Kerala: Sixty-four-year-old Narayanetta spent his last days alone at a government hospital. After his death, his family neither claimed his body and refused to perform his last rites. Instead, a 34-year-old Muslim woman from his hometown, Kasargod, stepped forward and cremated with full Hindu rites.
Irfana Iqbal works in the Kasaragod district panchayat and is a member of the Sheikh Zayed Foundation
On Friday, when Muslims everywhere observed Muharram, Irfana bid Narayanetta adieu at the public crematorium in Kasaragod’s Chirugali, who succumbed to oral cancer on June 23 at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode.
The elderly man was found in a deplorable condition, surviving on the streets of Kasargod, by the old age home.
He was married twice and reportedly had a large family. Yet, his final days were spent in isolation and abandonment.
Irfana sought the District Collector and the District Medical Officer’s permission to admit Narayanetta to the old age home. However, his health deteriorated, and he was admitted to the government hospital.
“Our plan was to take him back when his health improves,” she said.
But that did not happen.
When he died, Irfana and the old age home hoped his family would take the body. “We waited more than two days. No one came. We decided to give him a dignified farewell,” she said.
“I spoke to his close relatives and got their written consent to perform the last rites as per Hindu traditions,’’ Irfana said.
On Muharram, Irfana lit Narayanetta’s pyre at the public crematorium. “Although Muharram was observed on Friday with all its sacredness, I decided to light the pyre. When I brought him from the street last month, I had promised the local people that Narayanetta would be lodged at my old age home. I could not abandon him in death,” she said.
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