थे फुनेरल

THE FUNERAL

Driving home from Panjim I came through the village of Goa Velha and had to slow right down because of a funeral procession in front of me.

The 'hearse' was a blue van with bench seats up each side at the back for the mourners to sit on, while the deceased lay on the floor between the feet of the mourners.

Looking closely I realised that the double back doors of the hearse were ajar as it drove up the road and out of the back stuck the feet of the deceased. It seems he was so tall that they couldn't shut the back doors.

On closer inspection, because they couldn't shut the doors, they tied a rope from one door to the other. They also took the rope around the ankles of the deceased lest he slid out of the back.