On turning 40

[image error][image error]Reality vs Aspiration

(Kaliman was an adventurer superhero who was created by Rafael Cutberto Navarro and Modesto Vazquez Gonzalez for Mexican radio in 1963. It later became a comic book series and there were also movie adaptations. Kaliman’s origins are shrouded in mystery, but we do know he was a blue-eyed Indian orphan. None of this is relevant to me, but somehow the adventures of this incredible man involved the half-woman, half-gorilla being who — but for the blonde hair — is me.)

(Muttubby, mistress of Ashraf Ali Khan by Dip Chand, 1764, from the British Library and one of the paintings showcased in Forgotten Masters: Indian Painting for the East India Company at the Wallace Collection. As much as I would like to dream of possessing the elegance and poise this woman adds to the simple act of sitting on a chair, I fear my only connect with her at this moment is the unwitting “tubby” in her name.)