Navin Rajwadi, a skilled coffin-maker of Vadodara, surprises all with his cheerful disposition as he shuttles between the morgue of Sir Sayaji Rao General Hospital, the Textile Chemistry department of the M S University’s Faculty of Technology and Engineering, and his small coffin-making workshop-cum-residence in Fatehgunj.

It was Rajwadi, who had supplied coffins for the Indian Air Force personnel who had lost their lives in the 2001 Bhuj earthquake.

Recalling those days, Rajwadi said, “An air force officer from Makarpura came to my house around 8.30 am on January 26, 2001, and told me that at least 80 airmen were dead in Bhuj.” He made 70 coffins in just 10-12 hours.

“I wasn’t the only one working on it. My son, a kid then, lifted logs; my wife placed the nails and hammered the same,” he said.

On that fateful Republic Day, logs blocked the small pathway to his house. “My neighbours started turning up one by one and helped us. If Ajit Singh (a neighbour) was helping me to slice up the wood, Malek Mohammad started nailing the coffins. It was an overwhelming sight to see people from all communities turning up to pay their last respects by joining eight planks of wood,” he said. At least 30 people including those from the air force helped him in making so many coffins in such a short time. They were later airlifted from Harni Air Force Base at 7.30 pm, said Rajwadi.

On being asked what got him into the profession, he said his grandfather started doing it for the Christian community in Rajpipla. “There was no one else who could carry the dead across the town. My grandfather started it, my father followed it and soon he started taking coffin orders from other parts. We moved to Vadodara and I grew up watching my father do it,” Rajwadi said.

His son, a student of Class VIII, is keen to join the family business. “Every now and then, he wants me to take him to the hospital morgue,” he said.

Rajwadi not only makes coffins, he also embalms the corpses sometimes to prevent them from decomposing for six to seven days.

On an average, he makes eight to 10 coffins in a week.

“I sometimes have to go to the morgue at 2 in the morning. It is a community service and I cannot say no,” he said.

Death, Rajwadi said, is universal. “A mediaperson had asked me once if I made coffins only for Christians. I had to tell him that I didn’t even know to which religion or caste those airmen belonged who died in the earthquake,” he said.

A coffin, he said, is an arthi; nothing more and nothing less. “What has religion to do with delivering a corpse to the deceased’s family in such a manner that it doesn’t decompose?” Rajwadi said.

The man is an artist whose art is restricted to coffins.

“Sometimes I get orders for making designer coffins especially if the person is a priest,” he said. When a salesian priest at Don Bosco in the city died, he made carvings on the coffin and decorated the interiors with sponge.

“It was just like the one you saw at the time of the Princess Diana’s funeral,” Rajwadi reminisced.

Rajwadi gets his orders not only from the Methodist Church but also corporate houses like Reliance.

“However, my most important clients are defence personnel,” he said.

Rajwadi, with help received from churches in the city, makes free coffins for the poor. “I provide free coffins to those who cannot pay for the last rites,” he said.

Recently, Rajwadi was approached by a city-based advertisement designer who wanted to take pictures of his coffins for a promotional campaign.