It must be many many years ago I chanced upon an article describing the destination Hyderbad. I would have flipped through the pages fast but the words that instantly caught my attention was “ The veiled Rebecca “. Being a Christian the name Rebecca was too familiar to me. The article described the beauty of the Statue. The account in the Bible is given like this. Abraham was looking for a woman of good character to be chosen as his son Issac’s wife. He sends his most trusted servant to go to his paternal native place to look for a bride for his son. The narrative given in the Bible is very interesting. Abraham’s servant finds the most ideal person and she is described in the Bible as very beautiful, a virgin and no man had known her. The servant with Rebecca’s family’s permission brings her along with camels and treasures to his master’s house. As she alights from the camel she sees Issac who was meditating in the fields. As soon as she sees him she covers her face with a veil. This is the moment which the sculptor freezes in white marble stone. Almost thirty five years before, I read this article and it remained a lingering desire to see the statue. The most fascinating part of the article was about the veil. The statue of Rebecca is a statue from head to toe. Sculpted by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Maria Benzoni in the year 1863. Benzoni created the appearance where Rebecca’s head is bowed and her gaze is lowered as she secures her veil indicating demure modesty, although her other hand partially opens up in a welcoming gesture. It is very easy to imagine a woman’s face in a transparent veil but how do one create the veil. What remained as a mystery to me for the last thirty five years was the sculptor’s self belief or his faith in God that he could actually create the thin silky veil in stone itself. The end result is, the sculptor sculpts the veil in stone and the most unbelievable part is sculpting the beautiful face behind the veil. Surprisingly I don’t remember seeing the statue in the article but in my subconscious mind, knew one day I will see it.

Few years later I chose a career in Travel and Tourism. I forgot about the statue. More years later I started my own travel company. I visited many parts of India and the world and one day I got an invitation from a dear friend of mine from my church to attend his daughter’s wedding in Hyderabad. That’s the time both the prospects gave me the thrill. One to attend my friend’s daughter’s wedding and second to see the beautiful sculpture. I used to always think the statue might be a foot and a half in height. I also knew it was kept in Salar Jung Museum. Being a travel agent I arranged a 2 to 3 days tour of Hyderabad to see the Golconda fort, Charminar, Salar Jung Museum and one full day tour of Ramoji Film City. It gave me a chance to test the service of the Destination Management Company in Hyderabad. My son who was eighteen then and his friend came along with us. We were received by the manager of the DMC and was introduced to our chauffeur. Few DMCs do that, mostly at the airport exit you see a chauffeur standing with a placard with the name of the guest arriving. All the sightseeing to the drop at the airport was done very professionally. To visit Salar Jung Museum we chose a morning time and this time my son’s another friend joined us. We purchased the entry tickets and it is a big Museum and has innumerable rooms displaying paintings sculptures all around the world. Just in case I do not miss the sculpture of Rebecca, in anticipation asked one of the security guards do you know where the statue of Rebecca is kept. His face shown bright and he replied, it is in a dedicated room, room no 7. The youngsters were having a good time and they did not know much of my main purpose of my visit to the museum and they were clicking pictures of artwork and then i saw the board, room no 7. As I said I expected the sculpture to be a foot and a half but there it was, a sculpture beyond all imagination, one of a kind, surpassing all my expectations. The sculptor had created a pedestal and the statue of Rebecca rose from the pedestal.