Nikhat Fatima Siyasat.net
Hyderabad: In this time of pandemic, many stories of brutality and of humanity have surfaced. While there have been many stories that are heart rending and painful, there are some stories that are heart-warming and inspiring.
This incident happened in Hyderabad when people were facing extreme hardships due to the lockdown caused by the pandemic.
Ranjita, was in Hyderabad for the holidays at her mother’s house and was forced to stay long due to the sudden lockdown. She used to give food to a homeless person living on the road side during the lockdown. And one day she noticed he was very sick and not able to eat or drink anything. And after 2-3 days he was dehydrated and seriously ill.
Ranjita first dialed the emergency services which is usually the police who managed to contact the family. The family spoke to Ranjita and told her to stay away from the man as he has HIV/AIDS and a criminal background and stay safe. But Ranjita would not give up; she wanted to help a needy person.
She then got the contact number of Shiba Minai, an activist in Hyderabad who has been at the forefront in helping people during the pandemic, called her up and informed her about the situation. Shiba then dialed for the ambulance. The paramedic in the ambulance gave some glucose water to the man and said that he has to be hospitalized immediately.
However they wanted an attendant to come with the homeless man or else they wouldn’t hospitalize him.
Shiba began looking for a volunteer who would stay for at least 12 hours while she would stay the next 12 hours. She thought after he recovers she can move him to an old age home. She called up a few people but was not successful.
But within a few hours Ranjita once again called Shiba, weepingly informed her about the death of the man. Now she requested her to arrange for the funeral. Ranjita said that he is a Muslim man and that a place for burial and shroud has to be arranged.
Now Shiba began mobilizing money for the funeral and managed a decent amount of Rs.10,000/-. But the body was taken to the Osmania hospital and would be handed over after the postmortem
.
While she was waiting from more than 4 hours for the body to be handed over for the last rites, Ranjita called her up again and informed that the family of the homeless man turned up. And they were not Muslims! Now the last rites had to be done as per Hindu customs.
The family was very poor and could not afford to make the arrangements. They requested Shiba to help. Shiba, not being aware of the Hindu customs was now trying to find out what was needed for the cremation.
She found out about a cremation ground in old city but was finding difficulty in buying the materials like pots, diyas, camphor, garlands etc as she did not know much. Then with help from one of the family members of the man, she arranged the items. She accompanied the family till the shamshanghat where the last rites were performed according to the Hindu ceremonies.
The family thanked Shiba and Ranjita for all their efforts to help their father.
Shiba says it is not clear what is the real story behind this person who was abandoned by his family. But when Ranjita called her with the hope that Shiba might be of help, Shiba did not want to disappoint her. “Here was Ranjita who was serving food to this gentleman from the last 2 months without caring whether he was a Muslim or a Hindu. Her concern for a homeless helpless man was genuine and it touched my heart. And here I was, assuming him to be a Muslim and he turned out to be a Hindu. For us, what mattered was that he was a human being who needed help, no matter what his religion or background. And we did whatever we could.”
“The real twist was when after making arrangements for ghuzl, digging up the grave, I came to know that the dead person is a Hindu,” said Shiba Minai.
Ranjita was all praises for Shiba who came heeding to her call about an unknown homeless stranger.
“These small incidents may seem unimportant but they are what define humanity. Proving that humanity is the primary religion of every person on Earth” concluded Shiba.
(www.siyasat.net is Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India based website)
