Coimbatore: In conservative Coimbatore, most families do not let women to step into the crematorium even now. But defying social curbs, a woman has been digging grave, burying and cremating the dead and guarding the crematorium at Chokkampudur for three decades now.
The 34-year-old R.Veeramani was shunned by relatives and taunted by neighbours for working in the crematorium. For years, she lived in seclusion. But she stoutly refused to give up the job of cremating the dead. But now, awards and recognition are trickling in. Last year R.V. Ramya Bharathi, Coimbatore SP honoured her on the Women’s Day.
“My relatives stopped talking to me when they found out I am doing this kind of work. I was living an isolated life but then when people in society started recognising my work and honoured me with awards, all of them slowly started coming to our home,” Veeramani recalls.
Dead bodies haunt Veeramani everyday. And death is at her doorstep daily. For, Veeramani was born in the crematorium and grew up to the sounds of wails of the relatives of the dead and the clanging of the death knell. For her father was a ‘vettiyan’ at Chokkampudur crematorium. Since the age of four, she has been helping her father to cremate the dead.
“I have been working in the Chokkampudur crematorium since my childhood. It’s been 30 years since I have provided care for dead bodies,” she says. So, neither death nor a dead body terrify or rattle her. But the drunken orgies of the living unnerve her. “When I was in my teens, I used to be scared of relatives of the dead who come drunk and create trouble at the crematorium,” she recalls.
Now, this mother of three children, has got a lot tougher. “I have told people clearly that if anyone comes here to consume alcohol, I will not do the funeral services at all. I have faced problems in the past, several times when people after the last rites consumed alcohol, created ruckus and refused to leave the place,” she reveals. She charges Rs 2, 500 for cremating a dead body. For unclaimed bodies, she does the funeral free of cost.
Her husband works as a construction worker, but she decided to remain independent and not to give up her job.“My parents taught me how to be independent and earn my livelihood. Two daughters are married and my son is studying in class IX now,” she says. But she does not want her children to take up her job. “I want them to study well and become educated,” she adds.
But offering a honourable farewell for the dead gives her great satisfaction.
“Performing the last rites for someone and helping someone do it is an immense feeling of satisfaction. I feel great that I am playing a role in sending off the souls peacefully.”
