Miss India, Huma, and my photo

Rehana:

Welcome to Chowk.

I cannot fault you for writing this nor Chowk for publishing it.

But I should not have read it.

Huma’s death hit me like a speeding truck.

Do you know what Huma means? Let me quote Neela D’Souza: from JahangirNama.

“Among other rarities, Jehangir writes about the lammergeier, the high altitude bearded vulture of the Himalayas. Its local name in the mountains was huma, which is what a legendary bird of the Arabian Nights, believed to have a shadow with magical properties, was called. The fortunate person on whom the shadow fell would become a king.

“As the bird frequents altitudes up to 25,000 ft, soaring past canyons and precipices, it would be a rare individual indeed who, at that height, would opportunely find its shadow cast on him. People in the mountains believed the huma ate only bones; it would swoop down on a bone, bear it aloft, drop it and then pick up and eat the shattered pieces.

“Often referred to as `flying dragon,` the lammergeier is truly an extraordinary bird. It has a wingspan of three metres and a long diamond shaped tail. Greek mythology blames this bearded vulture for the death of the playwright, Aeschylus, as a lammergeier is supposed to have dropped a tortoise on his bald head, mistaking it for a rock!

“Actually tortoises are one of the few sources of fresh meat for the lammergeier and it is only by dropping the chelonian from a height that it can shatter the carapace and get at the flesh within.
Also, the belief that the huma ate only bones is a slight misinterpretation; it carries bones aloft and drops them on rocks from a height to crack them and get to the inside tissue and marrow. To accompany this signature behaviour, it has its chosen ossuaries and flat rocks where it drops bones, swooping down to pick up the edible bits and pieces.”

Death? What is there to fear?

Life? Everything.

Fear for me is associated indelibly with breathing. But then what do I know of death? What does anybody know of death? Rigor mortis sets in and in dying we live? Still, all emotive feelings are tied to the living.

Am I brave? Am I impervious to indoctrination? Am I foolish? No, no, probably.

Do we a choice? No. Then why the fear? But then I have already rhetorically answered it.

Faith may perhaps be a very strong word. I’d go with outlook. My outlook is this: as long as my life’s balance sheet is balanced; the sum total of the bad negating the good, then there is no need for fear.

Digression: I never confessed why I seem to be so ----- so focused -- so obsessed with death in your column. I find it difficult to divulge the reasons here. I mean this much baring of the soul is cathartic. Any more will be distasteful. Perhaps if you care to drop in a line at temporal3@hotmail.com I could.....perhaps.

Again, wish I had not read this now.

Good luck and keep sharing here.

regards,

temporal

Hi Rehana,

Kudos. May God Bless Huma

Moving article. You`ve dealt with the subject so effectively. So many people around us are driven by the same demons of achieving a standard physical appearance!! What a terrible waste of time. Standardization of any kind for that matter!

Why are women so tormented with their appearances? Why should physical standardization make or break a woman`s worth as an individual?

Appearances do matter for vanity reasons, but being vain should not be equated with having to be a certain way.

Just because you do or don`t fit a box of universally acceptable ``attractive`` shapes and sizes should not govern your self-esteem. But, as I can myself testify, physical appearances do govern one`s self-esteem. Especially when society sends out strong signals.

Society -- the good,bad and the ugly sides of it continue to perplex me.

Moving article. You`ve dealt with the subject so effectively. So many people around us are driven by the same demons of achieving a standard physical appearance!! What a terrible waste of time. Standardization of any kind for that matter!

Why are women so tormented with their appearances? Why should physical standardization make or break a woman`s worth as an individual?

Appearances do matter for vanity reasons, but being vain should not be equated with having to be a certain way.

Just because you do or don`t fit a box of universally acceptable ``attractive`` shapes and sizes should not govern your self-esteem. But, as I can myself testify, physical appearances do govern one`s self-esteem. Especially when society sends out strong signals.

Society -- the good,bad and the ugly sides of it continue to perplex me.

Touching article Rehana. Your sister is in a better place, where beauty is not measured on scales.

I personally believe in beauty, not beauty pageants. I don`t think one woman epitomizes beauty for the rest of womankind. Beauty is so subjective and different for different people.

How can we label one person as being beautiful?

What kind of ``beautiful image`` are we sending out to young girls who watch these stupid programs.

All the women who take part in these pageants are tall, thin, and proportioned like a stretched out hourglass. What is the point of a swimsuit contest other than measuring the ``physical sexual assets`` of a woman. It`s quite disgusting. If the judges are judging physical shape, that can be done pretty well without taking off clothing.

No wonder the majority of teenagers and women are obsessed over their weights.

BEAUTY PAGEANTS SHOULD BE BANNED!

Dear Rehana,

What a moving story. Thank you for sharing it with us. Yes, mortality teaches humililty like nothing else.

Pardon me for digressing, but has anyone noticed how nobody other than Indians make a big deal of the Miss Universe title?

When women from other nations are crowned, I wonder if their media also go berserk?

So where`s the photo which is the subject of this article ?

As for Miss Universe and stuff .. they`re all made-up of plastic. Real up-close they`re ugly.

Your sister who passed away is still the most beutiful person in the world for those who can see.

Rgds.

Zeemax

As Kabir said

`Maya maha thagani hum jani ...`

Moving. But the paragraph where you describe having made the transition from jeans and short T shirts to saris and lenghas and shalwars confused me a little. Up to that point, I thought the message was that beauty and attractiveness are transient things, they matter little in the face of illness and death. How has your switching Western for Eastern clothing related to this? We Asian women usually try to look attractive and shapely in both types of outfits. If you are implying that the looser, more ``modest`` outfits are less attractive, or are donned only by those unconcerned by their appearnce, that jars me and strikes me in the end as untrue.

How true! No need to say any more.