vater’s observations on the human condition, as he experiences it firsthand along the less tourist-beaten paths of South and Southeast Asia, result in a no-holds-barred account of life in the region, distinctly as not described in the glossy brochures. Figuratively and at times literally far removed from the glittering urban centers and pampering resorts - [...]
The Wild Holy Men Of India, Caught Between Past and Present
Boom Boom Baba
Boom Boom Baba sits on a stone platform above the Benares ghats, the steps where millions of Hindu pilgrims come to bathe every year.
“I am Naga, I am very dangerous. But I will pray for you and make a good puja.”
Boom Boom Baba [...]
Chuwit Kamolvisit is one of Thailand’s best-known celebrities. He fills newspapers and magazines and appears on national television every day. He is charismatic and media-friendly. But Chuwit is not a pop star or an actor.
Chuwit is a sex king. He is the king of the largest sex industry on the planet. For the last eight [...]
The plains of West Bengal stretch into a milky horizon. In May, much of the rice has just planted and the midday sun’s glare is reflected in the shallow paddies. Here and there, small clusters of mud and straw huts form tiny hamlets in an ocean of green. The Kanrup Express takes more than 30 [...]
“I have been in Sonagachi for 25 years. I rent this room for 114 Rupees a month. This is my home.”
Champa Das has invited me into her home. Champa Das has been a sex worker all her adult life.
Sonagachi is one of Calcutta’s largest red light districts - narrow alleys, lined with small ‘apartments’ and corner [...]
The Andhra fishermen of Puri on India’s east coast are fighting for cultural, financial and spiritual survival.
First light on Puri Beach. Pentacotta fishing village, which grows like a misshapen appendix from the resort’s northern beach front, is coming to life. More than 10.000 people from Andhra Pradesh live in small [...]
Charles Sobhraj, one of the world’s most notorious serial killer celebrities, also known as the “Bikini Killer’ and the ‘Serpent’ was convicted for murder in 2004 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Prior to his conviction Tom Vater spoke with one of the allegedly scariest men alive as well as his captor, police officer Ganesh K.C. who had no [...]
The Khao San Road, one of the world’s greatest and most fascinating tourist ghettos, is coming of age.
Last week the first MacDonald’s outlet opened inside one of the guesthouse complexes on the strip. Legendary hippy hangout, subject of a Hollywood blockbuster and barely more than 300 metres long, the Khao San Road offers a stop-over [...]