Numchucks and kubatons
charukesi January 2nd, 2006
My flight from Vishakapatnam to Bombay was delayed yesterday and since there is nothing much by way of entertainment at the Vizag airport, I spent time looking at the board which contains the list of banned items for passengers in hand baggage - and when I say I spent time, believe me, I mean it - my wheelchair was parked right in front of the sign board for over half an hour.
There were all the usual suspects (literally) - a wide inventory ranging from revolvers, pistols, rifles, hand grenades to swords, sabres, seisscors (sic) and knives [any length] to pickles and chilly powder and (to be on the safe side) all kinds of powders. Not content with ordinary knives and scissors, sorry, seissors the list also contained all household cutlery and nail clippers.
Fair enough. No saying when a crazed passenger might strike with a pair of nail clippers or a dinner fork.
Then there were the more unusual (and unexpected) items - scuba knives - excuse my ignorance, but what is a scuba knife?, Mace, martial arts devices, toy transformer robots (yes), meat cleaves, bows and arrows (yes again) and throwing stars. Now I have heard of shooting stars, but what are throwing stars?
There were also some really violent sounding ones billy clubs - along the lines of Wooster’s Drones Club where “young blood” is often to be found throwing sugar about in the larger smoking room?, cattle prods and bull whips - all I can say is, if you are not allowed to carry bull whips with you on the flight, then you better make sure the bulls you are taking along with you are perfectly docile creatures.
Oh, I forgot stun guns[sic]/shocking devices. Personally I don’t know what the airport authorities would find shocking, but believe me when I say that I don’t want to take a chance.
And finally the ones that had me really puzzled. Kubatons. And Numchucks. What are kubatons? Or for that matter, numchucks? After that, I spent a restless afternoon worrying about whether I was unwittingly carrying a kubaton in my hand baggage. Would they believe me if I told them, oh, this is what a kubaton is. I never knew…
Hi Charu,
Perhaps embarassingly, I know what all those things are:
The scuba knife is used for cutting coral and underwater things. Throwing stars are metal stars that Ninjas used to use for combat. “Billy club” is American urban slang for a “nightstick,” which is a hard wooden stick that cops use to hit “perps.” A kubaton is a pen used for martial arts, and numchuks are two small wooden poles attached with chains that you swing and hit. All really violent stuff, but nothing as dangerous as a pair of sherp seisscors.
Vikrum, I admit I am really impressed… and relieved that I am not likely to be carrying any of these, even unwittingly
(so were these copied directly from a signboard at some American airport?)
Hi Charu,
I fell of my chair laughing when I read this:-)) and I just couldn’t help thinking about the guy who coined a word like “bodging”…he really thought that word existed or was he just happy that it rhymed..????
I had a personal experience with nail cutters and nail clippers. I had to throw my nail cutter into the collection box at Bangkok airport while on transit as they had this item in their banned item list.
Krishna (Kishi?), read what I have said in response to comments to the other post on road travel - I think bodging is a corruption of boarding… am sure you have seen enough such hotels in India displaying “lodging and boarding” signs
Kaps, yes, I have had to leave nail cutters too. even a deo spray once - although that is not on this list of banned items!
:-))
happy new year to you charu.
Numchucks are those thingy’s that bruce lee uses…..that thing with two wooden handles connected by a chain…
Sunil, ok, so I didn’t know what a numchuck was. but what about the rest? go on, tell me, what is a kubaton? or a throwing star? go on, tell me, tell me…. (and don’t cheat by peeking at Vik’s comment)
[…] While on the road in India, Charu tries to understand the why’s of banned items for passengers in hand baggage, Amit has learnt an interesting way of punctuating his sentances, Uma has me drooling for dosai’s. […]
haha! i remember once I had to carry a sitar from austria to india. the people there were freaked out and nervous just to look at the size of the instrument. the airport there didnt allow passengers to carry any milk items- no cheese, milk, yoghurt-mad cow disease
..
jsmeen, I guess the airport guys get psyched by anything that is not familiar - or anyhting that could potentially be a weapon in the hands of a michief-maker… an in these days of terrorism, the paranoia is only more…
Arre, I once had a tough time at B’lore airport, trying to convince the security that my little boy’s toy tank was just that, a toy. They finally let me keep it after removing the batteries. And, Ahem not meaning to split hairs, but the fellows at the drones club throw bread about. Also soft boiled eggs at the fan.:)
Lak, the blokes at the drones club with their young blood and animal spirits throe both sugar and bread, according to the mood of the moment. This is the best I could find for you right now - will provide better link if I find it
pip, pip. And I mean it to sting.