In the light,Me and my Nilavu

The name Simon Britto Rodrigues is the one which stands fervidly engraved in the Kerala psyche, heart and soul. His storybook-life is on the dissection table of the medical students. He is referred to as the man who loved life to a great degree. His soul mate Seena metaphrases his life to the ‘one who loved life with unquenched fervour and passion’. Seena Bhaskar, his dear comrade in life is ferrying down the straits of memory, sitting in her house  ‘Kayam’ which in literal sense approximates to the ‘depth’ at Vaduthala in Cochin,  close to three weeks since her husband breathed last.

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This is a story told by Seena Bhasker, Britto ’s wife to Vinod Payam appeared in Deshabhimani dated Jan 20, Sunday 2019.

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The graceful automated wheel-chair looked askance at me as a forlorn figure, pleading; ’why I am being left alone. Britto wouldn’t leave me with such ease like changing apparel”. I caressed its arm with a white kerchief. The waft of the tender dust swept into my nose. It is three weeks, the passenger disembarked. When back as usual after switch-on, the mechanised chair accosted me as Britto does; “Seena, everything ready, No?’

Britto! Biji Hilal, our friend dropped in yesterday. She came weeping, pale as paper with a tender coconut in one hand. She said you had been vivid in her dream!! The girl, who wouldn’t even see her mother in her dreams, was weary and devastated, talking with you in the witching hours. Britto chided her in the dream; “Nilavu craves for the tender coconut. Why don’t you take it for her?” I laughed at the fallacy wondering as to how on earth, could a fervent materialist like him, could show up in her dream!  

Britto! You don’t forget to care Nilavu’. Do you? Didn’t you ditch the darned thrift on me when Nilavu came amongst us?  Do you recollect; when we started life I asked for 5 rupees to buy a rose stem, you mercilessly cared no two hoots making me cry out like bamboos creak. Certainly, I do!!  The last 20 days, Nilavu and I are shrouded fathoms deep in your memory. She would ask for the Abba. The nervous queries of the girl in the Vth class drown me in the dire straits of grief. She, knee-high to a grasshopper, would wipe my eyes in a way as if come of age, console me: “Amma, Abba is with us here.”

Britto ‘walked back to life from certain death’ sharp 35 years ago on Oct 14^th when he clenched back his life from them. After 10 years and a day, we were married, till then we were friends. Our relation blossomed not with intent to become partners in life. It so happened. The friendship led to the nuptials on the culmination of my desire to remain his friend forever. Those days I remember him asking me “Seena, Do you vouch that our friendship would endure if you were married to another man? “ It was because I was serious-minded to remain in the shade of his life that I pulled out of the campus and my relatives to enjoy the half slice of his distressed life.

Now in this huge vacuum, how gracious were our journey and our days that spun with love for life. I had never seen a man with such tenacity to stick on to one’s life. The happiness you enjoy,  given one moment more- vanished like a line drawn by a chock, so suddenly and mercilessly. When I was away on an errant at Patna, Nalanda university, you were on an eternal journey from Thrissur. Why was it? I was at Nalanda to bring Arjun Das to Kerala. Didn’t you tell us to rummage the library to find the travel accounts in India of Xuanzang, the scholar and traveller?  Didn’t you wish to make such journeys as early as 2012? How will we go now? Who would write a book on the experience of such a tour? How I could read that book, enthralled, flummoxed and speechless? With whom Nilavu would quench her curiosities?

When the sourness grew in our private lives, we have shifted to a newly built house at Vaduthala. To reflect the profundity of his thought, he christened it “Kayam”.When the baby came there, she became our “Nilavu” (literal sense ‘the soft, silvery moonbeam’)  Nilavu, our little daughter did not make a fuss, never imposed herself and was discreet enough to know that our life was the incessant journey of troubles and turbulence. As early in her sixth month, she would be on all fours and help him when the book slipped or when his plates fell.  Even as a toddler, she didn’t give a whimper to make sure not to trouble us. Only now after being grown up like her sober father, she has turned to whine, grizzle or groan.

Britto was worried as Malayalam is not taught as a subject in central school curricula. He taught her the language by purchasing the Soviet children books. Britto taught his Dukka-as she calls her- the candy-like Malayalam laying her on the chest. Both were crazy about football. It was sitting on the wheel-chair that Britto dreamt of the vast play areas of life. Britto was a fan of Portugal while Nilavu was fanatic about Brazil. I stood in between their long arguments as a crappy referee, tired and taunted, who knew no ground rules.

