AHMEDABAD: Taraben, a 60-year-old woman in Nadiad, cremated nearly 300 Covid dead in the local crematorium where she has worked for many years— first with her husband and then alone as a widow since 2010. She says the second wave of coronavirus overwhelmed her, who is used to being around the dead.
“We used to get an average of 20 bodies in the month of April which started reducing. Now we get only one or two bodies. God has shown some kindness,” says Taraben, adding she was left aghast by the fear Covid-19 had triggered in people who would fear even performing final rites of their loved ones.
“I would get requests from many people to perform all the rites by myself as they did not want to risk getting infected for their family’s sake. Some would even tell me to feed them holy water. Many would bring the body to the crematorium and leave, telling us to do the needful,” she adds.
Across Gujarat, Covid-19 pandemic saw women, who as a gender generally refrain from even entering crematoriums due to social taboos, take the forefront in giving a decent farewell to people who succumbed to the deadly viral infection. They took the lead and took reins of the rituals from their scared kin who were fearful of getting infected themselves.
“There were at least 10 bodies which were abandoned by kin. I gave them the final bath, dressed them up and performed all rituals as per tradition to give them a decent farewell from the world. But such acts of abandonment broke my heart over the disintegrating humanity,” says Hasinaben Ladla, who has performed final rites of more than 600 Covid victims in the second wave.
She took to cremating unidentified dead in 2005 when her husband was diagnosed with blood cancer and she felt she had to serve humanity as she believed it was the only way to pray to Allah for the well-being of her husband.
“I would feel shocked when relatives would remove ornaments from the dead body but be scared to touch for final rites. I saw human fear and greed, both up close,” says Hasina. She says she was especially disturbed when she saw two dead bodies of young women, who were only recently married. “If only the pandemic had spared them.. it was too early for them to go,” says Hasina.
Heena Velani, 24, a law student in Bhuj, Kutch is probably the youngest woman who took upon this task on herself along with a team of 15-20 women of cremating Covid dead. She says she joined her father, a RSS worker, in this noble cause.
“On one of the first days, I saw a young wife who brought her Covid victim husband’s body, all on her own, for cremation. I could feel her pain. I witnessed from close quarters the grief inflicted by the pandemic on families,” says Heena. She says she is glad her operations were shut on Saturday as the pandemic deaths have reduced significantly.
“We used to get an average of 20 bodies in the month of April which started reducing. Now we get only one or two bodies. God has shown some kindness,” says Taraben, adding she was left aghast by the fear Covid-19 had triggered in people who would fear even performing final rites of their loved ones.
“I would get requests from many people to perform all the rites by myself as they did not want to risk getting infected for their family’s sake. Some would even tell me to feed them holy water. Many would bring the body to the crematorium and leave, telling us to do the needful,” she adds.
Across Gujarat, Covid-19 pandemic saw women, who as a gender generally refrain from even entering crematoriums due to social taboos, take the forefront in giving a decent farewell to people who succumbed to the deadly viral infection. They took the lead and took reins of the rituals from their scared kin who were fearful of getting infected themselves.
“There were at least 10 bodies which were abandoned by kin. I gave them the final bath, dressed them up and performed all rituals as per tradition to give them a decent farewell from the world. But such acts of abandonment broke my heart over the disintegrating humanity,” says Hasinaben Ladla, who has performed final rites of more than 600 Covid victims in the second wave.
She took to cremating unidentified dead in 2005 when her husband was diagnosed with blood cancer and she felt she had to serve humanity as she believed it was the only way to pray to Allah for the well-being of her husband.
“I would feel shocked when relatives would remove ornaments from the dead body but be scared to touch for final rites. I saw human fear and greed, both up close,” says Hasina. She says she was especially disturbed when she saw two dead bodies of young women, who were only recently married. “If only the pandemic had spared them.. it was too early for them to go,” says Hasina.
Heena Velani, 24, a law student in Bhuj, Kutch is probably the youngest woman who took upon this task on herself along with a team of 15-20 women of cremating Covid dead. She says she joined her father, a RSS worker, in this noble cause.
“On one of the first days, I saw a young wife who brought her Covid victim husband’s body, all on her own, for cremation. I could feel her pain. I witnessed from close quarters the grief inflicted by the pandemic on families,” says Heena. She says she is glad her operations were shut on Saturday as the pandemic deaths have reduced significantly.