Post News Network
Berhampur, May 2: People opt for various professions to eke out a living but there are certain jobs which do not always come by choice, but by circumstances.
For Chandrasekhar Ghadei, son of Radhamohan Ghadei, it was the circumstances which made him opt for what he calls an ‘unusual job’.
Chandrasekhar has been dissecting human bodies for post-mortem for the last 13 years in the forensic medicine and toxicology (FMT) department of the MKCG Medical College and Hospital here.
“I never thought of entering an unusual profession like this but sudden death of my father compelled me to embrace the profession,” Chandrasekhar said.
Radhamohan was doing post-mortem in the hospital and his son had no option but to follow in his footsteps to take care of his family.
A Class VII pass out, Chandasekhar, has not been specially trained to carry out the job. He learnt it from his ‘guru’ Trinath Pundi and was scared of dissecting bodies during the initial days.
“I started dissecting bodies with the help of my guru when nine women had died in a road accident at Golanthara in Ganjam district in 2003,” Chandrasekhar recalled.
“I remained in trauma for first several months and was having nightmares about the experience,” the dissector said, adding, he couldn’t even take food and lost his sleep after entering the profession for several days.
Over the years, Chandrasekhar has gained expertise in the job and the hospital authorities pay him the salary of a Class IV employee (sweeper).
Chandasekhar feels ‘immense pain’ while dissecting the bodies of children. He also gets emotional when he sees tearful eyes of the kin of the deceased but has to forget everything to perform his job.
The 40-year-old does not regret picking up the profession rather he is happy about it. However, he is determined to not allow his children to take up the profession. “I want my son and two daughters to become good persons first. I am trying to provide proper education to them,” he said.
Despite not receiving any government training, Chandrasekhar has already dissected more than 7,000 bodies till now.
He remains alert from 10 am to 4 pm as he never knows when his service would be required. “Sometimes, I do not get time to take lunch when more bodies come at a time,” he said.
“With God’s grace, I have not encountered any untoward incident in my career,” he said.