Nilavu loved to travel with us. Britto often wondered that not many children at this age would have partaken in such arduous journey to Himalaya.  Britto had always wished to travel unplanned and hassle free. His final exit was unprepared and undecorated leaving no cue. He believed that the travels should not be aimless. It should be like an uncomfortable journey in a general compartment. Reaching out for the references of the places he visited he would say; “Learn about the places where you go, if necessary write on it”

 ‘Britto’s wife’ is not an appellation or an epithet that we both liked. We were friends and comrades. Whenever his masculine supremacy lay bare, I would remind him; ” Britto ! No.” The response would be an amorous and disarming smile. He was a good listener- which I felt was his great plus. He would talk hours together with the fisher-women. He would listen attentively to their miseries, keep an umbrella over their miseries and find solutions. I would swipe at him; ”Who that Britto !! Was she your old fancier? The quick rejoinder is shot back; “Not that Seena. It is great to feel their pleasure when they find someone to listen-somebody who cares them. I have watched that trait in him while he was an MLA. Britto’s intervention had paved the way for the increased attention of Kerala to the problems of specially-abled people. The ramp constructed in the Kerala assembly was after his mediation. Britto moved a bill in the assembly for constructing a graveyard for the castles and religion less who die sans the funeral ceremonies. It was rejected. He was also concerned with what will happen to him after death. After Abhimanue’s murder, the concern had scaled up. He entrusted me to provide his body for the medical college and avoid the wreathe and such other post-death rituals. The only thing he desired was a party flag on his body, which I passed off as black humour, to happen after a long passage of time.

  Britto had planted a passion fruit in the front yard. When Nilavu reaches her 7^th class its canopy would spread over the garden. The mango tree, not far, that gives fruits for all seasons would grow to bring the fruits by then. The picture of a father and his daughter- together they peal a mango and relish its taste!! It is an unfinished art. Britto left us for the immortal journey leaving the palette over to me. I want to finish the painting. There is a huge vacuum in my heart now-the void left behind by the shock when the giant tree fell. Britto would never allow me to keep the vacuum unfilled!! New sprouts would never cease to evolve from beneath the fallen trunk. Britto! Let the yellow passion with lush green and dense canopy flourish that is nurtured between us. My daughter and I would bash in the moonlight- in the twilights sitting under the shadow.

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Britto was a living victim of violence in campus politics. He had been stabbed by opponents in 1983 when he was an activist of the Students Federation of India, left wheelchair-bound. With urine bottle and walker, he had travelled across the country with the never-say-die spirit to live. Britto authored a couple of novels: Agragami and Maharandram. Agragami won a Sakti award and a Patyam Gopalan award. He was a state representative of Kerala Grandhasala Sangam and the first MLA to take part in the proceedings while sitting in a wheelchair. The  officials had organised a ramp to let Britto's wheelchair in and to saw off a part of a seat to accommodate the wheelchair. Britto is 80 per cent physically disabled. But he prefers to say: ""I am 20 per cent able." His body is paralysed chest down.
 
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Cyber bullying -HANAN'S CASE

Fighting means you could lose. Bullying means you can't. A bully wants to beat somebody; he doesn't want to fight somebody: Andrew Vachss.

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ut of bed in the wee hours of the morning, an hour at her study table, she pedals her way to the fish market miles away, returns back in an auto-rickshaw to Thammanam Junction loaded with the cycle and the bucket-full, stocks the fish with a neighbour -thus starts her day.

After performing a quick morning ablutions, Hanan would run to catch the KSRTC bus to reach the Al Azhar college in Idukki’s Thodupuzha - one and half hours from her home- for she is now the third year BSc Chemistry student. When the bell chimes at 3 in the afternoon, she would gallop back in a hurry for selling the fishes till 9 in the night. This is about 19-year-old Hanan Hamid’s struggle. She was raising money for her matriculation by taking up odd jobs that of a private tutor for small children in the neighbourhood,a peddler of multicoloured handcrafted-beaded-necklaces for the womenfolk. Hanan’s dreams to become a doctor had come to a dead end as she was compelled to tight-lid her desires on future studies after plus 2 as the family had run out of resources. But she defiantly refused to get cowed down and kept her spirited fight against loads of odds to piece together a decent life. She worked for a year at call centres in Ernakulam and had to scrimp and save to build up funds for the higher studies. Her parents are now separated. Worse, she had to undergo an ear surgery.

