63 years after death, Indian migrant’s ashes reach home

More than six decades after his death, the ashes of Pooran Singh who migrated from Punjab to Australia in 1899 and died here in 1947, were immersed in the Ganga river in Haridwar, in accordance with his last wishes.

Pooran, hailing from Uppal Bhupa village in Jalandhar district, worked as a hawker in Australia, moving from settlement to settlement in a horse-drawn carriage with goods. He died on June 8, 1947 at Warrnambool in Victoria province, aged 77. His body was cremated in Melbourne on June 10, 1947 but his ashes were preserved by the Guyett family, owners of Guyett Funerals, as Pooran had wished his ashes be returned to India to be immersed in the Ganga. Three generations of the Guyett family preserved the ashes till the time Pooran’s last wishes could be fulfilled.

Pooran’s story was broadcast on SBS Radio’s Punjabi program run by Manpreet Singh and covered in local Indian media, and it aroused a huge public response. Renowned cricketer Kapil Dev and Pooran’s grand-nephew Harmel Uppal, who is settled in Britain, especially flew to Melbourne to carry the ashes back to India.

“I came across this unique story through my historian friends Len Kenna and Crystal Jordan. It’s been an amazing journey so far,” said Manpreet Singh, who accompanied Pooran’s ashes to India.

“The response to our trip was overwhelming in Melbourne and the people at Pooran’s village were quite enthusiastic when we reached there with the ashes. We saw Pooran’s ancestral house, renovated with the money which he had sent home,” she added.

“His name is also inscribed outside the house,” she said.

“On July 2 we immersed the ashes in the Ganga,” Manpreet said.

Uppal said he was “very happy that we have been able to fulfill the last wish of Pooran”.