Bhubaneswar: Ayodhya was wailing near the body of her husband Sita Ram Pradhan. Pradhan owned the opera group Bharati Gananatya and was among the 27 who died on Sunday when their bus nosedived into a 300-ft gorge near Deogarh. Ayodhya's cry reminded people of the troupe's one of the last plays Sita Ram Pain Ayodhya Kande (Ayodhya cries for Sita Ram), which they staged in Deogarh district.
"It could not have been tragically so symbolic," said Prashanta (26), Pradhan's son, a small-time businessman. "My father loved drama. His tragic death was hours after he staged one," he said.
"Plot of the play Sita Ram Pain... is on today's society, in which an elder brother sacrifices his siblings just like Lord Ram of Ramayan. When I wrote the play, I didn't know Pradhan's wife's name is also Ayodhya. I got to know of it much later," said writer of the play Bijay Das.
Maximum five persons who died in the mishap were from Pradhan's Remta village under Barpali block, while the others were mostly from Barpali (three) and other nearby villages, including Kumbhari, Bagbadi, Kanwar, Satalma, Kainsar and Tura.
"It was a heart-rending scene when the bodies arrived. The bodies of Sita Ram Pradhan, Angad Pradhan, Kasinath Pradhan and Sukanti reached around 1 pm while Rasanand Mahanand's body arrived an hour later.
"Kasinath's wife Ruby was mostly unconscious ever since she learnt about her husband's death. He was the only breadwinner in the family and the principal source of income was the jatra (theatre)," said a villager. Kasinath leaves behind three daughters Anima (16), Nilima (13) and Purnima (10).
The villagers had planned a mass funeral for the other four while Rasanand Mahanand's body was cremated separately, apparently because he was a dalit.
Angad Pradhan, for whom the opera was more a hobby than source of income, ran a grocery shop in his village. "He loved the stage and was associated Bharati Gananatya since its early days of formation," said his eldest son Surath (26). Angad leaves behind his wife and two sons.
Rasanand was the troupe's musician and also heads another music band party in the village. "He was my world. I left with nobody else whom I can call my own. I have no more reason to live," said his wife Laxmi.
"Hardly any family in our village had dinner or sleep on Sunday night ever since news channels started showing early visuals of the tragedy," said Dhiraj Padhan, a co-villager.
Bharati Gananatya would be around 17 years old. Sita Ram owned it for past 12 years. The group was staging about five plays and was extremely popular in western Odisha and Chhattisgarh. The group was on its way to Pandkipali village in Chhattisgarh after performing at Dengurjhar village in Tileibani block of Deogarh district. Due to the scorching heat, the group had delayed their departure from Deogarh to around 4.30 pm, the villagers said.