Sons Forget Filial Duties; Daughters Shoulder Mother’s Bier, Perform Last Rites In Puri

It was when their two brothers did not turn up to shoulder the bier of their mother’s body, the four daughters came forward, carried the bier and performed the last rites, once again proving why daughters are being regarded to be more caring than sons.
  
The incident was reported from Mangalaghat area in Puri town. An octogenarian of the locality, Jati Sahu, had two sons and four daughters. While her daughters are married off, her sons with their families are staying separately. 

At the age when one must have someone to look after him/her, Jati had been left to fend for herself as her sons never visited her to check in with her. 

The elderly woman finally breathed her last on Sunday. The neighbours informed her two sons but they did not respond. Then Jati’s four daughters were contacted who, without a second thought, informed the caller that they were arriving as soon as possible. 

Upon reaching, the four daughters with the help of some neighbours prepared a bier and shouldered the same to ‘Swargadwar’, four kilometres away from Mangalaghat, where her last rites were performed. 

“Our brothers had been neglecting our mother for the last ten years. They never allowed her to stay with them. During these years, they never, even for once, inquired her if she was well, and let alone taking care of her food. Prior to her death, she had once become ill and we had to shift her to hospital in an ambulance. Then too, our brothers had chosen to remain indifferent,” rued one of the four daughters.
    
The incident is yet another incident that lay bare how humanity is fast vanishing and filial duties are losing their intrinsic values in the so-called modern society of the 21st century.