Eat amongst dead bodies in India, it’s lucky

by Abha Malpani on

“New Lucky Restaurant” may seem like the most inappropriate name for an over 50-year old restaurant in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) that is built in a cemetery. In fact, it’s probably the most appropriate.

Built over a centuries-old Muslim graveyard, the locals who go there consider eating there lucky, and the manager believes that their business rocks thanks to the presence of the dead that has led the once mere tea-stall to expand into a full-fledged restaurant.

Although every religion in India takes care of dead bodies differently (Hindus cremate, Muslims/Christians bury, Zoroastrians leave the body to be eaten by vultures), the whole concept of death is different because of the general belief of being reborn — the ‘your soul never dies’ analogy.

The dead and the their souls that become spirits are given a lot of importance in the subcontinent. They are listened to and respected under the pretext of them being “holy”, so to speak.

Digressing from the restaurant a bit, but here are a few examples of how spirits are interacted with in India: there are groups of people who go to common suicide spots and perform rituals to give the spirits looming around there salvation; they believe that unsatisfied souls are what encourage suicides. Also, my grand-mum used to leave a bowl of milk outside every full-moon night because she believed that my late grand-dad would come for it. It was never there in the morning and you dare not tell her that maybe the neighbor’s cat sapped it all up.

So, with that insight into an Indian belief, you can see how having a romantic candle-lit dinner at New Lucky Restaurant is anything but spooky.

Dead body exhibition in Barcelona

by Abha Malpani on


An exhibition of dead bodies opened today in Barcelona, allowing visitors to see the complexity of the human anatomy like never before.

You can get a close look inside the skeletal, muscular, reproductive, respiratory and circulatory systems of your body. Many of the bodies are dissected in different ways so as to see what happens under our skin when performing daily activities.

The 17 corpses that display over 200 human organs are said to be of Chinese people, and have been donated for the exhibition by a medical school. The bodies have undergone a chemical treatment called ‘plastination’ that prevents them from decomposition and gives them a fibrous aseptic texture.

They even have displays comparing healthy and unhealthy bodies/organs; for e.g. you can see a real healthy lung, and a lung destroyed by smoking.

Not surprisingly, the exhibition has raised many eyebrows because it is not clear if the bodies were donated for a commercial exhibition like this, or if consent was given to do the same; rumors even say that they are bodies of executed Chinese prisoners. For these reasons, many have been calling it a shameless commercial display of death.

I personally think it’s great. Unless you are a doctor or say a homicide detective, there is no way you can see what’s really under your own skin, so I think it’s incredible that you can now go to an exhibition to have a glimpse at your own body structure (that is not artificial). There is no better way to educate yourself about your body; isn’t this how doctors study the human anatomy anyway?

The exhibition is being held at the Maritime Museum in Barcelona, and will run until January 13, 2008.

“Suicide Tourism” in New York

by Abha Malpani on

Just the title gives me the chills. I believe most people travel to enrich their lives, to explore the world, to grow as people, to relax, to have fun. The word “suicide” in relation to travel or tourism is just wrong.

A recent study by the New York Academy of Medicine reveals that more than 10% of all Manhattan suicides are tourists traveling to the Big Apple to take their lives. Jumping from landmarks such as the Empire State Building, Times Square and the George Washington Bridge, is one of the main ways of doing so.

The New York Times reports that from 1990-2004, of the 7,634 suicides in the city, 407 were tourists (i.e. non-residents of NYC). Although jumping from famous sites is generally more popular in New York, the Golden Gate Bridge in California and the Eiffel Tower in Paris are also notorious for their suicide rates.

Euthanasia is a never-ending debate that I don’t want to get into, but this whole death tourism subject was last thrown around in 2003 when a few Swiss organizations created a stir as they attracted an increasing number of foreigners to Switzerland to assist their death. “We help others to die with a dignity they cannot find in their own countries,” is what one of the organizations claimed they were doing. Euthanasia is also legal in Holland and Belgium.

As for those who kill themselves without assistance by jumping from a famous site: it is not clear if these people travel specifically to take their lives, but the research says that the people who do land up doing that, do so because it “guarantees them a notoriety they may not have had otherwise.”

The complete study conducted by the New York Academy of medicine will be released on Monday.

(Via New York Times)

A Canadian in Beijing: Shannon’s Wings

by Ember Swift on

Today is the one-year anniversary of my friend’s death. One year ago today my friend committed suicide and I had never before lost a loved one to the concept of choice. It was shocking, to say the least, and I struggled hard to work through the meanings, the messages, the learning, the processing, the feelings. And, that work is never truly over.

She took to the sky and her wings were hers to exercise, I know. But, we all miss her. We only have the feathers she left behind and a lot of unanswered questions. The word of the year has been: acceptance.

