Tears and rain during funeral

Tears flowed openly at the Waterloo Cremation Site yesterday, as hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their last respects to 31-year-old mother Carol Sampath Ramdeo and her eight-year-old son Chene, who were crushed to death by a truck near the Barataria Interchange last Saturday, when her husband stopped to buy peewah at the side of  the Churchill Roosevelt Highway. The simple white coffins with the bodies of mother and son were cremated together on one pyre, closely watched by Chabinath Ramdeo, Carol’s husband. He was hugged by relatives as the flames from the pyre quickly spread and enveloped the two coffins. Then the heavens opened up and the rains poured down on the pyre. In the background, the PA system played a love song from an East Indian movie, which Chabinath had dedicated to his wife.

Earlier on at the house of mourning at Galaxy Gardens in D’Abadie, hundreds of mourners attended the funeral service for mother and son. Carol was dressed in her wedding outfit and her coffin contained her accounting books. She was studying to become a chartered accountant and hoped to graduate by year’s end. In the other coffin was Chene’s body, his favourite toys and some of the things he loved adorned the top of the coffin. A grieving Chabinath stared at the two bodies as Pundit Krish of El Dorado carried out the Hindu rituals for the departed souls. The screams from relatives continued throughout the service, while the widower was being continuously comforted.

Chene was a Standard Two student of the Tunapuna Presbyterian School and his dream was to become a doctor. Several bhagans (religious Hindi songs) were played at the funeral service, but the music was often drowned out by roaring thunder claps. As the coffins were taken away, relatives threw rice on the back of the hearse and cried openly. Carol and Chene were killed when her husband stopped to buy peewah at the side of  the Churchill Roosevelt Highway. A Jusamco Ltd truck crashed into the car in which Carol and Chene were seated, before landing on the hood of the vehicle. Relatives have called on the police to carry out a full-scale probe into the deaths.