The Last Journey of Maria Schmidt

A German woman who lived and died alone in Kerala, with no one to claim her body, was finally granted her last wish

KOCHI ~ Unlike the life she lived, Elfriede Maria Schmidt received a ceremonious exit. The last wish of the German lady (The Curious Case of Elfriede Maria Schmidt, 1 August), whose body had remained unclaimed in an Ernakulum hospital for over a month, was fulfilled. She was cremated and the ashes scattered in the Arabian Sea.

Sabu Sreedhar, manager of Chandrika Residency, the hotel that Maria had made her home for the past eight years, performed the last rites at a crematorium in Ernakulum on 30 July. Thus, the story of Maria, who had lived and died in unimaginable loneliness, came to an end.

“I was asked by the priest to imagine myself as her son and perform the rituals,” says Sreedhar. After several abortive attempts to find friends or relatives who would claim Maria’s body, district authorities gave Sreedhar the right to cremate her body.  The last rites were performed in the presence of  Jyothish P S, a foreigner’s registration official. 

Sreedhar’s request to claim the body was first forwarded to the German Embassy, but there was no reply. After waiting a week, Jyothish approached the state government. The home ministry then instructed that the body be cremated. 

“Though she had lived and died in utter loneliness, we were able to at least give her an honourable farewell,” says Jyothish. He reveals that he had received a mail from Maria’s son, Julian Asphandiar Fatakia, a few days ago. He apologised for the delay in replying to Jyothish’s mail asking him to claim his mother’s body, and asked for several original copies of her death certificate. “I wrote to him that the body had to be cremated first. Only then would we be able to discuss such matters,” says Jyothish. In her will, incidentally, Maria had left half her assets to her son. Jyothish says he was embarrassed to receive the mail.  “It sounded like he was not even interested in what happened to his mother’s mortal remains.”