No tombstone this

You could almost pass it off as a historic memorial stone. It has all the prerequisites – lying unkempt by the roadside, covered with political posters etc. But this is not one. And it has company for it is one of a series that line either side of the approach road to Mahabalipuram town proper.

This forms part of a series of stands that were once put up by (who else?) our Tourism Department. On each was a terra cotta figurine, said to represent our artistic capabilities. All feminine, they were each on the lines of the solidly built dancers we saw on screen in the 1970s, 80s and 90s (perhaps even now). Actually, it was not all that bad and they did form an aesthetic line up except for the impossible vital statistics. Then they all went to seed, rather like the dancers of the 1970s etc. Their paint peeled off, they lost an arm or a leg (perhaps they cost an arm and a leg?) and then they disappeared altogether, rather like the dancers of the 1970s etc. What we have are these stands. Perhaps they are memorials in a way!