Professional Mourners

It is a very common and popular culture in Bengal to sing eulogies for the dead. Especially in the rural area, the relatives and neighbours of the deceased, irrespective of their past affairs with the deceased, or the other family members are seen crying breathlessly for the departed and chanting long, traditional eulogies seeking mercy for the departed soul. This culture of mourning is popular all over the Indian subcontinent and also in the Middle Eastern countries. However, this gesture of kindness showed by one's neighbours, relatives and well wishers has been taken to a new height by the modern day corporate houses.

In the age of social media, where one can have more than a thousand friends online and almost zero in practical life, these corporate houses have come to assure you that you will get a funeral full of “friends and neighbours” who will bid you farewell by chanting about your goodness towards them and the community. However, you have to buy these “friends and neighbours” with a good amount of cash. Yes, they are, indeed, professional mourners. A lot of these “Rent-a- Mourner” services are sprouting out in many developed countries where solemn, traditional funeral ceremonies attract very few people. The professional mourners are the people who attend the funeral ceremony and perform the last rites with proper respect and solemnity for the people who expect few people to mourn for them.