His desk is laden with the thick, string-bound paper dossiers beloved of Indian civil servants and cordially loathed by everyone else.

ECONOMIST: Reviving Kolkata

They saluted and lowered the ridiculous cotton string that barred the road to the castle heights, which meandered up the hillside past the thick stone walls and into an immense central courtyard.

NPR: Sergeant Notes Odd Rituals of War in Afghanistan