Rama and Sita are the protagonists in one of the most famous love stories of all time. They are deeply and natural in love and union as they are Vishnu and Lakshmi incarnate respectively, and embody the perfect manhood and womanhood respectively. When Rama is banished from the kingdom, he attempts to convince Sita not to join him in a potentially dangerous and certainly arduous existence in the jungle, but Sita rejects this. When Rama orders her in his capacity as husband, Sita rejects it, asserting that it was an essential duty of a wife to be at her husband’s side come good or ill

Rama in turn is protective and caring for Sita throughout the exile.

When Sita is kidnapped by Ravana, both Sita and Rama undergo great personal hardships during their separation. Sita protects her chastity assiduously, and survives over a year in captivity on the strength of her love and assiduous attention to religious values and duty. She is completely unfettered in her resolve despite Ravana’s courting, cajoling and threats. Meanwhile Rama, not knowing who had kidnapped Sita or where was she taken, often succumbs to despair and tears, denouncing himself for failing to defend her and agonizing over her safety and pain. Sita knows that it is in Rama’s destiny to fight to rescue her (she refuses to be rescued thus by Hanumana, who discovers her), but is deeply anxious for his safety and fearful of Ravana’s power.

In legends, Legong is the heavenly dance of divine nymphs. Of all classical Balinese dances, it remains the quintessence of femininity and grace. Girls from the age of five aspire to be selected to represent the community as Legong dancers.

Connoisseurs hold the dance in highest esteem and spend hours discussing the merits of various Legong groups. The most popular of Legongs is the Legong Kraton, Legong of the palace. Formerly, the dance was patronized by local rajas and held in e puri, residence of the royal family of the village. Dancers were recruited from the aptest and prettiest children. Today, the trained dancers arestill- very young; a girl of fourteen approaches the age of retirement as a Legong performer.

The highly stylized Legong Kraton enacts a drama of a most purified and abstract kind. The story is performed ‘ by three dancers: the condong, a female attendant of the court, and two identically dressed legongs (dancers),who adopt the roles of royal persons. Originally, a storyteller sat with the orchestra and chanted the narrative, but even this has been refined away in many Legongs. Only the suggestive themes of the magnificent gamelan gong (the full Balinese orchestra) and the minds of the audience conjure up imaginary changes of scene in the underlying play of Legong Kraton.

The story derives from the history of East Java in the 1 2th and 1 3th centuries: when on a journey the King of Lasem finds the maiden Rangkesari lost in the forest. He takes her home and locks her in a house of stone. Rangkesari’s brother, the Prince of Daha, learns of her captivity and threatens war unless she is set free.

Rangkesari begs her captor to avoid war by giving her liberty, but the king prefers to fight. On his way to battle, he is met by a bird of ill omen that predicts his death. In the fight that ensues he is killed. The dance dramatizes the farewells of the King of Laserm as he departs for the battlefield and his ominous encounter with the bird. It opens with an introductory solo by the condong. She moves with infinite suppleness, dipping to the ground and rising in one unbroken motion, hertorso poised in an arch with elbows and head held high, while fingers dance circles around her wrists. Slowly, her eyes focus on two fans laid before her and, taking them, she turns to meet the arrival of the legongs.

I was sitting in the office the other day and got my head stuck on one of the soundtracks from Reservoir Dogs… Harry Nielson’s “Coconut” (put da lime in da coconut, you drank ‘em both up… put da lime in da coconut, you drank ‘em both up… doctor, is there nuthin’ i can take — excellent song).

Got me to thinking about all the things you can do with a coconut tree — particularly here in Bali.

So, without further ado.

Sing about it: Harry Nielson did it — you can sing along.

Drink it: Head over to Jimbaran Beach (Bali of course) and order yourself baby coconut (kelapa mudah) — turns out to be fresh coconut, served in the coconut shell (with a straw for the juice and a spoon for the coconut flesh). I’m not sure about the health benefits of young coconut — if you google it, you’ll probably find it’s a cure for cancer (what isn’t?) but it’s tasty. Watch the sun go down and the lights come on at the Four Seasons bungalows… nice thing about that particular set-up is that the Seasons looks pretty romantic while you’re sitting at the beach while they watch you hoist your third coconut.

Continue reading 101 things to do with a coconut tree…