Talking from the Grave

Discussing the much awaited Zombie Apocalypse, and other tales of the dead.. 

About a 100 billion humans and trillions and trillions of different species, have seen the face of our Earth. They each had a story, each had a life full of sun rises and sun sets (except those organisms that live for some minutes - that’s just sad). They’ve achieved a lot, lost a lot, worked a lot and thrived - but just in a simple, short second, each of those hundred billion humans and trillions and trillions of animals, eventually lost their life, and dropped dead. It’s the one thing, one thing other than life itself that connect everything worthy of being called an organism - death: The one common ending.  Ain’t that cool? (And weird/freaky etc).

This blog is about death, and everything awesome about it. I’m not suicidal, or “waiting for death to find me”. It freaks me out too. Yet there is something absolutely fascinating about the idea of death and how the world has been seeing it for several thousand centuries. The best way to examine how history viewed death, is by looking at it directly. Confused? Tombs! 

Families spend anything between a $100 - $10000 on a tomb - which is just an approximation, because there are known tombs/graves of a much much (much much) higher value (*cough* pyramids *cough*). It’s a memory, something that is supposed to commemorate or sum up someone’s entire life into an object... forever. Which is why, people go crazy with tombs and graves. Here’s how:

1. Tomb of Qin Shi Huang Di, China's first emperor

Fear is expensive, proves this tomb 

Xian, China: The terracotta army is guarding the tomb of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang di. His fear of death and and quest for immortality brought the creation of these warriors. They are life-sized and individually modeled with great detail. Current estimates put the number of sculptures in the terra-cotta army to be over 8000 soldiers, 130 chariots, 520 horses, 150 cavalry horses. 

2. The tomb of love

A proof of love

Located at Roermond, the Netherlands, a Catholic woman and her Protestant husband had this tomb built in their respective churches, connected via joined hands that meet above the boundary of the two churches. Love always finds a way.

3. The Scrabble Dude's Tomb

Once a nerd, always a nerd

This is a grave of logophile. As is obvious, his family made his grave in the form of the famous board game. While one may assume that each word present is used to define him - that is not true, since there are some random words used, like 'hard, computer, inside and foot', which, um, are not adjectives.

4.  Underwater Graves

This one is really cool. 'Eternal Reefs' is a company that creates mini tombs in the form of artifical coral reefs and places them underwater. Good luck visiting them though.

5.  Lenin’s Mausoleum (Estimated Cost: $15 million)

Mark of a true leader

Lenin died in 1924. Since then, the Russian government has been spending around $200,000 every year to maintain his body. His body is displayed inside his mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow. The whole building and its reconstructions are estimated to cost around $15 million.

6. The Nintoku’s Tomb (Osaka, Japan)

It required 2.7million tons of dirt to make

It is the largest tomb in Japan and the third largest in the world. Japanese people call it Kofun. It is a megalithic tomb which is a man-made island shaped like a keyhole if seen from above. Nintoku was the 16th emperor of Japan from the year of 313 to 399. He was believed to be 142 years old when he died. In the words of the youth of Japanese, this tomb is also known as 'shady'. (I see why)

7. Egypt (Need I say more?)

 The Valley of the Kings, on the western banks of the Nile, where for over 500 years, rock cut tombs were made for the pharaohs of Egypt. The tomb of Tutankhamun, the only Egyptian pharaoh nearly everyone knows, is present here too. The Pyramid of Giza is another incredible (and crazy) example of gigantic tombs, standing at 481 feet tall, made in  the honor of King Khufu. 553 million people die every 10 years (approx), and that is the amount of time it took to make this tomb for two people.

8. Fernand Arbelot's gravestone

Love.

This tomb stone gets a mention, because of the high levels of creepines it manages to achieve. While the style and design of the marble tomb is commendable, the tomb itself looks, freaky. This is the tombstone of a musician and actor Fernand Arbelot, buried in the Pere Lachaise cemetery. The tombstone shows him holding his wife’s face as he wished to gaze at her face for eternity. Isn't it, um, sweet?

9. A tomb in Mexico

This fascinates me so much. To find humor in a grave (haha, pun) matter, such as death, is unusual, and certainly leaves a good memory of a loved one. Who wouldn't want to be remembered with a smile?

10. The Taj Mahal

Every girl's preferred Valentine Day's gift

One of the most famous wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal, was a tomb built in the memory of Mughal King Shah Jahan's wife, Mumtaaz Mahal. This vast monument is known for the eternal commemoration of love, which took 20 years to be made. Made fully with marble, the tomb cost approximately $1 billion to build. 

Fun Fact: While we remember Taj Mahal as a symbol of love, Mumtaaz Mahal actually died while giving birth to her fourteenth child. It is rumored that Shah Jahan had the hands cut off from the people who worked on the Taj Mahal (16000 inj number) once it was complete. His reasoning was that nobody would ever be able to build such a beautiful building ever again.

Bonus : Nicholas Cage

Dream of being a pharaoh? Here's your chance!

Don't worry, he isn't dead. Known for his eccentric ways, the famous actor purchased this pyramid shaped tomb, to be buried beneath after his death. 

Bonus Bonus : For the love of dog

Zombie Canines (deserve a movie?)

Ancient Egyptians glorified dogs, unlike many other religions around the world. People often mummified dogs and placed them in the tomb of it's owner, along with tiny bowls for food after death. For all the Dog lovers out there, can we get an 'Aww'?

Stay tuned, for a weekly dose on death! I promise to keep it lively and fun.