Memorial To A God

Many years ago, God died. Well, he was God to a few million people in India anyway, and his name was MG Ramachandran. Called MGR.

Honestly, I don't remember much of him, except that he was always wearing some kind of a cap, and dark glasses. I was never too sure of whether the glasses were a medical requirement or, an affectation because of fashion.

MGR was a flim star who was popular sometime in the 70's I think, and then became a politician. He was GOD to his fans, some of whom could not bear the news of his death and immolated themselves, rather than be faced with a life without God.

I don't think that this tendency to deify filmstars and heros is unique to India, even though India has it's own unique way of expressing this.And, in India, the way of expression differs between the North and South Indians.

Yet, God dies. When do you truly die? Some believe that you die when you die in the memory of people. And so, surely but slowly this God is dying. His memorial in Madras (Chennai), seen above, silhoutteted against the early morning sun is slowly becoming irrelevant. It's a nice enough memorial, but will disappear one day.

And, till he dies, God will be remembereed differently by different people. A form of death, perhaps?