Assisting the dead in their last journey

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: How ephemeral is life? Ask Muhammed Salim or A K Shamsudeen. “It is a momentary  transition between a breath in and a breath out,” said Shamsudeen, who had been  performing the last rituals of bodies that had undergone autopsy according to Islamic tradition at the Medical Guidance and Information Centre near the Medical College Hospital here.Employed as the staff of the centre, both Salim and Shamsudeen had to take care of the corpses that were rushed to the centre to perform bathing, an obligatory religious  practice, at the earliest. Till now, they had washed, enshrouded and wrapped the bodies of thousands in white linen, a compulsory duty of the living to the deceased.  According to Shamsudeen, purifying the bodies that had undergone autopsy is usually done at the centre. “Although each corpse is purified here, Medical College Hospital being in the vicinity, we are expected to take care of the bodies of people who have met with unnatural death”.  “After the autopsy is conducted, corpses are brought to the centre for cleaning,” he said.“The process starts with ablution. The body is placed on an aluminium table and is washed using pure water. The cleansing should be so meticulously done that even dirt beneath the nails and genital organs are cleansed. A slight pressure is exerted on the abdomen to expel the remaining waste from the bowels. Here an issue arises, as bodies, which had undergone autopsy, cannot be pressurised much. After the first wash,the body is again cleansed using water mixed with soap or camphor. Then water is run down the body twice,” Shamsudeen said. “According to Islamic tradition, even the minute stain should be removed. We wash the body carefully so that dirt does not remain. In some rare cases, we have to use cotton soaked in petrol to wipe off the dirt. But it should be so deft. We cannot hurt the body as it is against the religious practice,” he  said.“The real challenge arises when mutilated and charred bodies are brought for the bath. In some cases,the body parts would be severed. In case of drowned deaths, the bodies might have been recovered after a couple of days, then cleaning is almost impossible”.“If you touch the body, the parts would get detached. So we perform ‘tayammum’, where sand or pure dust is used for cleansing. In case of body parts already severed, we use adhesive tapes to keep them in place,” Salim said. A couple of months ago, a five-day-old body of a  youth, who drowned in Kollam was brought for performing bath. When the plastic cover in which the body was covered was removed, the body fluid in the cover gushed out, knocking out even people residing in a nearby flat at the instant. The bath of charred remains of those who died in the recent 108 ambulance fire was also held in the centre. The essential stuff, which includes plain clothing,soap, cotton,camphor and perfume are provided free of cost to the needy. The bodies are enshrouded in the centre and later shifted to the native places of the deceased in ambulance. After spending years serving the dead, both Salim and Shamsudeen have no shivers. For them, assisting the dead in their last journey is the best charity that one can provide.