Twin tales of tragedy and torment from UP villages

LUCKNOW: A woman in a Gorakhpur village cremated her husband’s effigy in her native village as he died in Delhi and was cremated there.

A man from Balrampur had to borrow money and hire an ambulance to transport his pregnant wife’s body to the village from Ludhiana as locals did not allow to cremate her there, fearing Covid-19.

Ironically, both the Gorakhpur man and the Balrampur woman had tested negative for Covid-19. The corona virus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have not only altered lives drastically but also the final good-byes to loved ones who succumb to these tough times.

Poonam, 35, of Dumrikhurd village of Gorakhpur’s Chauri Chaura, was desperately waiting for the lockdown to end to see her husband Sunil Kumar, 37, who worked in Delhi. Due to illness, he died in a Delhi hospital on April 14 and his body kept lying there for four days until it was cremated by the Delhi authorities after getting consent from his wife.

But Poonam still hopes that the mortal remains of her husband will be handed her over so that she may perform some of the rituals after his death. Since she had no money to bring back the body, she gave her consent to cremate it in Delhi itself.

However, she made her fouryearold son perform the last rituals of her husband by cremating his effigy as suggested by relatives, to complete the tradition of performing last rites.

“Every day passes waiting for my husband’s mortal remains. Local authorities who visited my place to convey the message from Delhi authorities, promised to bring the remains of my husband so that we could complete his last rites,” said Poonam on telephone.

Her husband Sunil Kumar left Gorakhpur for Delhi to earn a livelihood. He fell sick on April 11 and was taken to Safdarjung hospital where he succumbed to his illness on the night of April 14.

As he had tested negative for Covid-19, authorities contacted his family in Gorakhpur village to take the body from the hospital. The impoverished Poonam gave her consent to cremate his body after being assured that they would send his mortal remains home. “I had been waiting for the lockdown to end so that we could see him. But see how life has changed. I have to wait for his mortal remains,” she said.

CORONA SHADOW ON FUNERAL

Wife’s body in front of him and crying kids clinging to him, the 22-hour journey from Ludhiana to Balrampur’s Kathuwa village was a nightmare for Daddan, a migrant worker.

He had been hoping that the lockdown would end and he would take his pregnant wife to his native village but destiny ordained otherwise.

He ended up borrowing money from relatives to hire an ambulance to take her body home as she died in a Ludhiana hospital on April 26 during childbirth.

Daddan had gone to Ludhiana a few years ago to earn a livelihood. He was stuck without a job there due to lockdown and did not try to rush back to the village since his wife was pregnant. On April 26, she felt uneasiness and Daddan rushed her to the hospital, where doctors declared her dead. What was even more shocking and painful for Daddan was the behaviour of the Ludhiana locals who did not allow this migrant worker to cremate his wife, said his brother Rajesh Kumar, , adding, “When all requests fell on deaf ears, he finally borrowed ₹ 27, 000 from friends and hired an ambulance to bring his wife’s body to his village Kathuwa in Balrampur, around 1150 km from Ludhiana.”

But there was more in store.“He could not enter his house here. He attended his wife’s funeral and was quarantined along with his three daughters in a village school,” Rajesh said.