India – Mumbai – Parsi Tower of Silence

Malabar Hill – the ritzy section of Mumbai (formerly Bombay):  we were driving down the hill, when the driver mentioned the Parsi Tower of Silence, which we could barely see through the dense trees. It is a round building, situated high on a hill, not far from the posh residential section. It is called the Tower of Silence because that is where the Parsis (followers of the Persian prophet, Zoroaster) take their dead. The bodies of men are arranged in the outside circle of the roof, women inside the second ring, and children in the middle circle.

The idea is that birds of prey will clean to the bones, the sun and weather will bleach and disintegrate the bones further, which are then combined with lime, filtered and eventually washed back to the sea. All is a natural process that honors the full cycle of life.

The problem with Plan A is that the pollution of the city has seriously diminished the vulture population, so the process is much more extended time-wise than usual. So far, there is no Plan B.

I find that an interesting parallel to my own life. When my Plan A doesn't play as well as I thought it would, how much time goes by before I develop Plan B? Mostly it depends on how addicted I am to my Plan A. The more addicted, the more time goes by before I wake up to the fact that Plan A needs either to be adjusted or scratched all together. Or I could end up at the Tower of Silence with my Plan A, waiting for the vultures.