In certain situations, its unique contexts shall be dramatic.
Certain things happen in certain times; but the time will pass as usual but not
before it points to certain right humans- they come with new ideals and
expectations with fresh methods of revolts. They are the bell weather of the
message that the good and bad we do, shall at the end turn up to the good of
the people.
Dr Ramesh, we know him, the man who was front-runner in the Koodamkulam strikes, the sterilite struggle at Thoothukkudi , again found on the forefront of the mission to awake people on the dangers of neutrino experiments at Thane. He had a different type of revolt for closure of a liquor shop. He was on the war path with his wife’s dead body clad in white shrouds on the road while his daughter fights for life, grievously wounded.
Do you think it is an anserine stupidity?
The doctor with his family, when they were passing in a car through
Jambuga in Anakkatty on the other side of the Attappadi valley saw a beautiful
sight. In the backdrop of the Western Ghats, a flock of wool-bearing merinos
floated on the road like a fluffy cotton wool. When driving, enthralled in the
envious spectacle, they saw a lorry at breakneck speed, hurtling towards the
herd. In no time the cotton wool turned in to a pool of blood. The blood flowed
down on the road and mingled with earth. He was dumbstruck and stood transfixed
to the seat.
After three months, he
received an anonymous call. Dr. Ramesh reached at the same spot at Jambugandi.
The blood was still flowing on the road that drenched the soil-but this time it
was the blood of his wife who met instant death on a crash between two-wheeler's. The body lay on the side of the
road. A moment he was whisked back to the time when his wife Shobhana has joined
as a nurse in a hospital at Pathanamthitta, their love life and the birth of a
girl child. They chose a path, many wouldn’t have dared to tread on. But the
doctor who was trained in forensics did not get dizzied. At once he knew it was
not an accident!
Dr Ramesh, the humanist was a part of many a struggle on
ecological preservation. The Tasmac bar in Tamil Nadu situated close to the
liquor-prohibition area of Attappadi in Kerala was shuttered on the prolonged struggle
of Attappadi women. The mothers were the front runners in the struggle having
seen their males succumb to death on wild-drinking. The bar closed at Anakkatti
was reopened hardly three km’s away from Jambugandi bar with 24 hours
availability. Vehicles flew free and the accident stories were a sequel. The folks
in the area were on protest and the police recommended for its closure. The bar
was kept open on the nexus between the high-up’s and the liquor shop owners.
Shobhana met with the accident when a motor bike that came from the side of the
bar collided with her scooter. She was returning home with her daughter riding
pillion from VidhyaBhavan school in Anakkatti. Shobhana died on the spot and
the daughter was hurried to the hospital. The whole village stood besides the
doctor in tears. He was serving them for the last quarter of the century,
providing them medical treatment either free or on nominal fee of Rs. Fifty. The
doctor has decided to move from there only after a decision is given on the
bars closure. He sat besides the corpse, the Adivasis next to him.
Police reached the spot and assured orally to close down the
liquor shop, but there was no firm commitment and the strike continued. Finally
the Tahsildar presented himself before the doctor and gave him a written assurance.
The stir was temporarily suspended ending the six hour resistance that
continued till midnight. Dr Ramesh went to see his hospitalized daughter only
after the corpse being taken to the Medical College Hospital at Coimbathore.
The bar was shut down , but matters didn’t end there. The Tahsildar was transferred
out; the police would only say that the investigation is going on when queried.
The doctor recounts in tears. He hails from Kambam Sullippetty in Kumili,
Pathanamthitta. He passed the CBSE in 1983 from the Sainik School in Amaravthi with
flying colors. His batchmates are all in high positions in defense services.
When asked why didn’t opt for military service, he would say that my ambition
was to become a doctor working in the villages. After being graduated from the
famous Madhurai Medical College, he chose Adivasi zone at Anakkatti in
Coimbathur as his preferred area of service.
But the doctor says: “I have not come to serve the down trodden.
They are doing a service to me. I have opted this place to live as a villager,
to grow my daughter knowing-up the village. These villagers have given me an
opportunity to lead a different life from the usual medical professionals,
those having no empathy and distanced with the people they serve.
His daughter was given the elementary education at school till she
was in the 5th standard. Then she was put to home steady, knowing
the village and the people. The subjects of study for the daughter included
cave writings and rock arts in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and he traveled extensively
with the family. When they came to know of Vidyavanam School, the daughter
joined there. After the tenth class, there was a hiatus of a year to join Plus-One
as the delay was caused over certain problems in the recognition of the school.
They decided to study about the culture and civilization on the banks of Neyyar
river with the aid modern cameras and equipment's. In the meantime, the school
got the recognition and straight away she joined the Plus-One classes. On the
day before the accident Dr Ramesh was at Thanjavoor. He arrived late in the
night and the next morning he drove his daughter to school. He was to look for
a rental house near the school and pay the fee. But Shabhana told him to remain
at home and take rest as he was fatigued and way-worn on the overnights tedious journey.
She assured him that she will take the child back, but alas, that was her last
journey!
The doctor knew it was not
a common accident and he made parallel investigations. Shobana had worn the protective
gear which was expensive and the best available in the market. The clip was
fixed tight. The front was completely mangled and the scooter lay in the
opposite direction and there was no tangible damage to the crashing vehicle.
The body was found lying differently than in any such accidents. From subsequent inquiries he found that the rider was a speed freak with super bikes. His hobby
was to ride with the front wheel popped above ground. He noticed pictures of
the youth cavorting around doing elaborate wheelies, in the face book. The
crash was caused in a ride of similar wheelie by the youth who got tanked up in
the nearby outlet of TASMAC. Shobhana’s neck was flexed. Blood gushed as the
clip of the helmet pierced on to her neck. The doctor told that she was dead
before she could have sensed the pain.
While the body was shifted for post-mortem, Dr Ramesh solicited
the sobbing Adivasis to treat Shbhana as one among them. As desired, the body was
taken back to the spot and Adivasis received the mortal remains with due honor.
They carried her to the forest in the traditional green bamboo tubes, the body bedecked
in red velvet pall. A herd of wild elephants trudged outside the forest in loud
trumpets to great the funeral cortege. Hitherto unknown in their custom, they cremated
her, the one from the world outside their lineage, with due obeisance in their traditional
rites.
Tamil Nadu has to be involved and kept bound in all actions. Kerala
has to initiate discussions and pressure mounted if needed-lest liquor and
narcotics would eat away the region and its future generations.
Dr Ramesh was also in the group of petitioners who went to meet
the then CM Sri. Achuthanandan to sensitize him on the intricacies and the
mix-ups in neutrino experiments at Theni forest zone. The CM agreed to do
whatever is possible and he did do something.
Now the doctor has one request-the request of the husband of a
Malayalee women who martyred for having worked in tandem to the up-liftment of the
society. The whole tings that Kerala do to the development of Attappadi
including liquor ban are torpedoed by the hoodlums whose work is centered in
the Tamil Nadu area on the east. Crores of money are getting squandered. We need
to work hand in hand with Tamil Nadu if we want to save Attappadi which is the
source of Bhavani and the Shiruvaniand and its Adivasis.
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This story appeared in the week end Mathrubhumi, dated 07 Sunday July 2019. This is an attempt to render a word to word traslation.
