India's coronavirus crisis pushes up the cost of living - and dying

India's second wave of the coronavirus has not only created shortages of oxygen, medicines and hospital beds, but also of wood for funeral pyres, hearses and crematorium slots

Ashok Khondare, a 39-year-old vegetable seller in the western Indian city of Pune, had already borrowed money to pay for his sister's treatment when she died in a private hospital two weeks after contacting COVID-19.
 

While trying to overcome the tragedy, he also had to deal with money problems that increased with his sister's death.
 

The only available hearse driver charged Rs 5,000 ($68) for a 6-km (four-mile) journey to the nearest crematorium – five times the going rate. When Khondare reached there, there was a long queue of dead bodies and waits of more than a day. He agreed