A Presentation of a true account of a humorous happenning at Madame Tussauds in London. Reflections on the importance of cultivating mindfulness.

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REFLECTIONS

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In May 1991, my mother, my younger brother,
myself and a family friend whom I shall refer to as
Lucy (not her real name) joined a group for a 14-day
tour to ten countries in Central Europe. It was another
one of those prizes won by my brother in a
commercial contest. We flew from Kuala Lumpur
and after a transit at Bangkok, we were on our way to
Rome, Italy, the first country of our tour. We visited
interesting places in Rome, the Vatican City,
Florence and Venice.
From Italy, the tour went by coach through Central
Europe visiting Liechtenstein, Austria, Switzerland,
Germany, Belgium, France, Holland and finally
England. We extended on our own the stay in
London by another week as there was so much to see
and do in London. Fortunately we had a friend who
lived in Essex, not far from London. We stayed at her
place and traveled by tube daily on our sightseeing
tour to various fascinating spots in and around
London. Among the places we visited were The
London Tower, Buckingham Palace, Oxford Street,
Madame Tussauds, the London Zoo, Kew Gardens, a
few shopping areas and bookshops in London.

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It was at Madame Tussauds that an interesting incident
happened to Lucy our family friend. Lucy, a single lady
in her early forties, was by nature an easily excitable
person.
Madame Tussauds is a most interesting tourist place to visit.
Madame Tussauds London is a major tourist attraction
located in Central London, housed in the former London
Planetarium. It is famous for recreating famous people
and celebrities, in wax. It was set up by wax sculptor
Marie Tussaud. Madame Tussauds has branches in
various major cities like Amsterdam, Bangkok, Berlin,
Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York, Las Vegas, Hollywood
and Washington, D.C. (From Wikipedia)
It was really a fantastic experience admiring the many
wax figures of celebrities, famous people in history,
sportsmen, artists, musicians, pop stars, Hollywood stars
and so on. We posed for photographs with many of the
well-known characters. Lucy was very excited admiring
her favorite characters in wax. She kept telling my brother
and me and some other tour members: Oh, they are
amazing. I can spend the whole day at this wax museum.
You just can’t tell the difference between the wax
character and the real person. The wax works are
incredibly lifelike.

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After about an hour looking around in the wax
museum, Lucy and I had to go to the washrooms. The
Ladies’ and Gents’ toilets were situated near each
other. When Lucy came near the washroom area, she
noticed a ‘person’ on a wheel chair, ‘parked’ all by
itself a short distance from the washrooms. The
paraplegic at the wheel chair was an elderly ‘man’.
He had wrinkles in his face and his eyes were closed
giving the impression that he was asleep. His head
was slightly tilted to one side.
Lucy went near and stood by the side of the wheel
chair. She bent down to have a closer look at the old
‘man’ with quite distinguished features. She was
giving her running commentary: Oh, what a fantastic
work! It is so realistic! Look at the facial features …
they are an incredible work of art!
Suddenly the old ‘man’ blinked his eyes and gave
Lucy a wink. Imagine the shock Lucy had! She had
been thinking all along that she was admiring a
waxwork figure. Lucy let out a loud scream, a scream
I had never heard before. Not only was it loud, it was
kind of piercing and it lasted for some time. Many
tourists, most of them Westerners came to the scene
of commotion. I tried to calm down Lucy in this
rather embarrassing situation.

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I heard questions and comments flying around:
‘What happened? Did she see a ghost?’
‘ Is she having a heart attack?’
‘ Has someone molested her?’
‘ Call the police and medical people!’
‘ Get her a glass of water!’
It was really amusing. When Lucy finally calmed
down and everyone knew the reasons for her
scream, we all had a good laugh! It must have
been one of the most amusing incidents that ever
happened at Madame Tussauds.
Reflection
* Sometimes it is difficult to tell what is real and what is
not. It requires great observation, a most alert and
discerning mind and sharp mindfulness.
* When the mind is trained in good mindfulness,
composure and wisdom one is less likely to react in
surprise or shock at any happening in life.
* In life the most unexpected thing can happen to
anyone anytime and anywhere. When the mind truly
realizes this, one can better cope with unexpected
happenings which must have causes. One’s mind can
then remain more calm and steady.