Some more PJs

I came back from my aerobics class, tired. I saw my dad reading the newspaper. I had submitted some entry for an article in DNA. I wanted to see whether it was published. There was no chance of me getting the paper when my dad was reading it. I tried my luck.

"Daddy, DNA kodthya?"

"Yaavaaglo kottiddeeni. Even before you were born." He said it smiling at me. 

"Beligge beligge irritate maadthya? Hmmm.. You only read it." I started reading Bangalore Mirror.

After a few minutes, my dad spoke.

"Mirror kodu."

Finally, my turn.

"Sorry dad, I am not so strong."

"What?"

"Room nalli fix aagbittide. I can't pull it out."

My dad started laughing at this.

Our roads got some new boards with crosses, mains and street names. They gave some names of rivers. The previous road is named Tunga and ours Bhadra, with reference to the famous south Indian twin rivers Tunga-Bhadra. I had noticed it in the morning. I didn't think of it much. That evening when my dad returned, he was happy. He said

"I feel safer now.."

"You feel safer cos they put some crosses and mains??"

"No. Didn't you see the name? It says Bhadra Road."

"So?"

"Have you forgotten Kannada? Bhadra means Secure. This is a secure road." 

"Heights dad!!!!"

Angel in Disguise

A person ate 7 Ferrero Rocher chocolates in 1 minute and won himself a Guinness World record. Another person carved a pumpkin in 24.03 seconds and he gets another record. A person buries 77,882 unwanted and abandoned corpses and goes unrecognized..!! The person is Mahadeva who has been doing this work from the past 20-25 years. He was doing this in the premises of Victoria Hospital in Bangalore. He was given several awards from the state government but a work like this one deserves more than that. He retired a few years ago. But this does not end his work. His son is following his steps. His son, Praveen Kumar, aged 21, has already given a decent burial to more than a 13,000 unclaimed corpses. It is no big deal if a politician's son gets a political seat or an actor's son in spite of being untalented gets a lot of offers in acting but following his father in a work like this is highly surprising. Praveen Kumar has been supporting his own education from the past couple of years. He is currently pursuing his Master's degree in social work.

Praveen has been helping his father since he was 9 years old. His father, too had started this work around the same age. At his present age of 21, when other people prefer hanging around the posh localities of Bangalore, this boy goes to Victoria Hospital in search of these corpses. His daily routine includes attending college in the morning, and as soon as he returns to his home in Rajarajeshwarinagar, he takes an auto to Victoria Hospital and also NIMHANS. From there, he collects the unclaimed corpses, which may vary from 1-4 per day. A day without unwanted corpses is very rare! He takes these corpses to the burial grounds of Wilson Garden and gives them a decent burial. The police entrust him with this work and pays him Rs.350 per body. But by the end of the day, after paying the bills of mortuary and the burial grounds, he is left with Rs.25, which is very less for his work and for supporting his family. In spite of all this, he never claimed publicity. He was not doing this work for money. He said he did it for his satisfaction. Being the eldest son of four children, he makes his family proud.

I read about him in an article in the December issue of a Kannada magazine. I was not sure that many would have read it. So, thought of writing about him in the net. A news photographer K. Venkatesh who saw his work, had a display of around 50 photographs of his routine in Chitrakala Parishat in November. The people in the following picture are the true "Angels in Disguise"..