Hanan was good at anchoring. She did dubbing at studios and could create and deliver poems impromptu. The late cine actor Kala Bhavan Mani took her with his stage shows which eased her burden in funding her studies. The obstacles fizzled out before her will and fortitude. Hanan's story with her photograph published in Mathrubhumi daily ,selling fish wearing her college uniform with a plastic cap went viral on social media. Many have promised to help her. A debutant filmmaker, Arun Gopy offered her a role alongside Pranav Mohanlal in his upcoming film. Soon, the dyed in the wool traditionalists and sceptics opened a can of worms, cried wolf and vied to call it a "marketing stunt". Trolls trundled out and a vitriolic, high decibel campaign followed accusing her of feigning penury as she was found wearing a gold ring on her fingers, wearing gloves and sporting a nice haircut and neat clothes. Muslim fringes read the riot act to her for not wearing a headscarf, crypto-liberal crops drew daggers as the film had a Mohanlal-connect and the right-wing chauvinists upset with Mathrubhumi publishers over the crappy novelette that appeared in the weekly hauled her over the coals-all in the bandwagon were busy bowling beamers at the girl.

The heinous incidence invited wrath from like-minded cross sections of the society. Chief Minister Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan expressed support for the girl and called her a “real warrior”. Sri.Kannanthanam,central minister for tourism wrote on his Facebook page, Kerala sharks stop attacking #Hanan. I’m ashamed. Here is a girl trying to put together a shattered life. You vultures!.The opposition leader, Sri. Ramesh Chennithala spoke in support of Hanan. The Kerala Women’s Commission has registered a Suo Motu case against those who allegedly abused Hanan on social media.

The social media has earned the sobriquet “the new sentinels “ of democracy. We have seen it from the Arab spring to occupy revolutions. The digital world, If not used diligently can become double-edged swords. The recent WhatsApp- Harthal in Kerala exemplifies this point. The mob lynch triggered by WhatsApp had taken 28 valuable lives in India in recent months. It reminds us of the kangaroo courts presided by the village Sathraps. Mawkish sentimentalism is the new prank for the social media wherein they have coined a special buzzword “viral”. In an impulsive bravado, they tweet, re-tweet and the process gets repeated till enough harm is done to the victim. In mob lynching and also in hate- mongering, the same undercurrent drives them all.

As of July, Facebook is reported to have a total “potential audience” of 241 million active users in India, compared to 240 million in the US. Active users in India are up by 27% in the past six months alone (+50 million), compared to growth of 12% (+26 million) in the US over the same period. WhatsApp is the world’s largest messaging app in terms of its user base, which is well over 1 billion users in India. Restricting inflammatory contents in WhatsApp is close to impossible as they are end-to-end encrypted. Given that the WhatsApp team themselves cannott read the messages, they donot have a one-off solution to stop the spread of fake news.

Trolling or cyber-bullying is a growing global phenomenon and India is no exception. India has the third-highest number of cyber-bullying cases in the world. The perpetrators enjoy anonymity and go scot-free, unwhipped of justice, and uncensored by the community in which he lives.

A recent Intel Security report shows that a worrying number of Indian children are becoming victims as well as perpetrators of online bullying.According to the recently-released Intel Security’s “Teens, Tweens and Technology Study 2015”, 81% of Indian respondents between eight and 16 are active on the social media networks. Of these, 22% have reported being bullied online — the highest in the four countries surveyed (Australia, USA and Singapore being the other three). “Cyberbullying is a fast-growing trend that Indian parents and educators can’t afford to ignore,” says Melanie Duca, marketing director, consumer-Asia Pacific at Intel Security. Reports Business Standard.

The survey done by Ipsos - a global market research company - found that 45% of Indian parents believed a child in their community was being cyberbullied, while a majority (53%) parents are aware of the issue. "The findings are quite surprising, which revealed that the frequency of cyberbullying in India was higher than that of western nations, including the US (15%), Britain (11%) and France (5%).

According to 2016 NortonNSE Cyber Security Insights report, millennials are the most commonly affected victims globally, with 40 per cent experiencing it in the previous year. More than 55 per cent of millennials in India experienced cybercrime. The report said 39 per cent of Indian millennials either experienced ransomware themselves or knew someone who had. 18 per cent of millennial victims paid the ransom but did not gain access to their files

The consequences of such “fake news” are serious. Rumours forwarded via social media, especially on WhatsApp, have led to mob lynchings of innocent people falsely accused of being cow slaughterers, child kidnappers, or worse. In the last year alone, there have been 15 such lynchings across nine Indian states, resulting in 27 deaths.

