‘I don’t understand why people hate me’: the Indian rejected for cremating the bodies of Covid-19 victims

Ramananda Sarkar never wanted to burn bodies for a living, but he was heavily in debt and desperate for money.

The 43-year-old had fled his remote village in the northeastern Indian state of Assam after failing to repay a loan he had taken to start selling sugarcane juice from a wooden cart. But even in the state capital, Sarkar had trouble finding enough work.

Then, two years ago, Sarkar walked into a cremation ground in Gauhati and took the job of lighting the funeral pyres.

While Hindus believe that cremation rights are sacred and liberate the dead person’s soul from the cycle of rebirth, those who actually deal with corpses are despised. It’s a stigma that has only gotten worse with the coronavirus, which has killed more than 100,000 people in India out of 6.4 million reported infections.

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Sarkar thought he had come to terms with his reputation, and finally told his wife what his job was after hiding it for some time. But then, in early May, he participated in what he thought was a routine cremation, unaware that the woman had died of Covid-19.

When people learned that the woman was a victim of the coronavirus, Sarkar’s acquaintances began to reject him. The humiliation returned again.

State authorities quarantined him for a few days, but released him because no one was available to do his job at the cremation ground.

“I don’t understand why people hate me. Just because I burn the corpses? Sarkar asked. If I don’t do this, who will? “

Sarkar volunteered and now works in a special cremation camp that local authorities designated only for victims of the pandemic.

Wearing a mask on his face and a prayer on his lips, he cremates the bodies brought in by a handful of relatives in protective suits, rushed affairs carried out with minimal rituals under state government guidelines.

The state of Assam has reported more than 181,600 confirmed cases of the virus since the pandemic began and 711 deaths. Sarkar said that he alone has cremated more than 450 Covid-19 victims.

Despite his vital community service, the impact on Sarkar’s own life continues to worsen.

When his landlord found out about Sarkar’s job, he told him that he would have to move. Fortunately, a district official got him a hotel room.

Sarkar was also prevented from returning to his village to visit his family, first by the village chief and then, after the local authorities intervened on his behalf, by the villagers themselves.

After a month and a half of not seeing his wife and three children, Sarkar snuck into their village in the middle of a recent rainy night.

He called his family from the road in front of his house and was able to spend 15 minutes with them and leave them some money.

“I don’t want my children to become crematories like me,” Sarkar said. “I want them to go to school and become good human beings and earn the respect of society, not like me, who has to meet his family in the dark.” . “

On his way back to the city, Sarkar decided to stop at a nearby temple to rest, but was soon told by temple officials to leave.

Sarkar returned to the cremation grounds and said that despite the personal cost, which includes the risk of infection, he will continue to light the funeral pyres for those who have lost their lives to the virus and honor them to the best of his ability. .

“I can die from Covid-19, but I don’t care,” he said. “I will do my job sincerely to the end.”