Family bids green adieu to 90-year-old matriarch

Vadodara: Post-death rituals are incomplete without asthi visarjan (immersion of bones and ashes of the deceased). But a family in the city gave this sacrosanct ritual a go-by solely to give out 'save environment' message to the society.
Instead of immersing the ashes of his 90-year-old grandmother Babuben, Gotri-resident Nipul Patel and his family used the same as a fertilizer for the sapling they planted in her memory.But this was just one among the many aberrations of Hindu rituals. The family also gifted 90 plants to the friends and relatives who had come to pay their last respects to 'Babuba."
"My grandmother was very interested in gardening and spent most of her days outdoors. So, planting a tree in her honour was an apt way of paying our respects. But we wanted to go a step beyond than just planting one tree. She had always cared about the environment around her and would have been thrilled to know the world is slightly greener," said Patel.
Patel added that the family was initially reluctant to give away plants to the guests who had come for the 'teravah (13th day)' ceremony. "Generally, people give away holy books after this ritual. But, this time around the family's younger members insisted on giving away 90 plants to celebrate each year that she lived," he added. The family has pledged to visit as many houses as possible on every Sunday to ensure that all the plants grow to their full might. "We have also decided that from now on the gifts that we give on any occasion will include a plant or sapling," the family told TOI.