Indus Valley Times

By Shrikanta Panda

Cuttack, Dec. 2: When an elderly woman passed away quietly in a small village of Odisha’s Cuttack district earlier this week, no family member or neighbour came forward to claim her body or perform her final rites — leaving behind a silence that spoke of a life spent in absence and neglect.

The woman, identified as Rangalata Sarangi, was a resident of Lendura Bhagwanpur village under Kalamishri panchayat in the Cuttack Sadar Assembly constituency. With no relatives or local support to take responsibility for her funeral, her body remained unattended, underscoring the loneliness she endured even in death.

The situation changed when two journalists — Chittaranjan Behera and Bhairav Chandra Sethi from the Kishannagar area — learned of her plight. Without hesitation, they gathered a few friends and rushed to the village. Setting aside professional roles, they stepped into a far more human one — assuming full responsibility for the woman’s final journey.

The journalists personally carried Rangalata’s body to the crematorium on the banks of the Chitrapola River and performed her last rites in accordance with customary rituals, ensuring she received the dignity she had otherwise been denied.

Their quiet act of compassion has drawn appreciation from the journalist fraternity and social groups across the state, many calling it a rare example of humanity rising above professional boundaries.

Commending the gesture, Prasanna Mohanty, former member of the Press Council of India and president of the Odisha Union of Journalists, said, “The noble work by Chittaranjan Behera and Bhairav Chandra Sethi will inspire youth to serve society in the right spirit. Their act of humanity is truly exemplary.”

—

Photograph:

Noble Act: Journalists Chittaranjan Behera and Bhairav Chandra Sethi (front) carry the body of a destitute woman to a crematorium in Odisha’s Cuttack district.