The victims’ kin have no recourse but to pay up. With bodies brought in piles, caretakers have neither the time nor the patience to bargain
VARANASI/MEERUT: The crackle of burning pyres, like the hiss of a giant serpent, feeds the smoke that is bellowing from Varanasi s Harishchandra Ghat, an old cremation ground on Ganga s banks. The heat is intolerable, singeing almost, and Rajesh Singh, 35, who runs a small departmental store in Lahartara, is sweating profusely, waiting for his turn. His uncle has just died from Covid-19 and the funeral rites have to be done. The manager asks him for Rs 11,000. When Singh protests, saying it shouldn t be more than Rs 5,000, the man asks him to leave with the body he has brought.