Rest in peace

Nasrin Sultana Delhi

Gravediggers lord over the last frontiers of the dead performing an indispensable task to the living, but remaining invisible. In the womb of possibilities and vacuum of promises lies their hope to be accepted by a society that keeps them out of sight and at the bottom of the pile.

Allahu, the chief gravedigger at the Batla House Kabaristan near the famed Jamia Millia Islamia central university, insists that he is not a “gor khodu” (gravedigger) but “pir fakir” (servant of Allah); fortunate to be selected for the last celestial journey between earth and heaven.

The sixty-year-old, squint-eyed Allahu was brought to Batla House Kabaristan from Moradabad, four decades ago. A community graveyard of the Ghosis since the Mughal times, this kabirstan (graveyard) gradually opened its arms to all the sections of the Muslim community, as there was no other resting place for the deceased in this vicinity. For Allahu, this new-found status as a gravedigger was not ascribed; neither is there much sense of achievement. Only a sense of the divine call.

“Everybody outside think we are their enemy. Nobody is willing to even talk us. Only at the time of deaths they come to us,” says Allahu.

However, he has his own world in the kabaristan, of which he is the master. The only conspicuous sign of austerity is his kaccha house. For the rest, he has conveniences such as a motorbike, car and cable TV. Two daily wage labourers do the job of digging graves. They are migrants from north India. Digging fresh graves and excavating bones from the old ones is just another day’s work for Mohammad Lukman, one of the employees, who says, “This is an everyday job for me. It doesn’t bother me. Everyone has to die.”

Allahu’s suzerainty does not extend to the world outside. He reported to have had trouble fixing the marriages of his two daughters and five sons. The social stigma attached to his profession reached the educational institutions that denied admission to his wards, according to Allahu. However, his grandchildren are in school.

A firm believer of Allah and one who performs namaz, Allahu is philosophical about life and death, “No one has seen death, nor will anyone see it. But anyone who does bad things will die a craven death.” Ask the gravedigger if he fears death and he will show you the grave which he has prepared for himself. Allahu has chosen to rest under the shadow of a tree.

By serving the bodies of the dead, gravediggers know the ultimate truth of life. An epitaph on one of the graves illuminates the final bliss.

Look at me oh passer-by Where you are so was I Where I am you shall be …