You are no more. Your choices do not matter -- they do not count unless you had expressed your choices before you died.

From elite to proletariat, one has to face death at one stage or the other. No-one is prepared unless s/he has been suffering with an incurable disease for long. Death is unpredictable and definitely unavoidable.

"I am buying things for my uncle's funeral. I don't know who will handle mine. No-one knows," said Monir Uddin of Lalbagh who had come to Al-Bidai Store in the Katabon market.

"Chiro Bidai Store", "Al- Bidai", "Bidai Bela", "Akhery Bidai" are some funeral parlours, waiting for a chance to serve people whenever the opportunity is given to them.

All one needs for a funeral service is available in the shops. The shopkeeper is aware of the items needed and guides the customer in buying them. Items like shroud, soap, soft towel, rose water, aroma sticks are all found under one roof.

For a corpse to be taken to a distance, a further list of items is required -- a coffin, polythene, ice and tealeaves.

The first funeral service shop in Dhaka started in 1962 at Naya Bazar in Old Dhaka. Sadik Mia, owner of Chiro Bidai Store at Katabon, pioneered the business.

"I got myself involved in this profession not just as a business but to help others," Sadik Mia said. "But now competition is very sharp. It is tough to survive. In addition, the authorities have made it more difficult by introducing taxes on this business three years ago," he added.

Most other owners of the competing shops are Sadik Mia's relatives.

The cost of funeral items cost between Tk 800-Tk 1,800. The main item is the shroud. Its cost varies from Tk 600-Tk 1,500, depending on the quality of the fabric. Shrouds made of Long Cloth are sold between Tk 500-Tk 550 and ones made of Chinese Poplin costs at least Tk 1,500. The poor usually use markin cloth, which could be purchased at a very low price.

"We keep a marginal profit for survival," said Anwar Hussain, manager of Chiro Bidai Store.

If a body has to be transported out of the city then a coffin is necessary. A coffin usually costs Tk 450. Some people order special coffins, which are expensive, here again depending on the wood used and would cost between Tk 2,200 to Tk 3,000 to transport a corpse.

Whatever the outcome, the dead must be buried and the business however small, must go on.