Click to play videoBangalore: Bangalore is fast running out of space and its cemeteries are facing an acute shortage forcing the churches to change their burial rituals.
St Patrick's Church in the IT city is trying to beat a major space crunch by asking its parishioners to cremate their dead and bury the ashes in vaults instead of graves
In cities place is not available for a cemetery. We have to go to far away to the villages," says Archbishop of Bangalore Rev Bernard Moras.
The church is even encouraging parishioners to exhume the remains of long-buried relatives and keep them in vaults to create more space for other burials. Since it's a sensitive issue, the priests say it's optional.
"Normally if there is any change, people resent to it. We should educate and enlighten them on the purpose of the vaults and why it's being done," says Parish Priest, St Patrick's Church's, Father Jayanathan S.
The idea already has some takers.
"When they cremate it is very hygienic. It's good for all the people," says a parishioner.
"Day by day space is reducing and burial takes place. Space does not allow us to have more and more burials," adds another.
There are many stories of Bangalore being so crowded that there's hardly any space for any more people to live here.
But there's hardly any space for the dead either. And the vaults may not be acceptable immediately, but over time, they may become the inevitable choice.
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