VADODARA: While sensitive Vadodara city stands witness to frequent communal skirmishes, the bond of brotherhood and amity surfaced during these troubled times when Muslim neighbours cremated an octogenarian living in Navayard with Hindu rituals on Wednesday.
Gangaprasad Tiwari, 80, who lived behind Chistiya mosque, died a natural death early on Wednesday. With only his bed-ridden wife to call as his family, the neighbours were perplexed as to how they would be able to give the man a dignified send off. But, the Muslim neighbours decided to shed differences and called upon their brethren to help them give Tiwari a respectable funeral.
“The couple has been living here since I was a child. So, I thought it my duty as a human being and also their neighbour to stand by them in such a difficult time,” said Wajid Khan Pathan, an electrician. Pathan said that he called his friends and relatives to help him with the rituals.
The couple didn’t have any children, said locals.
“Nobody from our community knows Hindu rituals and there is no other Hindu family living in our locality too. So, we called a tailor and a barber who have their shops here. We asked them to do the rituals while all of us came forward to lift his bier on our shoulders,” Pathan told TOI.
Mukesh, who runs a tailoring shop there, performed all the rituals and also lit Tiwari’s pyre.
A local leader and Pathan’s nephew, Zuber, along with his friends got the bier, flowers and other materials needed for the cremation. “We were around 15 people and in these terrible times, we did not think even for a second before extending our help,” said Zuber.
A sobbing Narangidevi, Tiwari’s widow said: “I am helpless, but now these people are my family.” She has been bed-ridden due to a fractured leg while the neighbours had been providing food to the aged couple.
Navayard has mixed population but dominated by people from the minority community.
Gangaprasad Tiwari, 80, who lived behind Chistiya mosque, died a natural death early on Wednesday. With only his bed-ridden wife to call as his family, the neighbours were perplexed as to how they would be able to give the man a dignified send off. But, the Muslim neighbours decided to shed differences and called upon their brethren to help them give Tiwari a respectable funeral.
“The couple has been living here since I was a child. So, I thought it my duty as a human being and also their neighbour to stand by them in such a difficult time,” said Wajid Khan Pathan, an electrician. Pathan said that he called his friends and relatives to help him with the rituals.
The couple didn’t have any children, said locals.
“Nobody from our community knows Hindu rituals and there is no other Hindu family living in our locality too. So, we called a tailor and a barber who have their shops here. We asked them to do the rituals while all of us came forward to lift his bier on our shoulders,” Pathan told TOI.
Mukesh, who runs a tailoring shop there, performed all the rituals and also lit Tiwari’s pyre.
A local leader and Pathan’s nephew, Zuber, along with his friends got the bier, flowers and other materials needed for the cremation. “We were around 15 people and in these terrible times, we did not think even for a second before extending our help,” said Zuber.
A sobbing Narangidevi, Tiwari’s widow said: “I am helpless, but now these people are my family.” She has been bed-ridden due to a fractured leg while the neighbours had been providing food to the aged couple.
Navayard has mixed population but dominated by people from the minority community.
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