Darjeeling: A septuagenarian, who was declared dead by a fellow traveller in the Himalayan tragedy in Uttarakhand, returned home and was remarried to his ‘widow’ after being rechristened under the Hindu traditions.
This happened to Kalimpong resident Hariprasad Ghimire (71) as he remarried his wife of several decades after returning home from the devastated hill state, a report published on Wednesday said.
Hariprasad loves to roam around, especially at religious places. And this time it was Hardwar.
But he got struck in the flash floods in mid June. On June 28, his son Meghnad received a call from Hardwar and the caller identified himself as Gangadhar. He said Hariprasad had passed away in the floods.
Meghnad said the following day they decided to perform the rituals for the departed soul since ‘we were told by the caller from Hardwar that our father’s body was consigned to flames as per Hindu tradition some days back.’
‘We performed the last rites at home,” 40-year-old Meghnad, who ekes out a living by selling milk, said.
Meghnad shaved his head and immersed ‘my mother’s sindoor (vermillion) and potey (a neckpiece worn by married Nepali women). We were in the process of conducting a few more rituals when we got another call.” The second caller was GTA (Gorkha Territorial Administration) Sabha executive-member Kalpana Tamang. She told Meghnad that his father was alive and returning home. Ms Tamang had been informed of Hariprasad by Sonam Bhutia, executive director of tourism.
“I got a call from a friend who was a part of the rescue team from Bengal that was stationed in Uttarakhand. He told me there was an old Nepali man from the hills among the rescued persons. I asked my friend to allow me to speak to him. I spoke to him in Nepali,” Ms Tamang said.
Then arrangements were made to send Hariprasad to Kolkata and then to Kalimpong on July 2.
On reaching Kalimpong Hariprasad was not allowed to enter home as per a Hindu belief that once a person is considered dead and rituals have been performed accordingly, he has to be reborn, the report said. The following day there was a naming ceremony for Hariprasad. ‘Later his marriage was solemnised with my mother in the village temple,’ said Megnadh. (PTI)