A morgue watchman146;s long wait

This was the last unclaimed body on the list outside the mortuary of King Edward Memorial hospital in Parel.

Sex: Male
Age: 35 years
Name: Unknown

This was the last unclaimed body on the list outside the mortuary of King Edward Memorial KEM hospital in Parel. And if moments were hours, no one would probably know the pain of waiting better than Deepak Boricha, the exhausted post-mortem attendant at KEM doing four eight-hour shifts in the last two days.

Since Tuesday, there has been a teeming rush of visitors8212;8216;8216;close to 2008217;8217;8212;all impatiently jostling to count their dead, but secretly hoping that they don8217;t find them in the cold, dark room smelling of blood. By Wednesday evening, 20 bodies were counted and handed over to grieving relatives, and in many cases, to worried colleagues who spent difficult hours till the families collected the dead.

But not this one.

Till Thursday evening, the body had many visitors but no one laid claim to it. 8216;8216;No one seems to know who he is,8217;8217; Boricha said. 8216;8216;Maybe, the man was a migrant in ever-expanding Mumbai. Maybe, he was an unlucky orphan. What do you think?8217;8217; he threw the question at police constable D Patil. 8216;8216;Will he be claimed?8217;8217;

At noon, a woman from Vasai came frantically looking for her husband, but once inside the morgue, she looked relieved. 8216;8216;He8217;s not here. I8217;ve checked every hospital,8217;8217; she smiled. 8216;8216;I8217;m sure he8217;s stayed over at a friend8217;s place. He often does so when he8217;s angry.8217;8217;

In the 14 years he has spent at the hospital, Boricha has learnt to come to terms with his job. During the 1993 Mumbai blasts, he was always on the edge of despair, dealing with corpses that were so mutilated that they couldn8217;t be identified. 8216;8216;At least, people can make out who8217;s who this time,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;In 8216;93, mothers couldn8217;t recognise children, men couldn8217;t trace wives.8217;8217;

But guarding a corpse outside a nearly-empty morgue since Wednesday night has been his longest wait. Six hours since the lady from Vasai left, there was another visitor, an old man from Allahabad looking for his missing son.

Story continues below this ad

Manuel D8217;souza was identified. It was 6 pm, Thursday. Finally, Boricha could go home.