Patna: Friends of a man who died in a road accident two years ago have come together to construct a house for his family. They have also contributed Rs 15,000 to the family in Jharkhand every month for their sustenance.
Birendra Kumar, 29, a resident of Godda district, was knocked down by a speeding car and died on the spot in December 2019. Kumar was a videographer, and the only earning member in his family. His death shattered the family, which included his widowed mother, wife and three-year-old son.
Reports said when his friends came to know about his death, 40 of them got together and decided to lend financial support to his family. They planned to do something concrete so that the family didn’t have to beg for money for food and shelter.
They pooled in Rs7000,000 and decided to build a house for the family that was living in a rented house. According to reports, they also donated construction material, such as bricks, sand, stone chips, and iron rods, and finally constructed a building on a vacant plot belonging to their late friend.
The construction was completed last week after which prayers were organised before their friend’s family entered the new home.
“I don’t know how to express my gratitude to them. I lost one son but have got 40 in turn,” remarked Kiran Devi, who lost her son. She said her son’s friends had been calling them regularly to find out about their problems and told them nothing to worry about.
A similar story was reported from the Palamu district of Jharkhand state in April this year when four Muslim friends helped cremate the mother of a Hindu youth after his relatives refused to join the funeral procession fearing they would be infected by the coronavirus.
Mohammed Saif Hussain, Jaffer Mohammed, Asif Rain and Mohammed Shamshad, residents of Muslim Nagar, rushed to the nearby crematorium after one of them spotted their friend Prince Gupta standing helplessly with his mother’s body in an ambulance as there was no-one to carry her body for cremation.
The Muslim friends not only carried the body to the crematorium but also assisted him with the rituals. They also donated enough money to their friend to perform the last rites.