BALANGIR: It takes just one act to set an example, to break taboos and change people’s mindset towards regressive social customs and practices. Taranisen Suna, the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Khaprakhol, did it on Tuesday when he carried an old man’s dead body on his shoulders and conducted the funeral himself.The old man, called Nath Baba, had died at Banjipali village under the block on Tuesday morning but no one came forward to carry his body for cremation. The reason being he was an outsider, socially as well as regionally, and had been staying in the village only for the last couple of years.
Nath Baba belonged to the Banjara community from Nanded in Maharashtra. He had come to the area along with his gypsy group two years back but was left behind as he was too old to move. As the gypsy group comprising his relatives went ahead, he settled in Banjipali and managed himself by using palmistry and fortune-telling. He had come to be known as Nath Baba for the very reason.
He had been keeping unwell lately and the villagers had arranged food for him for the last few days. On Tuesday morning, he was found dead. As he was an outsider and did not belong to the local community, the body was left untouched and the administration informed.
The BDO Taranisen reached the spot and tried to persuade the villagers to take the body for funeral but none agreed. He then lifted the dead body on his shoulders and with the help of three other social workers Prabin Purohit, Rana Pradhan and Chaturbhuja Kumbhar carried it for over two kms to the cremation ground. The funeral was conducted by him.
Meanwhile, on getting information, the relatives and community members, who were near Sohella in Bargarh district, reached Banjipali in the evening. They expressed their gratitude to the BDO for his humanitarian act.“There is nothing extraordinary about the thing. It was an opportunity to do a noble job and I am filled with self-satisfaction,” Suna said.