New Delhi (Sputnik) – The funeral of one of India’s tobacco barons was telecast live Saturday not because he was a rich businessman but because it was a funeral with a difference. It was Haribhai Lalwani’s last wish that his family paid tribute to his life rather than mourning his death.
Lalwani who was a successful businessman in Noida believed that every aspect of life needs to be celebrated and so should also be death. Lalwani believed in the beauty of life and that all its events like birthday, marriage and death should be celebrated with equal zeal, according to his family.
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पिता की अंतिम यात्रा में जमकर नाची बेटियांhttps://t.co/8TZVyvZ1FR pic.twitter.com/U9UARNCdXG
"My father told me in 2015 that his death should be celebrated. People should sing and dance to my death, he said. This sounded strange and I was in tears, but he was a cheerful man," Lalwani’s daughter Anita told the media.
Lalwani, born in 1951, was a small time vendor in Delhi's busy market of Daryaganj and he helped his father Tikamchandra in the small kiosk. In the 80s he set up his own company called Prince Gutka which sold tobacco products. His product became a hit with consumers. Anita also told the media that the Prince Group now manufactures only mouth fresheners, and not gutkha (that allegedly contains carcinogenic chemicals), considering its ill effects on health.
