At sunset on June 25, Punit Patel stood outside the morgue of Jayaben Modi Hospital in Ankleshwar, Gujarat, suppressing his grief and makin...
At sunset on June 25, Punit Patel stood outside the morgue of Jayaben Modi Hospital in Ankleshwar, Gujarat, suppressing his grief and making desperate calls to his friends and relatives. His father, 60-year-old Chandrakant Patel, had succumbed to Covid-19 that afternoon, after four days of battling for life on a ventilator.
It was the first Covid-19 death in the Hindu community in Bharuch district, and according to custom, his body was meant to be cremated before sundown. But when Punit Patel contacted the crematorium in Ankleshwar, he was faced with an unexpected rejection. Local residents near the crematorium were afraid that the smoke from the pyre would spread the novel coronavirus, and refused to let Chandrakant Patel’s last rites take place there.
Punit then called the cremation ground in the neighbouring city of Bharuch, only to be rejected again, for the same reasons.
With the hospital keen to hand over the body and no good options in sight, Punit sought the help of relatives and friends who had connections with the local administration. At 9 pm, hours after his father’s death, Punit and three male relatives were provided with an ambulance, personal protective gear, and permissions to take the body to the family’s hometown of Jambusar,...
