Kabin Raj Puri is in an ecstatic trance. Two thick metal hooks have just been pierced clean through the flesh on his back and he is being raised above ground with a pulley system. It was not a beautiful sight to behold, but the man performing this act was in pure bliss. At the venue of Nepal Inked Tattoo Festival in Thamel, one expects to see and meet people who are unconventional, bizarre even. You see a guy who has covered his entire body in tattoos, there is another one with so many piercings and in so many places you thought impossible and next to him is the person who has tattooed the whites of his eyes.  But on this particular day, Puri’s suspension act seemed to be the event’s main highlight.   With the expert guidance of suspension artist Alex Pareiro and his team, Puri, a tattoo artist by profession, was swinging in the air with two metal hooks yanking at his flesh in his back. In the background, there was a steady hum of tattoo guns, metal music and mixed whispers of crowds gathered to witness the stunt, but all eyes were fixed on Puri. At one point, he starts swinging and spinning wildly shouting “This is so much fun! I fell no pain at all.” He seemed more than happy to pose for photographs. When he was finally lowered after 20 minutes or so, I talked to Puri about his act. The metal hooks from his back were removed and he was bleeding. Naturally, I asked him if it was painful. “No, it was a pleasurable experience,” he told me. “Up there, you get high.” Our conversation was brief. I was astonished, for it was my first time seeing a person performing a body suspension act before my eyes. The fact that it was Puri’s first body suspension act only left me further tongue-tied.