Burying the dead

KOCHI: Baby is a cemetery keeper of Manjumatha church at Pallipuram, near Munambam on Vypeen island. She is not the first woman to do this job. “In fact, my mother is the first,” says the sixty-five-year-old. And this happened by accident. When Baby’s father died when she was a child, they began living with her uncle, who was the cemetery keeper at the church. But when he died suddenly the family had no means of income. That was when her mother was appointed as the cemetery keeper. “There weren’t any other option in front of us,” says Baby. “Many people found it impossible to digest. But my mother ignored them.”

After many years, when her mother had to give up the job due to her health problems, Baby followed her mother’s path. “Though I have faced many difficulties throughout my life, I am satisfied with my job,” she says.Till now, Baby has dug more than a thousand graves over a period of 45 years. Many people wondered how she managed to do this tough job. “Some even regarded me as a symbol of misfortune,” says Baby. This wrong attitude forced her to stay away from marriage ceremonies of even her close relatives. “People also used to stay away from me,” says Baby.

“Children were afraid of me as their mothers used to tell them ghost stories with me as one of the characters. But I don’t have any complaints. I am happy with what I have done and am not bothered about what others think about me.’’

Incidentally, during her earlier days, she received only Rs 7.50 for digging a grave. “But nowadays the remuneration is much better,” says Baby. However, grave-digging is not an easy task. “First of all, you have to remove all the existing remains, then the grave should be arranged just like a bed so that the dead one can enjoy his never-ending sleep peacefully,” she says.