From the everyday to the existential, there is no dearth of gloom around us. And then, like the stately suns of a vintage sci-fi planet, appeared on our horizon: Rekha. On the Vogue Arabia cover. Dressed in, well, aura. A sultan in robes with assessing gaze. A burnished courtesan. In a maang, so red, we don’t know if it’s khoon or sindoor, only that we gasped at its non-cooperation. Many Rekhas Remixed: the nirmal anand ke liya androgyny of Khoobsurat and Agreement, voluptuous camp of Khoon Bhari maang, calibrated ada of Umrao Jaan, passionate submission of Muqaddar ka Sikandar.

We had only just delighted at Zeenat Aman in Vogue India, the culmination of short walks in flowery meadows and spice gardens we took with her since she appeared on Instagram—her persona elegant, charming, sincere yet self-aware and irreverent.