Back from the Dead

“It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.”
― Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent

I was prepared, just in case

Between work and carving a tombstone (see above), Shuri has not been able to generate too many creative blog posts or interpret social absurdities in amusing ways lately. 
It's always good to prepare for one's imminent death.
Recently, I heard about the concept of paying upfront for your own funeral. It's a great idea considering loved ones don't have to scramble about to organise a funeral, in the midst of heightened emotions. My grandmother sewed her own funeral dress and kept it ready with her clothes. In Bali, we found out that funerals are costly affairs so villagers with lower incomes pool in money for one big event where all the people who died after the last big funeral ceremony (which may have even been 3-5 years ago) are dug out of their temporary graves and given a proper funeral so their souls can be released to continue with reincarnation. At least that's what our friendly and knowledgeable driver/ guide told us. 
Back home, some funeral practices, just like some weddings practices, have evolved to be a costly and pointless affair. The current practice is to keep an embalmed body for several days until relatives, friends and acquaintances come and pay their final respects. During this time, the family has to bear the costs of feeding the visitors, hired help, temporary shelters, utility charges and even alcohol for fussy visitors. People who volunteer to stay up for the night get intoxicated with alcohol and play poker. Several days of this later, the body is carried to the crematorium in a procession, often with people (other than the immediate family) crying uncontrollably. The grieving family later returns to a disorganised house (sometimes to find certain small items have been stolen), a mountain of debt and more supportive visitors to feed. 
Anyone with a healthy level of common sense will realise that some of these practices are the perfect way to disrespect the deceased and make them very unhappy if they were able to watch their own funeral. 
My parents have discussed with us on how they would like us to handle the situation when they die; donate whatever body organs that can be reused, bury/ cremate the body within a day, not wait for anyone coming to pay final respects and provide a lot of alms in their memory. It was a strange feeling to sign as a witness some time ago to the documents that my parents signed pledging their organs to a hospital or Science, but I would gladly do the same. 

Source: The internet, of course

That's enough morbid fascination for a day. Happy Halloween!