Height of compassion: Villagers give a decent burial for mentally challenged man

Some year ago, a mentally-challenged man aged around 25 years was seen roaming around Mathur village near Pernambut in Vellore district. The locals did not know from where the man came or how he reached the village. He hardly spoke to anyone in the village, “As nobody knew his name, the villagers themselves christened him Venketesan,” said Kumaresan a local farmer.

From then on, Venkatesan stayed in the same village. However, two years ago, he suddenly went missing from the village. After a search, locals heard that Venketesan was wandering in Pallikonda and Vettuvanam villages, nearly 40 km away from Mathur. Following this, some locals, went there and brought him back to Mathur.

On his arrival, the villagers adopted the mentally-affected man as their own. “He was given a place to stay and food to eat on a regular basis. All villagers contributed for Venketesan’s needs,” Kumaresan added.

The routine to look after Venkatesan came to a pause, after things took a turn for the worse after Venketesan fell and suffered injuries some days ago. As his condition deteriorated, locals admitted him to a local nursing home, where he succumbed during the early hours on Sunday. Since the residents treated him as a member of the village, they collected Rs 20,000 in total from all the houses. They also pasted posters in Mathur and surrounding villages, informing his death along with a “tearful homage” message. “We performed the last rites after informing the Pernambut police station,” another farmer seeking anonymity said.

His body was buried in Mathur village on Sunday evening with many weeping over his demise. Mathur villagers also decided to conduct the “end of grieving” ceremony in a few days by organising a annadanam, as per local tradition done in the remembrance of the dead.