Here I am in Beijing – so far from my little country town (where she died) and Montreal (where she lived) – and yet it feels like Shannon is just next door, living across the hall. As it happens with significant things in our lives, when the time of year comes around again that marks the passing of time since that event, everything seems to be a reminder of her as though she’s really close by. Thoughts themselves seem to manifest outside of my mind into the so-called randomness of life. That is how it has been for me these past few days. Shannon has been in everything my eyes have lingered on; she has been in every conversation that has sparked my interest; she’s even in my lessons at school.

We learned the word for suicide yesterday and it came up again today: Zi Sha 自杀 . Seeing as Bejing is twelve hours ahead of Montreal at the moment, I felt that was fitting. Both days full of reminders to mark one day back home.

I also had a great chat with an artist yesterday about the concept of breathing, cross-species communication, flight. All of these topics were in Shannon’s art and as I chatted with this artist in Chinese in a dimly lit café over cold beers, I felt as though I could have been chatting to her in English on a dimly lit country porch over red wine. Same vibe. Same style of conversation. Language, country, gender irrelevant.

This week began with a visit to a bird sanctuary, as well, which also symbolizes my friend. She loved birds and drew them regularly. She collected feathers and repeatedly photographed, carved and painted a dead sparrow that she found that had apparently frozen to death. It lay frozen in time and it captured her interest in a really special, poignant way. This image has now become symbolic of her life, her yearning for release, her curiosity about the other side.

The bird sanctuary was an accidental discovery. My friend and I stumbled on it while walking around and exploring the countryside. For just 6 kuai a person (with our student cards – less than $1 Canadian), we were able to stroll through the park and visit all the birds. But, nothing is an accident, really. The timing of this discovery was right in line with the significance of this time – a commemoration of my friend.

I took copious pictures of birds from all over the world, not just China. So many colours and shapes and sizes. I was amazed by the diversity of birds in this small sanctuary. Put a sparrow next to an ostrich and it seems uncanny that they’re both birds (Just look at those ostrich feet!) Put a turkey next to a flamingo and it’s hard to see how they’re from the same species! But, they’re all beautiful in their own way… (be nice to the turkeys, now!)

There were these super large birds whose Chinese name I have forgotten. (Does anyone know what they’re called in English?) They were the most interesting to me because they appear to be so animated with their large eyes, their slouched and hobbled walk. (The opening shot on this blog is of this bird and below is its full body.) It reminds me a kid’s cartoon whose name I have also forgotten, or the way judges in court are often depicted with their hunched shoulders, spectacled eyes and long gowns resembling black feathers. The fact that they’re so big also made it possible to read expression in their eyes, which is something you can’t normally do with birds. I told them (silently) that I was sorry that they were trapped in there. They looked at me with disgust. We were both helpless in that moment.

I walked away from their large cage feeling a rush of wanting to release them all – every bird in the park – and let them take to the sky. I know it’s not responsible. After all, look at the effect of starlings on North America just because of one man’s desire to have all the birds of England in Central Park? But, the urge to release a winged creature is something that just rushes up in me when I see a bird in a cage. I want to use my opposable thumbs to help them return to the wide open spaces above it all…

And, of course, along the exit pathway there was a full wall that showed birds that have already gone extinct and when. Many of these extinctions are a result of development, pollution, hunting, and of course a lack of human foresight that led to thoughtless decisions or loss of habitat. It struck me that perhaps it is possible that some of these birds simply went away. Maybe they just didn’t feel like staying in this world in the way that it was and has become. They left.

It’s possible. Anything’s possible.

Shannon’s date of extinction was June 12th, 2006. For me, her face was on that wall too. I miss her.

I miss you.

Top 10 Causes of Travel Deaths

by Adrienne Wilson on

To date I’d like to think I’ve been pretty lucky in dodging death on some of my travels abroad and at home. Seeing how I got dumped on by two different birds on two different occasions last year in Tajikistan, for the first time in life and walked away without avian flu I’d count that as a blessing. And yes, I know avian flu is not quite caused by bird droppings landing on your head or Bob Marley sweatshirt, but I still lucked out. You never know. Oh, and then there was just this past Friday while cruising down a snowy I-68 eastbound for work when a snow plow going westbound threw so much slush, ice and salt over on the opposite side of the road that it shattered the windshield (see picture) and left small pieces of glass in my lap, in my boots and in my hair. I got pretty lucky with that one too.

This isn’t about my luck though. It is about those who didn’t see the coconut falling from the palm while snoozing in Antigua or the poor guy who received one too many mosquito bites in Madagascar and then those ambitious wildlife photographers who got mauled by a Grizzly in Canada. Roadjunky runs a piece from a couple weeks back listing the 10 Leading Causes of Travel Deaths (maybe). According to their humorous report where I’m not sure how they acquired the numbers, falling coconuts claim the lives of about 900 travelers each year, STD’s – 360 lives and Civil War – 380 lives. The top three ways to go travelers should beware of are road accidents, murder, and malaria – maybe.