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    A sense of deep loss to stand-ins, social distancing is bringing mannequins to life

    Synopsis

    Humans have long created fake-humans to stand in for them. The ritual burning of human figures that is part of festivals from Holi to the Burning Man event in the US possibly had its origins at a time when actual human sacrifice became less acceptable.

    When Shrinivas Gupta, an international trader in hair, celebrated his house warming recently, he had one regret. His wife Venkatanaga Madhavi could not be there since she had passed away in a road accident in 2017. But to ensure she was there in some form he commissioned a wax statue of her, which was dressed in her sari and ornaments, and placed on a sofa to oversee events and, of course, be present for photographs.If anyone thought this odd,
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    The Economic Times