NAGPUR: When people retire, they usually want to keep only the pleasant memories of their service period. However, there are some people whose memories would not be pleasant for any average individual. Nevertheless, 60-year-old Shamaiya Laxmaiya Dasi is proud of having carried mutilated or charred bodies for 39 years in his service as coolie in NMC 's fire and emergency services department hearse van.

"As I was not good in studies, I discontinued my schooling after the seventh standard. I started hanging out with friends. But my father Laxmaiya, who was a peon in NMC's tax department, scolded me for sitting idle. Since I hailed from a poor family, I applied for a job in NMC's fire department as a coolie. Initially, I used to help firefighters lift heavy equipment at the time of emergency calls. Later, I was shifted to the hearse van to lift either unclaimed bodies or people who had committed suicides," he says.

Shamaiya, who joined the fire service in 1973, specialized in removing dead bodies, ranging from highly decomposed to charred ones, from railway tracks, lakes and houses. Sharing his experiences with TOI, he narrated several instances when even cops had refused to lift the bodies but he did it nonchalantly.

Shamaiya clearly remembers bringing down a highly decomposed body hanging from a tree in a dense grove near Hingna. Another incident that he can clearly recall is lifting a mutilated body found on the railway track under the jurisdiction of Sonegaon police station. "The job that I did for such a long period has not got recognition from others," he says.

Despite serving for more than three decades with NMC, Shamaiya still resides in a rented house at Gittikhadan. "After getting retirement benefits, I will buy a house," he says with a big smile.

Though a couple of more coolies are working with the department, Shamaiya had gained popularity among firemen, as he was always at the front to lift bodies, said chief fire officer (CFO) Rajendra Uchake. "Be it a public holiday or weekly offs, he was always available to lift bodies. Besides, he has never gone on long leave, either earned or sick," Uchake added.

In early 2000, Shamaiya had been transferred to the octroi department, but the then chief fire officer Sunil Meshram refused to relieve him since he was very sincere at his job.

NMC gave a quiet send off to a quiet man, who did a vital job but without getting any recognition from society and very little from the administration, except maybe the love of his own department.