LUCKNOW, Jan. 14 -- At the city's only postmortem house at King George Medical University (KGMU), death arrives daily - routine, often without identity, sometimes without mourners. While the facility functions under state government arrangements to ensure procedures and basic facilities for grieving families, it is quiet gestures of ordinary citizens that are increasingly lending dignity to the unidentified dead and comfort to those waiting outside.

One such effort comes from Manish Pandya, a resident of Agrasen Apartments in Hazratganj, whose life took an unexpected turn after a severe Covid-19 infection in 2020 left him unable to resume his legal practice. During months of recovery, entirely dependent on his family, Pandya began reflec...