All the cremations I've been to there've been no falmes to see, just a curtain pulled across to hide the coffin.

A I've said before, if you're going for cremation, do it the Indian way (India Indian I mean) and burn the body out in the open in a funeral pyre.

But the idea of a funeral without the presence of the person who died, not because the body has been destroyed or lost in some accident, but because of some kind of sense that its better not to have them there - that seems really strange. Still, different cultures, different customs.