BHOPAL: No barrier of religion, caste or colour can affect the eternal bond of friendship.
While Hindus across the globe pay tributes to their ancestors through rituals and special prayers during the ongoing fortnight of Pitrupaksha, a man in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh has been performing similar rituals to pay tributes to his long time friend Syed Wahid Ali, who died three years ago in a road accident.
"Syed Wahid Ali has been my best friend since childhood. He was an advocate who practised law in Gopalganj area of Sagar district. He died three years back in a road accident. Just like I perform tarpan of my ancestors in the Pitrupaksha fortnight, I performed tarpan for my late best friend, praying that his soul be in peace and we are born as friends again," said Pandit Ram Naresh Dubey, a resident of Chaturbhata village in Surkhi area of Sagar district.
Every day, the elderly Brahmin performs special prayers and rituals before the pictures of his ancestors and Ali.
Tarpan is performed facing south, remembering the ancestors by their names with offers of water, milk and black sesame seeds.
"My father died in November 2017. Three years later, his friend Ram Naresh Dubey, not only keeps visiting but has performed special prayers in my father's memory. This is one of the best examples of the secular fabric of our country and the Ganga Jamuni culture," said Syed's son Wajid Ali.
The priest who performed the Tarpan ritual for Dubey said, "I've never seen such a deep bond of friendship, which even death has failed to break."
Dubey's village is located in Surkhi area -- one of the 27 assembly segments of MP going to by-polls within a few weeks. It was from Surkhi assembly segment only that the BJP launched the Ram Shila Pujan Yatra, reportedly to reap the benefits of the Bhoomi Pujan of Ram Temple at Ayodhya.