.jpg)
By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright January 2023
You are familiar with the Taj Mahal that was built by a Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
The Taj Mahal is one of the jewels of Muslim art in India. It is a universally admired masterpiece of architecture now classified as a UN heritage building.
Clearly a living example of one who loves his wife dearly and did not spare any expense to show his devotion to her sharing his feelings publicly by building an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra that is now declared as one of the Seven Wonders of the world.
It took 16 years to build the Taj Mahal. "For its construction, masons, stone-cutters, inlayers, carvers, painters, calligraphers, dome builders and other artisans were requisitioned from the whole of the empire and also from the Central Asia and Iran." (Unesco)
Then there's a civil servant Tapas Sandilya, who lost his wife of 39 years to Covid-19. He is better than Shah Jahan. He did not build a mausoleum instead he commissioned a life-size silicone figure of his late wife for his living room to alleviate his grief for not being by her bedside when she died. Apparently, he himself was in isolation during the deadly covid19 outbreak.
Newsreport say it took a sculptor "more than six months to create a replica with the likeness of the 65-year-old retired civil servant’s wife."
"Now he sits beside her sculpture, in her favourite spot on the sofa in their Kolkata home. He puts his arms around her shoulders, combs her hair, and arranges the folds of her sari. She is a silent presence when guests come over." (SCMP)
Indians seem to show love for their dearly departed in magnificent ways. Shah Jahan with a Taj Mahal and for Tapas Sandilya it's a life-size silicone figure.
What would you do for your loved ones? Just wondering.
Mihar Dias is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav.
Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
Newswav is solely an aggregation platform and hosts the content. The views expressed and content above including media (pictures, videos, etc) were provided by the author. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.