MITHALAL SINDHI, from the Indian city of Ahmedabad, is not a rich man, by any means. He has been living on the streets for the last six decades, earning a modest living by selling Bajra (pearl millet) from his pedal rickshaw. Most of what he makes, Mithalal spends on performing the last rites for unclaimed dead bodies that no one else takes responsibility for.

During the partition of the British Indian Empire, 15-year-old Mithalal moved from Pakistan to Bombay, with his family. He did a number of odd jobs to make ends meet and survive in the big city, but in 1957, he moved to Ahmedabad where he started a small fruit selling business using what little savings he had. It was during this time that he met Nyaldas Sindhi, a vegetable vendor, with whom he became very close friends. They would eat lunch together and even sleep next to each other on the footpath, at night. Their friendship came to an abrupt ending in just two years, after Mithalal tried waking his friend one morning, but he didn’t respond.

Devastated by Nyaldas’ death, the young fruit vendor realized his friend had no close families or relatives to take care of the last rites. Mithalal asked the Mukhya (Leader of Vegetable Market) for help, but he refused, telling him it was not his concern. No one was willing to take responsibility for his friend, so he stepped up and had his body cremated near Callico Mill.

It was this experience that made him realize that there were so many people dying every day in Ahmedabad that had no one to perform their last rites. He decided he was going to be the person to do it.

Regardless of their religion, whenever someone dies and no one claims responsibility, Mithalal is always there to lay them to rest.

“It could be of a Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Christian. But for me there is only one religion and that is humanity. I don’t believe in any other religion,” the kindhearted man told Humans of Ahmedabad. “Whenever a dead body is recovered, the first thing I do is always look for a sign or symbol that indicates dead person’s religion. After I get to know about their religion, I perform the rites accordingly. If the dead person is Hindu, I take him to VS Crematorium, if it’s a Muslim, I take him to Jamalpur and if it’s Christian then I bury them at graveyard. I pull out my pedal rickshaw and take them to crematorium.”(SD-Agencies)