When the dead walk the earth

Ever mutter, even under your breath, "Nobody knows I exist?" Well, Lal Behari could write a book on the topic. \nSome people spend their days living their life to the fullest, but our friend Behari, who lives in India, spent the last 18 years campaigning to prove he's not dead. \n The poor man threw leaflets into the state legislature, ran in parliamentary elections, staged a kidnapping and got himself arrested -- all in the ever-noble effort to prove his pulse is still in commission. \nYou'd think the Indian government would have taken his physical presence as solid evidence, but the government does funny things sometimes, and Behari, on a campaign to prove his existence, ended up helping his fellow Indians. \nWhile fighting his case, Behari found at least 100 other people in the region in the same predicament, which gives fresh meaning to the phrase "Dead Man Walking." \nBehari established the "Uttar Pradesh Association of the Dead" in 1980, and the group appealed to the Allahabad High Court and the National Human Rights Commission for help. \nHe was declared officially alive by the district magistrate of his hometown, Azamgarh, six years ago. What a day that must have been: He's alive, as the government sees it. Sixteen other cases were redressed by state authorities acting under the court's order. \nBut in this ridiculous system, several dozen people are still fighting to prove they are alive. \nThese wrongfully declared dead stem from the most unlikely people -- family. In these situations, relatives or others connive with local officials to alter records, announcing a property owner is dead. That way, the property goes to them, as in Behari's case. \nUntil 1975, he ran a thriving business selling silk saris, the traditional attire of Indian women. A year later, a family dispute erupted over property and Behari discovered he had been pronounced dead in official records. His cousin had arranged with officials to alter land revenue documents showing Behari had died, and his cousin inherited the family property. Any family who does that takes the prize as the most dysfunctional family. A psychologist would have a field day.\nAdding insult to a wrongful death, correcting such a mistake can take years under India's bureaucracy -- as Behari and so many of these "men in black" discovered. Many of those who manage to have themselves declared alive must fight to regain physical control of their property. Behari did get his land back, but he reportedly gave it back to his cousin. \nHis quest to prove the truth turned into one against the system. The nonsense of proving such a reality should be coming to an end in the face of computerizing land records. Still, it's a bit unnerving when one's family commits one to the dust, and members of the government don't believe a man who stands before them declaring he is indeed alive. \nNo matter how bad your day is, at least you're still officially alive.