The horror stories of Covid-19 are disturbing. From testing for infection to finding a bed, oxygen, ICU and medicines, everything has become a nightmare. And even cremating or burying the covid dead is a huge matter of concern. Long queues before crematoriums and newer lands allotted as burial grounds depict the sorry state of affairs. The two incidents from Karnataka that more or less highlight the current scenario of the covid dead and the plight of the families.
Sixty five-year-old Mahadevayya lived in Tagarapura village of Chamrajnagar district in Karnataka. A few days ago, he fell sick but was managing by himself. Suddenly one morning, villagers came to know that Mahadevayya is dead at his home. His nearest relative was his nephew Lakshmikanth who reached the village later. Until then, none of the villagers came near the house nor did they try to check the body. Even after Lakshmikanth arrived, he couldn’t do the final rites since the villagers didn’t extend any help. He contacted the police who sought help from NGOs. Volunteers from the Popular Front of India (PFI) stepped in.
By the time volunteers reached, it was already two days since Mahadevayya died. There were ants all over the body and decomposition had set in. The volunteers cleaned the body, packed and mounted it on a ladder. Since there was no ambulance or any vehicle in the village to transport the body, they had to arrange a bike.
Mahadevayya owns a piece of farm in a nearby village. Fearing the spread of infection, the villagers didn’t allow his body to pass by that way. Hence police arranged for a space in the government burial ground and he was buried there with all necessary precautions.
In another similar incident, a 73-year-old woman’s body was transported in an auto-rickshaw. Sharadamma, a resident of Malavalli in the Mandya district came to Bengaluru and stayed with her son occasionally. On one such visit a few days ago, she developed difficulty in breathing. Since she was already a diabetic and had issues with blood pressure, her son Shivakumar took her to a clinic in Halasuru, Bengaluru immediately. She was suggested to shift to an ICU and Shivakumar rushed to the nearby CMH hospital. Doctors in the hospital declared Sharadamma ‘brought dead’.
Shivakumar wanted to take his mother’s body to his native Malavalli and perform final rites there. But none of the ambulances or any vehicle agreed to ferry them to the village which is 105 km away from Bengaluru. After several hours of trying, an auto driver came forward and agreed to drive them. Police stopped them near Nayandalli junction in Bengaluru. After listening to all that Shivakumar had to go through, the police tried to arrange a vehicle to transport the dead body, but couldn’t find one. So, they let him carry on in the auto-rickshaw. Shivakumar reached his village with his mother’s body leaning over him all the while in an auto-rickshaw.
The virus is damaging the core structure of human life and these two are just examples of how the entire world has turned helpless.
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