Helped alive by a Undertaker

Hi folks, this is about a real life experience I had during my stint as a summer trainee at TERI in Delhi. For the background of it, during our MBA we are supposed to work with a corporate for summer project in order to complete our first year. I got placed in The Energy and Research Institute(TERI). The profile demanded me to do a feasibility study of Biomass Gasifiers TERI had designed especially in commercial applications. The damn thing was a chulha, which worked on biomass. It not only worked with ease of a LPG gas but was cheaper also. I had to suggest the company on all the 4P's i.e product, price, place and promotion. Somewhere during the project I realized that I should know the whole distribution of firewood, if it is there at all. The distribution of Biomass fuel or pellets as we called it would be quite similar to it. But I didn't had a clue of the firewood network(who does??) so I consulted my marketing professor Mr Pankaj Priya, bingo and he had a weird idea... Why don't you go a shamshaan Ghat(crematorium) and find out..???

So here I was, a fully formally dressed MBA grad, hanging a laptop, standing on the gates of Munirka Shamshaan Ghat.. When I barged in, there were two people burning(may god bless them), the workers were quite amused to see me. They were used to see people in groups usually carrying a dead on there shoulder. A jazzy young college grad, wearing a equally flashy(and cheap) shades, carrying a laptop was too much for a crematorium. I asked for the incharge, and the chandaal(undertaker) came out of his room. He was surprised, to say the least, and when I told him that I needed his help in my MBA project he was floored. I was immediately invited in, he had a small room with only one messy bed(not much lively visitors eh..) I looked for a place for both of us to sit since the bed was quite messy and guess what, he made me sit on a coffin, that was the only other thing available. Then he went on explaining on everything about firewood network. I must confess, I got more information than I asked for, the guy not only knew his job but also all things connected to it. How wood is obtained from wholesalers in west Delhi, how to bring it here to retail (crematoriums, retailers from slum etc), what is the source of wood, at what price wholesaler gets it, what are the margins etc etc.. That served my purpose, I thanked him. When I started going out he offered me tea, I could not refuse. So then we had hot tea in hot delhi at a hot crematorium. I am guessing I am the only one in my entire clan who had a tea inside a crematorium. Usually when we burn our dead, we come back and purify ourselves by bathing and doing some rituals, but here I was having tea with a friendly undertaker, forget rituals I didn't even bothered myself with a bath after coming out, I had to go elsewhere. Thinking of this now makes me philosophical, how easily we forget the existence and importance of some people. All I can say is that was a whole new perspective

Last words of the undertaker to me--- "Sahab fir miliyega zarurat ho to"(Sir, please come again if you need me)...I don't know if I would ever need him alive again, but his kind would definitely of use once I am all done.

Thanks for your patient reading.

Tinu..