Udupi: Spirit of Humanity that goes beyond religion, life & death

By Eugene Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

Udupi/Moodubelle, 7 Aug 2013: In this age of diluting human relations even among the family members, relatives and even the communities, this is the story of the spirit of humanity  that goes beyond  religion, life and death.  This  is the story of a Hindu widow being given shelter by a Christian family for the last 39 years and following her death, this family along with the help of certain Hindu neighbours saw to it that her  last rites were conducted according to her own religion and she was given a proper cremation.

 

 

Late Mrs. Radhu  belonging to a place known as Manded near Kaup became a destitute  nearly 39 years ago. A well-intentioned person brought her to Belle and requested the Lobo family who has a house in front of the Church Aided Higher Primary School to give her shelter in one of the rooms agreeing to pay  certain amount of  rent.  Mrs. Radhu used to pay the nominal rent to the Lobo family out of the money that was sent by her son till his untimely death nearly 27 years ago.

 

 

After the death of her son there was no one who would send any money to Mrs. Radhu and she continued to stay in the house of the Lobos. Realizing the difficulties that she was undergoing, the Lobos did not demand any rent from her as she managed to live on the meager old age pension that the state government used to dole out every month. Mrs. Radhu used to cook her own food, but the Lobo family would provide her whatever other things  required. In this way Mrs. Radhu became an integral part of the Lobo family. While other members of the Lobo family contributed monetarily in one way or the other to meet certain expenses of Mrs. Radhu, Denis Lobo and his sister Mrs. Leena D’Souza  looked after her when she was sick or was in any other need.

 

Mrs. Radhu, whose age was around 90 years,  suddenly fell ill in the month of June this year. The brother-sister team of Denis and Alice not only looked after her medical needs but also took good care  of her by providing her food and clothing.  With the deterioration of the health condition, Mrs. Radhu could not pull on with her life and on July 23, 2013 passed away in the presence of  Denis and Leena.

 

After obtaining the death certificate from the doctor, the Lobo family informed the Belle Grama Panchayat about the demise of Mrs. Radhu who was staying in their house and obtained permission to conduct the funeral rites according to her religious tradition. With the help of few neighbouring Hindus, the mortal remains of late Mrs. Radhu were taken to the crematorium at Bidina Gudde near Udupi and her last rites were conducted  according to her religion following which she was cremated.

 

The sixteenth day ‘Vaikunta’ rituals  for the soul of late Mrs. Radhu were conducted  at  Shri Mahalingeshwara  temple, Moodubelle on Wednesday, August 7, 2013 at noon.  Around 25 people attended the rituals and the meal. The expenses of these rituals were also borne by the Lobo family.

 

The above episode is one of the fine examples of how the spirit of humanity was manifested by a family not only when the person, that too belonging to a different religious community, sought shelter in their house many years ago, but also through her life and even beyond her death.