Custodian of the Dead

Patiala, Punjab, British India.

1916.

A corpse left to decay, if not to be devoured by stray dogs. A 16 year old boy, frightened at the sight and
enraged at the privilege neither he nor the dead woman were accustomed to. Her skin was colder than the
air around her. Her tired, bare feet finally motionless, almost relieved that blood was no longer pumping
through them. Judging by her sheer clothes and extruding ribs, her desperate pursuit of charity had
amounted to nothing. There was a thin gold ring on her finger. It must have truly meant something for her
to not have given it away for a few grains of bajra 1.

The boy was resentful. Towards the British, for their so called “gentlemanly” capitalism which had led to
the starvation of millions and towards every single passer-by, for being oblivious to the fact that there was
a desperate, hopeless corpse mere feet away from where they passed. “I’m sure the poor soul’s just
asleep.”, he would imagine them saying, dragging their children away from the wretched sight.

“Most people have children but children only have parents if they have something to pass onto them.”,
thought the boy and using the frustration and misery as fuel, he picked the woman up onto his shoulders
and started walking. Some stared while others paid no heed to this strange sight but not one person
offered to help. He did not stop till he reached the shamshaan ghat 2. There, the body was cremated as per
the requirements of the religion the boy assumed the woman followed.

The Pandit3, who carried out the cremation was a deferential, religious man. He asked the boy about the
woman. Who she was, how he was related to her, why had her corpse been carried over the shoulders of a
young boy, handling the great weight, both physical and mental, all by himself. For the first two
questions, an answer did not exist. For the third, the boy explained. He explained how he had found her.
He explained what, in spite of everyone else’s simple, very human reaction, made him do what he did.
What made him do something extraordinary, something that may just, change the deaths of many others
like the woman. It was not the boy who thought this, it was the Pandit. The boy thought he was doing a
duty, something that however abnormal may seem to everyone else, seemed very normal to him. An act
of compassion and courage, driven by sorrow and aggravation.

Word spread around town like wildfire, of this peculiar boy doing God’s work for him. Doing things no
one else dared to do. The police found out about him and soon enough, the boy was alerted about
helpless, abandoned corpses throughout town and was joined-in and assisted by others in transporting
these bodies to their final resting place. This gesture of help by others, to some extent, suppressed his
frustration towards everyone else’s indifference to his cause and he was able to carry it out with a
newfound sense of community participation and collaboration.

Many people were inspired into doing the right thing by this young boy, who they had seen walking
barefoot, no matter the weather, and ferrying lost souls to their last rites in a bullock cart, with no concern
towards his other worldly commitments.

He soon fell into trouble at his day-job at the Patiala State Electricity Board and as a result of a complaint
made for his lack of presence at his job, he was made to appear in the Royal Court of Maharaja 3
Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. Upon hearing his explanation for his truancy, the Maharaja, instead of
penalizing him, encouraged him to carry on with his work with the same commitment with which he had
so far and told him that he was welcome in his durbar 4 to raise issues for which he was passionate. He
also offered him a full government salary so he could carry out his social work without having to worry
about his family’s wellbeing. This was the effect his work had on other people. For the lavish Maharaja
Bhupinder Singh, who lived a life of extravagance and very typical royal worldliness to set his arrogance
aside for a commoner meant they must really be doing something right.

On his wedding day, as he waited to be called for the wedding ceremony, he was instead called by a
group of young boys who had stumbled upon a victim of a road accident. In their panic, they had no one
else to turn to but the man who at the moment, was very much preoccupied with a more important matter.
Nevertheless, leaving his family and soon to be wife in utter confusion as they all desperately searched
for the groom, he went to attend to the victim. When he returned, he brought the injured along and
attended to his injuries himself.

His selfless service for the people of Patiala and around, inspired many others to take this difficult and
lesser known path. For me, the story of Bir ji is a personal example of the life-changing influence he had
on many others. Amongst many others lives he touched, my great-grandfather Amar Singh Kamboj who
was living a privileged comfortable life was deeply impacted after meeting him. He changed course of his
life from managing his estate to dedicating his life to the needy, helping hundreds of refugees during the
Partition of India in 1947 by providing them food and shelter during an infinitely difficult time. Under his
mentorship, Amar Singh founded the Patiala School for the Deaf and Blind in 1950, a non-profit
institution which survives to this day.
This was the story of Dasondhi Ram, born on the 15 th of May, 1900, who was affectionately given the
nickname Bir Ji4 by the people of Patiala. Someone who inspired hundreds to do the right thing, no matter
how hard it may seem. He was no Churchill or Mandela but is someone whose endlessly positive effect
on the lives of others is still visible to this day, almost 50 years after his death. He is someone, who I
think is the perfect embodiment of the topic. Someone, who similar to Her Majesty The Queen, took on
an incredibly tedious role at a very young age. A man of focus and commitment who dedicated his entire
life to the service of others, expecting nothing in return. A guardian angel for all those who had no one
else standing by them.

-Udai Pratap Singh

1
An Indian millet
2
Cremation ground
3
King
4
Elder brother