06/08/2026
Shivcharan Gupta, 74, a cloth merchant living in an old age home in Sonipat, died yesterday. He had three daughters; sadly and surprisingly, not one of them turned up for his funeral.
He and his late wife had raised and educated their three daughters, ensuring they were all self-reliant and well-settled, two as schoolteachers, residing across Nepal, UP, and Mumbai. After his wife passed away, Shivcharan lived alone at the old age home, keeping a mobile phone solely to stay in touch with his children.
The manager of the old age home told the media that they had informed his three daughters 20 days ago about his deteriorating health, yet none made the trip to visit him. As his illness worsened, the daughters stopped taking his calls altogether. When Shivcharan finally died, the management immediately contacted them again and offered to hold off on the final rites until they could arrive, but none of the sisters agreed to travel.
Instead of showing up to bid their father farewell, the eldest daughter transferred ₹5,100 online to cover the ritual expenses and requested that the funeral be streamed over a video call. Though they initially asked the staff to preserve his ashes, they quickly backtracked, stating they "did not have time" to pick them up and requested that the old age home handle the immersion in the Ganges as well.
This is so tragic. If a life spent raising children ends in total solitude, one cannot help but ask what the long journey was truly for.