Muhammed Asam, a techie in Karnataka's Bidar was lynched by a mob at Murki village in Karnataka following a series of venomous messages shared on WhatsApp warning locals that child-lifters are roaming on the streets. At least two men were killed and six injured after mobs attacked them in India's remote north-eastern state of Tripura. Videos made in Karachi years ago, pro bono to benefit children in Pakistan were linked to lynching in India. Dr Gleb Tsipursky who served as a professor at Ohio State University and the co-founder of Pro-Truth Pledge, an initiative to promote truthfulness, said, “lynchings in India are the most violent and deadly episodes of fake news-inspired violence.” A Hindu report warns.

Unsurprisingly the political parties have their own well-oiled, paid- political- hit squads called troll teams who pervade the cyberspace with toxic texts and viral vitriol. In India, as in many other countries, the digital spaces are distilleries of discontent, rife with rumours and falsehood that get disseminated with least rudimentary fact-checking.

Sasi Tharoor referring to the punitive transfer of an official who had made bigoted remarks to an interfaith couple when they applied for a passport reminds: “As Dr Victor Frankenstein discovered, once you create a monster, it can quickly grow and escape your control. Social media, by nature, rewards speed and sensationalism, not verification and caution. Even when the truth does come out, it rarely makes it as far as fast as the lie did."
There is no easy solution to declaw the cat.

Social media space is the stygian cavern where the cyber Nomrods, who revel in drudging out untruth lurking in the dark -jeer and hurl out opprobrious epithets on every passing pedestrian. The hunter-gatherers in the netherworld of their cyber sanctuary, two days back, have fletched their arrows on to a little girl Hanan in Ernakulam. At the receiving end, Hanan teary-eyed and with folded hands appeared before the TV and implored:”People are making false allegations that it was for promotion of a movie. I am not a fraud. I have no other income. My main aim is to continue studies and support the family.”

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the chief minister spoke about the interaction he had with Hanan after she visited him to thank him for his support. “When Hanan was subjected to cyber attacks, the Kerala government had ensured her all the protection and had also arrested the perpetrators behind the attacks. She had visited to show her gratitude for the support,” the CM said.
Praising Hanan for her hard work, Pinarayi added, “It's a matter of great pride when one is self-dependent as a student. The satisfaction one gets is immense if they fund their studies with the money they earn. Only those who have gone through such experiences in life will understand it. Hanan did not just study, but she became the pillar of support for her family. When I understand her life experiences, I feel proud of her. Move ahead bravely, Hanan. Don't lose the confidence that you showed while battling difficult circumstances, Kerala is with you."

Doff our hats for the demure damsel in distress.

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“We’re living at a time when attention is the new currency. Those who insert themselves into as many channels as possible look set to capture the most value. ” Pete Cashmore, Founder of mashable.com

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Abhimanyu-the darling of Maharajas

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erala sobs. She has every reason too-the death of an unknown student so rattled and shattered the Malayali psyche. The gruesome bloodshed outraged all and evoked all the empathy to the victim.

Abhimanyu, the 20-year-old BSc Chemistry student of Maharaja's college in Kochi, who is also a member of the Students Federation of India (SFI) which is the student wing of the ruling CPI(M), was stabbed to death when SFI students and Campus Front of India (Student Wing of PFI) workers allegedly clashed inside the campus on Sunday. 19-year-old Arjun who studies BSc Philosophy, also sustained severe injuries. He has been admitted to the Ernakukulam Medical Trust Hospital in the city and had to undergo an emergency surgery.

Abhi alias Abhimanyu ,the ballsy bloke was entrapped in the ChakraVyuha set by the bigots in wait- not in the know that the dagger of deceit would dig deep in to his flesh in the dark.His martyrdom has elevated him to eternity. Not just his parents, friends, relatives and locales but the whole state mourned for him. Many wiped their tears, some turned the newspapers back, fingers flipped on the TV remotes, eyes fixated expectantly on the alleyways through which their children reach home.

At Maharajas ,Abhimanyu, the wispy little man was loved by all with his folksy small-town image. He felt all the feels for the famished men around who had a threadbare existence while his gut got baked of starvation. Caste,cread and religion have never barred his way. He saw only humans. The frugal but industrious youngster fed his friends in the Ooru while his belly remained a wind instrument. He would not have been resentful to the monsters who grappled him and held his arms locked behind to make way for an easy kill.

