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A yeoman service gets shabby treatment

K. Kannan

NEW DELHI MAY 25. ``I am in love with dead bodies. I can't do anything else but cremate them.'' That is 81-year-old Mohammad Habib, also known as "Laawaris Baba'', who has been cremating unclaimed dead bodies for several decades now -- burning or burying them according to their religion -- and who has been now forced to maintain a parking lot outside Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain Hospital.

Of course, whenever someone dies in the Delhi Gate or Walled City area, he is immediately called for. Or if an unclaimed body at LNJP Hospital needs to be cremated after post-mortem, it is the "Lawaris Baba'' who is summoned. "I have been giving unclaimed dead bodies a decent cremation for decades now. How can they suddenly tell me to maintain this parking lot. What will happen if some vehicle gets stolen'' he rues.

Not only this, Habib claims that he is often harassed by the police and not given enough money for cremating the unclaimed dead bodies. "There was a time when the police used to give me a handsome sum for undertaking this job,'' he says, proudly displaying the I-card which the Indraprastha Estate police has given him and in which his job has been duly recognised.

``A few days ago, police officials were here and they demolished my tea stall outside the TB centre of LNJP hospital. The cycle cart in which I transport dead bodies has also been shifted to the other side of the road. They say I should eke out my living by maintaining this parking lot,'' rues the Laawaris Baba.

It was in Muzaffarnagar railway station that his tryst with dead bodies began. "I had run away from my Bareilly home and was seated in a corner of the platform when I saw someone picking up the dead body of a man who had been run over by a train. When he saw me looking at him, he came up to me and asked whether I was interested in working with him. He promised me to share half of the money he received everytime he disposed of a dead body.''

And it was while removing the dead body from a railway track that Habib met Ameena, a blind woman whom he married later. "She was on the track and here I was moving in to remove a dead body. When I saw a train approaching, I first saved her and then went about doing my job,'' he recalls.

Even in those days, Habib says he used to receive a decent sum from the police and the municipal authorities for doing the job "so neatly''. "And when a Station House officer from a police station in Delhi learnt about my job while in Muzaffarnagar, he asked me whether I would like to accompany him to Delhi. I said yes and that is how I landed in the Capital.''

Those were the days when police officials respected him for the job he did. "Besides giving me a handsome sum, the police officials helped me get a house near the Rajghat power station. I also received a cash prize of Rs. 25,000 sometimes in the seventies,'' says Habib.

Having lost count of the number of bodies he has cremated in his life, the "Laawaris Baba'' is a very sore man today. He feels that his credentials are being overlooked by the police. And while Habib is not the only one in the Capital cremating dead bodies today, he certainly considers himself the pioneer. "A lot of them have learnt the job from me. And believe me, it is as difficult a job as any other. The dignity of a person has to be maintained when his last rites are being performed,'' he says, giving an example: "I check if the man has been circumcised and accordingly I take him to a burial ground or to the electric crematorium.''

Fifteen years ago, Habib adopted a Hindu boy who now assists his foster-father. And though the police have not been sensitive to the dignity of his vocation, they continue to meet the funeral expenses of the unclaimed dead bodies. "However, what they should understand is that I can't do anything but cremate dead bodies. It is in my blood and in my breath.''

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