Lucknow: He had never met former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee but he was so impressed by the latter’s speeches and behavior that he began looking up to him as a father figure.
When Mr Vajpayee breathed his last on Thursday, Manish Upadhyaya, who works in a sari shop in Chowk area in Varanasi, decided to follow all rituals that are held by a son after his father’s demise. He got his head shaved off at the Manikarnika Ghat and, thereafter, performed the ‘pind-daan’, a post death ritual.
“I will also perform ‘tehraveen’ for Atal ji on the thirteenth day”, he said. His employer Sunil Kumar said that Manish was inconsolable when the news of Mr Vajpayee’s demise came.
“Seeing his feelings, we all accompanied him to Manikarnika Ghat where he got his head shaved and performed the ‘pind daan’. Manish looked upon Atal ji as his father and we can understand his sentiments”, he said.
In Hindu mythology, it is believed that if somebody’s last rites are performed at the Manikarnika Ghat, then that person attains to salvation.
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