Last rites for Delhi’s forgotten: the woman who cremates strangers

Pooja Sharma says a prayer as another one of the unnamed dead in India’s capital is cremated. She has performed the service for about 4,000 unclaimed bodies, mostly those of the countless migrants who come to the vast city in search of work and lose touch with their families. Photograph: Ruhani Kaur/The Guardian

On an overcast, blustery day, with cars honking in the distance, a young woman covers a dead body with a shroud. With a helper, they place it on a bamboo stretcher and carry it up the steps of Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan crematorium. Once at the furnace, she gives it a gentle push to move it inside and bows her head in prayer.

Pooja Sharma repeats the process for three other bodies. The people are unknown to her – unclaimed bodies for whom she performs the last rites.