Funeral rituals.

The plethora of rituals a Tamil brahmin has to do ,undergo when a close relative departs signifies to me as an attempt to divert a bereaved person from grief and to a true adherent to the faith the means to facilitate the 'Atma's journey pleasantly onwards without any hindrance or obstacle to its ultimate goal -Moksham -i.e 'eternal bliss'.

In reality what happens is,that the final departure of a person becomes the meeting ground for relatives who, after the initial grief hang around for 13 days to attend all the rituals performed in that period,[ in order to fulfil a percieved notion of social obligation of marking their attendance],tend to share notes [as most may be meeting after years ],talk ,gossip, laugh and guffaw forgetting the very purpose of their visit- to console the bereaved!
The bereaved persons cannot even vent out their grief or think it over in solitude as they have to take part in rituals comprehended only by the priests ,so seems meaningless, and play host to horde of relatives , arranging for their food and comfort!
It is more or less like a festival! There is no gravity or somberness.Scant thought is paid to the departed person or to the feelings of the bereaved one's.
If a political figure passes away it is worse! The milling crowds and the various Neta's wanting to show their face on T.V makes a mockery of mourning .
An nauseating ritual of some non-brahmin Tamilian communities is to burst crackers ,drink and dance merrily at the funeral processions.
Has life no meaning or respect in India?Why don't we have the decency to allow a bereaved person to mourn in private and not make a public' tamasha' out of it.