Marilyn Thipthorpe
Who said Sakhubai was all alone? When the 60-year-old, who lived by herself in Malad East’s Squatters’ Colony, slipped into death’s cold embrace at a hospital on Thursday, she was surrounded by the people who adored her and respected her religious beliefs, regardless of their own. So, yesterday, in a touching display of communal harmony, nearly a dozen of her Muslim neighbours came forward to claim her body and performed her last rituals according to Hindu customs at the Oshiwara cemetery.
Refusing to let her body stay in a mortuary — as is the case with unclaimed bodies — the neighbours approached the police and asked that it be released to them for the last rites. Javed Shah, a businessman and Sakhu’s neighbour, said no one in the locality even batted an eyelid over making this decision.Mustafa Khan, another local and business training manager, said the neighbours had set a perfect example of communal harmony.Yusuf Bandukwala, a local businessman, said a number of Sakhu’s Muslim neighbours had turned up at the cemetery and her last journey to bid her goodbye.