Delhiwale: The last rites of a Jorbagh rat

Private Capital: He did not have a name, nevertheless, this rat in Delhi’s Jorbagh got a flowery funeral.

One afternoon we attended the funeral of a rat in Jor Bagh.

The rat, caught in a trap, was inadvertently released in the house lawn where the pet dog pounced on him. (Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)

“Our dog attacked him,” the woman who was performing the last rites said. She lives in a bungalow close to the Lodhi Gardens and requested that her identity not be revealed.

Placing the rat at the center of her fenced lawn, the woman said, “We use humane traps. My husband always releases the rats in the Lodhi Gardens (just across the road). But I’m lazy and I release them in our lawn. Today I did exactly that and my dog pounced on the poor creature. It was over in a second.”

As she placed a white flower on the rat, we asked, “What was his name?”

The woman shrugged. She placed a few more white flowers on the rat. Only a part of the tail was visible.

The woman then walked over to a flowering shrub, plucked a yellow flower and placed it respectfully on the rat. It was a beautiful moment.