At 90, he keeps the flame of love burning
For 31 years, Bihar villager treasures wife’s ashes, never letting her memory fade
A90-year-old villager from Bihar has given a new meaning to love - he has lived with his wife’s ashes for 31 years, refusing to remove it from a tree in the garden of his house.
Bholanath Alok has treasured the ashes of his wife Padma Rani with extra care in the garden of his house located in Sipahi Tola of Purnia district, some 350 km east of Patna. The ashes are kept in a metal urn and hung from the branch of a mango tree.
Every morning, he visits the garden to see the ashes hanging from the tree, which, he says, gives a sense of contentment and makes him feel she is still around. Now his lone wish is that the ashes of his wife should be immersed in the river along with his own ashes after his death.
One solace
“The pain of my wife leaving me alone after giving the commitment of staying together has left me restless. But whenever I feel agony, I just go to the garden and see her ashes hanging from the tree. This gives me comfort,” Alok says.
He says he is eagerly waiting for the day when both of them will get “reunited” once again after their ashes are mixed together and immersed in the Ganges. “I have asked my children to fulfil my last wish,” he said, adding: “Love is a feeling which is felt by heart, not by mind”.
The couple were married in 1947. However, his wife fell sick and died in September 1990.
A shattered Alok completed her last rites but refused to immerse her ashes in the river. Instead he preserved it in his house.
“She died, but her memories live on in my heart,” Alok says.