Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Human Trafficking, the Art of Pigeon Flying

The article deals with the rising incidence of kabootarbazi, or human trafficking in Punjab. The Mughals introduced kabootarbazi, the art of pigeon-flying in India; its current connotations, however, are less innocuous. Trafficking specialists - travel agents, politicians, pop stars, sports officials - has sprung up, offering creative solutions that pivot on the Great Indian Rope Trick: ascend the rope of a foreign junket - as member of a sports team or pop singer's troupe or a folk dancer's group - and, on scaling foreign shores, poof, vanish! Recently, on Easter vacation in Tuscany, I came face-to-face with one such pigeon and learned the story of his flight.

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