Cemetery No.5

After decades of searching, Wilfred Bill Clinton and Narasimha, armed with sticks, locate a grave in Trimulgherry, Telangana, that brings closure to 74-yr-old Irish woman Sheila Shanley.

On a sunny Monday morning, 21-year-old Wilfred Bill Clinton and a middle-aged mason, Narasimha, armed with two big sticks, make their way through a dense thicket, mindful of potential encounters with snakes and other creepy-crawlies hidden beneath the dry leaves on the ground. Thorns scrape their bodies as they valiantly cut through the underbrush and tap the stones on their way with sticks to ensure a path free of camouflaged dangers. 

This arduous task holds a profound purpose — to locate a grave that could bring comfort to a 74-year-old Irish woman, Sheila Shanley, who lives in the heritage town of Trim in County Meath, North Ireland. Her grand uncle, a British soldier who died 108 years ago, rested at what is now known as the Church of South India (CSI) Cemetery in Trimulgherry, a buzzing locality in Telangana’s Secunderabad. 

Shanley, living thousands of miles away, has spent over four decades tirelessly searching online for any trace of her grandmother’s brother, Rifleman Michael Joseph Leonard, but his final resting place remained elusive. Hope rekindled when Shanley stumbled upon a news feature titled ‘Resting with Dignity a Century On’, published in The Hindu on December 16, 2019. 

The feature highlighted the 94 graves of British soldiers and officers, all commemorated in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Among them, Michael, who passed away on May 1, 1915, found his eternal abode in Cemetery No. 12 at Trimulgherry. Shanley, who came across the feature online in October this year, clung to these bare details and yearned for at least a photograph of the grave. 

An e-mail from Shanley to this correspondent three weeks ago sparked a concerted effort to pinpoint the exact resting place of Michael within the cemetery. The help of D. Sudesh Kumar, a member of CSI-Medak Diocese’s communication group, was enlisted. 

Clinton, custodian of the Trimulgherry cemetery, and Narasimha, the mason, willingly offered their assistance, notwithstanding the potential dangers lurking within the now-abandoned Cemetery No. 5, diagonally opposite Cemetery No. 12. The duo had attempted to locate the grave twice but in vain after the request from Kumar. On November 13, the duo hacked through the wilderness, each step carrying the weight of Shanley’s decades-long quest for closure a third time. 

“We have to be careful; the place is infested with snakes,” says Clinton, before adding, “As custodians, it’s our duty to venture into the now-closed cemetery and inspect the condition of the British graves from time to time. Every year, officials from the CWG Commission in Pune come to inspect and photograph these graves, to ensure that necessary repairs are carried out.”