Vol 5 No 1 | Apr-Jun 2025
Soul Searching
Story by Sheela Jaywant | Art by Harsho Mohan Chattoraj
The Writer Sheela Jaywant’s Thoughts on Death
A person might ‘expire’, ‘pass away’ or ‘off ho gaya’, maybe after years of illness, gradually timing out or go poof instantly, as in an aircraft crash. The afterlife, the soul, ghosts/spirits are beliefs; we don’t have the means to (dis)prove their existence. We come alone (even twins are not at once), depart alone, a time called Life we share. The eyes and skin of almost all cadavers can be harvested within a couple of hours. A brain dead person (whose heart/lungs are kept working by a special machine) can donate all functioning organs, like the kidneys, skin, heart, liver, and lungs. This is one way of knowing that a loved one is living on, helping another human live, a most satisfying thought, a noble duty done.
Death is a natural physiological process, as is grieving. Immortality can be wished for, but Nature always wins.
What Happens after Death
Fifteen to 20 minutes after death, pallor mortis occurs, the body begins to pale because blood stops moving through the capillaries. This process is less immediately apparent on people with darker skin. The body cools, decreasing in temperature about 0.84 °C per hour. A different ecosystem takes over the body. Autolysis (self-digestion) begins the process of decomposition: enzymes digest membranes of oxygen-deprived cells. Damaged blood cells pour out of broken vessels. A purplish hue and reddish spots begin to set in about an hour after death, clearly visible after a few hours.
Muscles contract over six hours and stay stiff (rigor mortis) till some chemical changes happen.
Microorganisms digest intestines and nearby tissues, then enter blood vessels to get to heart and brain. This stage, putrefaction, happens over several days, produces gases, breaks the skin, draws insects to share the feast. Finally, only the skeleton is left.
Embalming delays or halts decomposition.
What happens to our bodies after we die?
Overcrowding in Hospitals
Too few beds, doctors, nurses, technicians, too many sick people – that is the state of our country’s healthcare system. Long queues, and patients and desperate relatives sleeping on floors in corridors is common. This affects doctors’ effectiveness, causing frustration and sometimes violence.
Ideally we should be depending only on government hospitals: primary health centres, community hospitals, tertiary care and teaching hospitals. Public healthcare must lead, private players must follow.
At lower and immediate levels, we need more well-trained para medical staff. All jobs cannot and should not be done by qualified doctors or nurses. That is, doctors may prescribe, nurses may monitor execution and the paramedics do as they are told.
About overcrowding in hospitals
Emergency Procedures for Resuscitation
If the heart of a young, otherwise healthy person suddenly stops (could be a chemical, physical or emotional shock, like when a person drowns or gets hit by a car), it can be revived. This can be done even at home or in a park, if there are trained persons around who know what has to be done. Such life-saving methods are important parts of first aid training, too. Resuscitation is wasteful when it is known that the outcome is poor and there is no hope (for example, in patients with end-stage organ failure, cancer or other dreaded illnesses), when a Do Not Resuscitate message can be conveyed to treating physicians, if the patient has indicated that they would prefer that. Miracles have their limitations.
