Haveri: In a moving tale of lifelong companionship, a 70-year-old man died just hours after learning of his wife’s death in Hesarur village of Savanur taluk in Haveri district on Monday morning.The couple, Junjappa Barki, 70, and Shantamma Barki, 60, shared a close bond through 45 years of marriage. According to family members, Shantamma passed away around midnight on Sunday after a prolonged illness.Unable to come to terms with the loss of his life partner, Junjappa was overcome with grief. Relatives said he spent the night mourning her death and repeatedly told family members that he could not imagine life without her. The emotional shock is believed to have taken a heavy toll on him, and at around 8.30am on Monday, he collapsed and passed away.The deaths of the couple within hours of each other left relatives, friends and villagers in shock. Residents gathered at the family home to pay their last respects, remembering Junjappa and Shantamma as an inseparable pair whose bond endured until the very end.“They lived together in harmony for nearly five decades, and in the end, death could not keep them apart for long,” said a villager.The tragic incident moved the entire community. Family members performed the last rites of both Junjappa and Shantamma together on Monday afternoon, laying the devoted couple to rest side by side.
