One of the customs in a Bengali wedding is for the groom’s family to give fish-shaped sweets to the bride’s family. Apparently, this is a modified version of the original custom where they used to give an actual fish, usually a large one.

Which makes me wonder: If Connie Corleone had married, say someone named Prithwiraj Basu instead of Carlo Rizzi, would the wedding festivities have been brought to a halt by the threat that the custom implied?

I spent the extended weekend vacationing in Singapore. Quite an interesting place — might write a travelogue post later if I feel up to it. Anyway, one of the things I noticed was something called a “fish spa”. So I asked a friend what it was and he said it involved getting a pedicure by putting your feet in a tub full of fish and letting them nibble away at the dead skin on your soles. Assuming, of course, that the fish got themselves a copy of the Times Food Guide for Human Feet.

Which makes me wonder: Is there a viable business model that combines extreme sports and spa treatments? An extreme fish spa, if you will, where you put your feet in a tub full of piranhas and see if you can get a pedicure without ending up like Venus De Milo with a toenail-chewing habit?

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