toy-scum

Updated: May 23, 2025

All kinds of magic are out of date and done away with except in India where nothing changes in spite of the shiny, toy-scum stuff that people call "civilization." Any man who knows about the Bisara of Pooree will tell you what its powers are always supposing that it has been honestly stolen. It is the only regularly working, trustworthy love-charm in the country, with one exception.

Rudyard Kipling - Plain Tales from the Hills