India man spends US$30,000 on silicone sculpture of wife who died of Covid-19
- Tapas Sandilya, who lost his wife of 39 years to Covid-19, commissioned a life-size silicone figure of her for his living room to alleviate his grief
- 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
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Indian man spends US$30,000 on life-size statue of his dead wife
Sandilya was not with his wife Indrani when she died aged 59 on May 4, 2021. He was in isolation when she was taken to hospital. She died with no one at her bedside.
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.
In the months after her death, he recalled a trip they took many years earlier to a Hindu temple, where they had seen a very realistic religious statue.
“It was then that Indrani told me of her desire for a similar statue [of her to be made] if she happened to pass away before me,” Sandilya told The Times of India.
