05 January 2023 , 15:02
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A pensioner has spent £2,500 having a life-like silicon dummy made of his late wife after she died during the pandemic, in what he claims was his spouse's dying wish.
Tapas Sandilya, a retired government employee, had the dummy created of his late wife Indrani, with the replica wearing her favourite clothes and gold jewellery.
The saree was the one she had worn to their son's wedding reception.
Grieving Tapas, 65, has had her placed on the sofa - her favourite spot - of their home in Kaikhali, in West Bengal, India.
The dummy was made by artist Subimal Das who spent six months making it. It weighs 30kgs (66lbs) and it cost Rs 2.5 lakh (approximately £2,500).
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According to the South China Morning Post, Mr Sandilya lost his wife during the second wave of the Covid pandemic in May 2021.
Mr Sandilya lost his wife during the second wave of the Covid pandemic (Jam Press/Newslions)
The dummy cost Rs 2.5 lakh (approximately £2,500) to have made (Jam Press Vid/Newslions)She was taken to hospital, while he was forced to isolate.
Mrs Sandilya, who was just 59, passed away with no one by her bed side.
Her husband wanted to abide his wife’s wish through the statue, he told The Times of India, as he said there was an instance when his wife had asked him to build a statue of her.
“We visited the Iskcon temple in Mayapur a decade ago and could not stop admiring the lifelike statue of the order’s founder AC Bhaktivedanta Swami,” he shared with the national daily.
The widower worked with the sculptor for days while making a clay model of his wife to make it as realistic as possible (Jam Press Vid/Newslions)
Tapas Sandilya said the dummy was his spouse Indrani’s dying wish (Jam Press/Newslions)“It was then Indrani had me of her desire for a similar statue if she happened to pass away before me.”
Amused at the attention it is getting from his neighbours, Mr Sandilya said: “My wife died on May 4, 2021 and I just wanted to fulfill her wish.”
He set about having it made at the start of last year, when he came across 46-year-old Subimal Das.
The widower described how he worked with the sculptor for days while making a clay model of his wife, something that would then form the base of the silicone casting.
“Nothing less than Indrani’s actual facial expression would do for me,” he told the outlet.
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“I, after all, lived with her for 39 years”.
According to conservative figures from India, about 530,100 of the country's population died from the pandemic.
44.7 million cases of the virus have been recorded across the country, which again was a conservative figure.