2 months after Charni Road residents Narayan Lavate, 87, and his wife Iravati, 78, wrote to the President seeking permission for euthanasia, they are now planning a murder



A day in the life of Lavates



Iravati’s day starts at 4.30 am. She calls the time Brahma Muhuratam, when all deities are awake; Narayan Lavate leaves home at 11 am every day to visit his former office despite retiring decades ago; Narayan, a loner, doesn’t have friends and spends his afternoons in book stores

PICS: SATISH MALAVADE

A two-and-a-half decade obsession with death, which started after reading about the plight of KEM Hospital nurse Aruna Shanbaug who died in May 2015 after spending 42 years in a vegetative state, has turned into desperation for 87-year-old Narayan Lavate and his 78-year-old wife Iravati. Residents of Thakurdwar in Charni Road, which is one of south Mumbai’s earliest settlements, the Lavates, who are childless and have no major ailment, wrote to the President on December 21 last year seeking permission to end their lives, preferably with the help of a physician. In their letter to the President, the couple had said they’ll wait till March 31, 2018 for a reply.Two months down the line, convinced that their plea will not be entertained, the couple have planned a murder. In a post-dated letter (April 1, 2018) issued by Iravati, a retired school principal, to her husband Narayan, former supervisor at the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation, she has said he should strangulate her “any time after March 31”. The murder will free her from the “dreary existence”, she wrote, adding it will also result in Narayan being handed death sentence.“You had made a request for active euthanasia for both of us but I am certain that the President of India will not listen to our plea. That is why I can only see one solution, that any time after March 31, you can strangulate me and free me from this dreary living. Since this will be considered a planned murder, you will be hanged for this crime by the court. They won’t have any other option and your wish to die through legal means will also be fulfilled,” Iravati said in the letter to her husband.Earlier this year when the Lavates’ plea to the President became national news, several media reports quoted them as saying they were bored with life. Narayan told Mirror the matter was a bit more complex than mere boredom. “It is about being sensible,” he said. “Both of us are in a reasonably good health, we don’t have any major ailment, but we are not wearing belts of immortality. Why should we wait for our condition to deteriorate? Also, what will the other do when one dies?”The couple said they chose not to have children as they considered it a “social crime” to add to the world’s population. “We have reaped all benefits of social life. Now we have nothing to offer to the society except our organs, which we are willing to donate. It is time to repay the kindness shown by the society by donating our bodies while they are useable. But to do that, we have to die,” Narayan said, adding the couple have registered at JJ Hospital to donate all their organs.The couple said their “mercy death plea” was based on their belief that if the Indian Constitution has given them the right to life, it should also grant them the right to die the way they want. “A human birth is the result of passion between two people. Our society is not averse to the idea of death as it allows medical termination of pregnancy and contraceptive pills. Hence, our plea to choose the time and manner of our death should be granted,” Narayan said.Room number 21B, Laxmibai Chawl, Thakurdwar is stuffed with books. Iravati starts her day much before sunrise, at 4.30 am, when the water released by the BMC starts dripping from the taps.Once she fills up the overhead water tank, Iravati goes about her other chores before Narayan wakes up around 8 am.Iravati says the time she wakes up is Brahma Muhuratam – it’s the time when all deities are awake. “After reciting a short prayer, I go about finishing the chores. We don’t feel the need to have a maid. The vacuum cleaner has to be started, the washing machine too…” she says.Between 5 am and 6 am, she gets her daily exercise, which is alighting and climbing the stairs 10 times (theirs is a ground-plus-one storey chawl). “I take a short nap and wake up in time to make the tea for my husband,” she says.Narayan reaches out for newspapers and books as soon as he wakes up. He is currently reading a book titled Life and Death in One Breath, and also spends several hours on his iPad reading articles on what happens to the soul after a person dies.Around 11 am, he walks 2.5 km to the bus stop for a short journey to the office from where he retired decades ago. The afternoon is spent visiting bookshops, and he’s home by 6 pm.“I watch TV or call up a few friends who are still around. Most of my friends have died,” Iravati says. She has siblings who are so old they cannot visit her. She also has a cousin, 94 now, whom she visits once a year. “My husband is a loner. He has no friends. When he’s not in the house, I feel like spending some time in the balcony but I fear I’ll fall. Also, standing for too long results in swollen feet. I worry what will happen when my health deteriorates, hence I want an immediate death,” Irawati says.She turns cheerful while discussing her husband’s food habits. “He barely eats one meal. He was always a frugal eater. But I make these laddoos to increase his stamina. He is a devout Brahmin who will not eat without praying and will not eat onions and garlic. I cheat in my diet but I am a pucca vegetarian too,” she says.“I have to keep working so that my mind remains active. We watch a Marathi serial at 9.30 pm and I am off to bed but he stays up late to read,” Iravati says.