Goddesses have been worshipped since time immemorial. My personal devotion to models, movie actresses, and singers slipped into apostasy after having affairs with celestial creatures. Even their breathless beauty was subject to the ravages of bad lighting and a rough night ie the morning after with make-up smeared across their face like a giant bug had hit the windscreen at 80 mph, although a few looked good no matter what they did to themselves. I can see them lying across the bed, their naked shoulder coming to life like Pygmalion to the artist’s touch.

Gabrielle was the most beautiful of them all and I adored her beyond the point of no return.

Still she was only human.

Not like the Kumari of Nepal, who are living goddesses chosen by Hindu priests and Buddhist monks. Promising candidates between the ages of 2 and 4 are subjected to a series of tests. These young girls should have unblemished and unscarred skin. Their hair, eyes and teeth likewise should exemplify perfection and neither should they exhibit a fear of the dark. This requirement excludes my daughter, who needs a light on throughout the night. “There are snakes under the bed.”

No thought of saving the planet for Angie, which is fine by me, since once accepted Kumari are taken from their families to serve in temples around Nepal.

I have seen the Kathmandu Kumari cloistered in her smoky temple. A haze of incense swirling around her red dress. Her facial make-up evokes the mask of an unemotional deity with a painted third eye adorning her forehead. Devotees kneel to touch their heads with her feet. A sign of submission to the goddess. Being a relapsed Christian I couldn’t bring myself back into worshipping another pagan idol. More my feeling was that of a stable boy wanting to rescue a trapped princess, for these young girls have no life of their own and can not leave the temple until their first menstruation.

No friends either.

Can’t have bad influences on the goddess.

Recently a 10 year-old Kumari challenged this tradition with a trip to the USA in order to promote a documentary about the living goddesses. Upon her return the priests stripped the young girl of her divinity, which seems like blasphemy, for how can a man tell a goddess she’s no longer a goddess?

Like when Sean Connery is humanized by the sight of blood in THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING.

Devotees don’t like to humanity infecting their gods.

Maybe the young girl was lucky in being stripped of her godliness, for when Kumaris returned to normal lifem the years at the temple are ignored by her former idolateers, much like Heisman Trophy Winners.

Only memories of glory and bad luck.

Nepalese men avoided Kumaris since their husbands are reputed to be cursed by an early death. This rejection of the former goddesses could have something to do with the penniless state most Kumaris enter after the eviction from the temple. The situation has improved slightly with a monthly stipend of $40.

Not much for having given your childhood to be a goddess.

Me I devoted mine to baseball, girls, and rock and roll.

Then again I was no God.

Only a punk.

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