Ashish Thakur
For 20 Years, Banker Performs Tens of Thousands of Funerals With His Savings
Ashish Thakur, a banker from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, has dedicated half of his life to burying and cremating the abandoned dead with dignity and respect through his NGO Moksha. He talks about how he maintains hope in such a grueling line of work and the lessons he has learnt.
Ashish notes that 20 years ago, hospitals were different from what they are today. “The situation has changed slightly, but back then, you’d often find people holding onto the bodies of their loved ones, wrapped in a white cloth, waiting to be buried. They had no money to even arrange transport to go to the burial grounds. Parents would be wandering with their dead children in their arms, unable to seek help,” he notes.
Overview
- “Main roz jeeta hoon aur roz marta hoon. Mujhe life se koi expectation nahi hai.” (I live and die everyday. I have no expectations from life.)
- Ashish Thakur, a 42-year-old banker from Jabalpur, has imbibed this line as a motto of sorts. For him, a high-flying job and fat paychecks have taken a backseat. The gruelling realities of life, to which he has been a witness for the last 20-odd years, have humbled him and shifted his perspective.
- MSince 1999, Ashish has been burying the abandoned dead, with dignity and respect. The Jabalpur resident did not think this would be the path he would choose for himself, but a harrowing scene he witnessed when he was on the threshold of adulthood changed him forever.
- Ashish notes that 20 years ago, hospitals were different from what they are today. “The situation has changed slightly, but back then, you’d often find people holding onto the bodies of their loved ones, wrapped in a white cloth, waiting to be buried. They had no money to even arrange transport to go to the burial grounds. Parents would be wandering with their dead children in their arms, unable to seek help,” he notes.
