Amid the fury of relentless rain in several parts of Telangana that has disrupted life’s rhythm, a poignant act by residents of the quaint village of Vedareni in Cheriyal mandal here has gone viral.
On Tuesday, a sombre event unfolded following the death of a 75-year-old resident, Basavaraj Balaiah. Villagers crossed an overflowing stream that stood between them and the sacred ground for performing the last rites — the agriculture field of the deceased, located a few hundred metres away.
Even though there were other ways of performing last rites, Balaiah’s relatives stood firm in their decision to stick to tradition, even at the cost of their own lives. Performing last rites in one’s own field is an age-old practice in some villages.
It was raining heavily and in no time, the local rivulet abutting Vedareni received flash floods. The locals waited for some time for the flow to reduce, but there was no let-up in rains. Eventually, the septuagenarian’s relatives and villagers carried the body on their shoulders while wading through waist-deep water, a risk that they knew they had to take. They reached the other side of the banks and performed the last rites in Balaiah’s agriculture field.
Village resident E. Durgaiah informed that ₹1.96 crore has been sanctioned for upgrading the low-level causeway but the contractor had not taken up the works yet.
