Muslim neighbours help Hindu man’s kin conduct his funeral

Lockdown brings out communal amity in the time of a tragedy

20/04/2020, SUNITHA SEKAR , UDHAV NAIG CHENNAI

The COVID-19 lockdown may have had a disproportionate effect on different sections of society, but every affected family has struggled with grief, more so when having to deal with the unexpected death of a loved one. There have been instances of communal amity, notwithstanding the hatred spread by some sections of social media users.

When 78-year-old Ramachandran died in Chennai a few days ago, many of his friends and relatives stayed put in their homes due to the lockdown. And when it was time to perform the last rites and the funeral, his family realised that they needed help. That’s when they approached their Muslim neighbours.

K. Santhanakrishnan, Ramachandran’s brother, spoke of how glad he was to see that people had volunteered to help. “In the times that we are living in, it shows that humanity and kindness are the only things that matter at the end of the day. We all will help each other, and caste, creed or religion should never come in the way,” he said.

Last rites

Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam’s Anna Nagar unit secretary Saddam Hussain said Ramachandran’s family had said that as per tradition, six people needed to be there to lift the body. “Mohammed, Zakir Hussain, Saddam Hussain, Mohammed Ali and Nizamuddin helped the bereaved and shouldered the body until the last rites were performed,” he added.

Mr. Ali said he had heard from his acquaintances that Ramachandran was a nice person, and was more than willing to help.

“Though we didn’t know each other personally, I heard he was a generous and kind gentleman. He was holding a respectable post in the government till he retired, and did some great work. We were glad that we were able to help in whatever small way we could,” he added.