And then comes a moment in your life that wasn’t expected, neither planned. A final setback in life and everything seems coming to a standstill. That’s exactly how you feel when you lose one of your loved ones forever. The feeling takes time to sink in and you still seem to be trying to get hold of your emotions. Your family needs your support and strength but how would you do it all alone? There are rituals to be completed and formalities to be done. Life seems tougher when you don’t get all solutions together at one place and when you do you know you have to pay from your nose.
Now what??
Well! The situation isn’t that difficult anymore for residents of Kolkata. The city recently witnessed the launch of a professional funeral service startup called ANTHYESTI, which provides community and religion specific end-to-end services such as priests, hearse vans, mobile freezer boxes, last rites, and so on. These services can currently be booked on mobile number: 98333-18181 and on their website www.anthyesti.com .
“The funeral service industry in India is unorganized, fragmented and unstructured at present. And people are not even aware of all the kinds of services that can be availed. Usually, there are only a few local vendors who provide hearse vans and freezer boxes. Priests have to be contacted separately, just like caterers. And there is no help available to coordinate with crematoriums or burial grounds. Instead of grieving and mourning the loss of their loved one, I have seen family members have to run around trying to make all these arrangements themselves. On top of this, some vendors quote exorbitant rates or charges which are often not negotiated by the grieving parties. Hence, we at Anthyesti, aim to make funeral planning hassle-free, convenient, affordable and very professional”, said Ms. Shruthi Reddy Sethi, Founder & CEO, Anthyesti Funeral Services. “We have successfully provided 25 funeral related services within a few weeks of our launch. The response and feedback we have got from Kolkata has been amazing. So after we have consolidated our base here, we plan to start operations in other cities by the end of this year.”
Customers can presently book these services from the website www.anthyesti.com with secure online payment gateway integration by PayUMoney, or call the HelpLine number 98333-18181. There is a single point booking facility for all kinds of funeral related services such as a certified community-specific priest (Bengali, Marwari, Hindustani, Punjabi, Arya Samaji, Bihari, Gujarati, and Sindhi), who can perform Shraadh pujas in that particular community’s manner. In addition to booking hearse vans and mobile freezer boxes, people can also book a mortuary space or “funeral helpers” who will coordinate the cremation ceremony at crematoriums, keep customers informed about the queue, and assist them with other arrangements. At present, these helpers will be available at Keortala Ghat, Nimtala Ghat and Garia Adi Mahasmashan.
“The first reaction of most people is one of shock when they hear about the nature of our business. And it was more challenging for me as a woman entrepreneur who’s not a local resident to venture into this space. However, with support from helpful KMC officials and vendors, our team has been able to create a positive impact in the first few weeks itself. We have also managed inter-city repatriation cases successfully and are planning to soon extend operations to Durgapur, Kharagpur, Siliguri and Asansol”, added Ms. Shruthi Reddy Sethi.
About Anthyesti Funeral Services:
Anthyesti is probably India’s first professional funeral service provider company. Shruthi Reddy (the founder) has over 9 years’ experience in the software IT sector, and started Anthyesti to solve the common problem of not getting professional & quality funeral services at an affordable cost. It is designed to be a one-stop solution for all funeral related requirements across multiple cities. The Anthyesti team consists of a passionate group of youngsters who want to change the way people arrange funerals in India. For more details, visit www.anthyesti.com
Shades Of Expressions 