A Rotary project providing funeral management service

In a unique initiative, the Rotary Club of Kozhencherry, one of the oldest service clubs in RI District 3211, has expanded its 37-year-old ambulance service to a full-scale funeral management project titled Pranama, that was launched in Jan 2025.

Former club president and chairman of this project Abraham ­Varughese said the club decided to launch this project six months ago as “we were getting many queries and requests for providing such a service, particularly from those children who are living overseas with their parents living in Kerala.”

He explained that they got such an unusual request as they have been running an ambulance service in the town for 37 years, owning two modern AC ambulances, one hearse ambulance and three mobile and air-conditioned mortuary units, all supported by trained staff.

These ambulances are operated to transport patients for critical care to various hospitals and medical colleges, “and this service is gratefully acknowledged by the people whose lives we have saved. Our tariff is among the lowest in the industry and we often offer heavy discounts and free service to the needy and underprivileged people.”

Thanks to this history of the club’s community service, the Rotarians were getting many requests to provide total management of a funeral, right from the time of death, till the body is laid to rest. Such a service was particularly needed by nuclear families where the elderly parents lived in Kerala, with their children working overseas.

The club decided to launch such a service and is working with 14 different service providers ranging from small choirs, to florists to caterers. It has a good social media presence and is well-known in this region. The club has a centrally-located office at the Poyanil Plaza building Kozhencherry, which is manned by four staff members. From January till now, RC Kozhencherry has organised 37 funerals.

On what is involved in such a service, Varughese gives the example of the most recent funeral his team managed for Zakariah Mathew, a retired bank manager who passed away recently. He was working in Kuwait, but moved to Kerala a few years ago. “His only son works in Ireland and he called us to organise a complete funeral service for his father, and we organised it.”

The funeral services range from simple to elaborate and can cost from ₹1 to ₹3 lakh; most of the requests they receive are from Christians, though they have arranged funeral service for some Hindus too. They have not got any request yet from Muslims, and “anyway there are not many Muslims living in this area,” he says.

Christian funerals tend to be more elaborate; and once a request comes in, coordination begins with the project’s service partners, “and everything is managed professionally to ensure a dignified send-off and a befitting and memorable funeral experience. If somebody dies outside India, our ambulance transports the body from the airport to the home, and after prayers it is transported to the hospital mortuary. Once the date is fixed, we put up a shamiana or pandal at home, with a carpet covering the floor. The air-conditioned mobile mortuary is organised at home and the body is kept in it for people to pay their last respects.”

The club works with three different types of choirs, with 3, 4 and 6 members, and depending on the budget, one of these is organised at the home, along with a piano and other musical instruments. Next, the project committee contacts the caterers, and depending on the time of the day, breakfast, lunch or snacks are organised in a house nearby — that of a neighbour’s or a friend’s home. The body is then transferred to the church where the service takes place. Flower arrangements are organised both at the home and the church. The body is then transferred to a coffin.

After the burial, snacks are once again organised. “In all, we provide 14 services, and these include security arrangements with the personnel carrying walkie talkies to regulate traffic movement. The total cost of the most recent service was ₹2.34 lakh. We take only five per cent as service charge to pay our staff,” says Varughese, who has been chairman of the ambulance committee for six years.

For Hindus, the body is picked up from the mortuary and is taken home in the ambulance, “and if they request, we also provide the air-conditioned mobile mortuary which comes fitted with a pre-recorded Bhagwad Gita.” The service ends with the body’s transportation to the cremation ground. Unlike among Christians, Hindu funerals are not accompanied by snacks or meals. “We are happy that our reliable management of the funeral service, which comes from our expertise in running an ambulance service for 37 years, comes as a great comfort and support for the bereaved family at a very difficult time,” he adds.