Hours back he was inaugurating the area meeting of the DYFI unit of Vattavada at Koviloor . Echoing the last words of Vemuna of Hydrabad ersity who immolated himself ,revolting against the inimical and predatory trampling and usurping the Dalit rights by the religious elites, he spoke in a strong tang of border Tamil-lingo :”Anaivarum jeevikkana etta ooraka samoohamake maran puthuthalamure thayyarakkanam.Matha theevra vadathilninnum naatte naam pathukakkanam. Jathi-Matah chinthane puthuthalamurakkum valakathukkul kadathividunnvarkethire mun echirikkayaka irikkanam”(The new generation must equip itself to transform this country in to a place where people can harmoniously. We are to insulate the country against religious fanaticism). Soon after, he hurried back ,squeezed like a wedge in a Horticultural Van,to the campus to be part of the graffite scribbles for the freshers day. After the blood-and-guts arguments over graffite rights that followed, he was brutally stabbed to death by the trained henchmen of the killer gang-a well crafted crime plot executed with lethal precision.

Vattavada is a rain shadow village in the eastern part of the Western Ghats in Idukki district,located about 45 Km east of Munnar. The serene hamlet known for its terraced slopes and volleys ,sits snugly to the Top Station, in the Kerala –Tamil Nadu border, just a few meters walk through Tamil Nadu down by the PambadumChola gap road. It is the lone vegetable farm in winter famous for its wide variety of crops not seen elsewhere in Kerala which include apple, orange, strawberry, blackberry, plums and passion fruits. The hoarfrost atop

the scenic hillocks amble silently, gently caressing the Elephant Ranges .The enthralling and mesmerising Vattavada has caught the imagination of Lenardo Decaprio to echo the Persian poet Amir Khusru who referred to Kashmir as " Agar firdous baroye zameen ast, hami asto, hami asto hami ast”, (If there is a paradise upon earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.)A Coup De Foudre ,a sort of love at first sight.

Walking close to the muddy lanes beside the small thatched huts and shanties, one find the single-room cloister of 150 square meter where Abhimanyu ,his siblings and the parents lived cheek by jowl.Centuries back ,his ancestors fleeing from Madhura on incurring the Kings displeasure, travelled through Kodakkanal ranges and finally have settled in five hamlets called Oors(Shires)on the plains of Kurunji. They also include some who were scared away to the forests by the Mysore Sultans .Abhimanyu belongs to the eighth generation of the people who inherited 400 years of agro- culture and traditions. His father Manoharan who was well versed in Epics and Puranas named the son after the valiant Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna; the great warrior depicted in Mahabharatha.

Vattavada where he was born is the microcosm of the Tamil culture. The ministers , Mannadiyars, the feudal lords with all their hideous Gothra social moors like Oorukoottam,Ooruvilakku (Social ostracism),clan specific customs, cast-rituals ,taboos and totems are bundled and entrenched in their psyche, that ruled the roost.

Abhimanyu reached home every holiday without fail. Such was the organic bond that glued them together. He helped his parents in the fields, rustled up some food in the kitchen, helped his mother in her daily chores. He was happy that his mousy sister would get hitched shortly. He filled in the applications to the authorities on behalf of the illiterates, held meetings and awareness programmes, organised tournaments and other entertainments to benefit the localites , an assignment right up his alley -with the flag of the progressive youth organisation, the DYFI held high in his arm.

The illiterate and marginalised fellow men rooted in poverty and squalor looked up at him for all their hope of succor. He was Abhimon for them. Abhi was a trail blazer who was born in the rustic community to cut the head of the snake of superstitions ,occult practices and such other blind beliefs and rear them to the brave new world.The blood thirsty vampires had other plans-they drank the life blood of the burgeoning youth. People stood benumbed and horrified, struck in disbelief over the tragedy befallen on the rising star.

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Our campuses have always been violent. It always had to do with a particular party being in power.Many national parties have their ‘chapters’ in nearly every university campus in India. Many campuses also have caste or community-based organisations. It is not infrequent that two or more of such groups of students come into serious confrontations with each other.

Slamming student politics in educational institutions, a Division Bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh, while issuing an order on a contempt of court petition filed by the MES College, Ponnani, had observed that political activities such as dharna, hunger strike and practices such as satyagraha had no place in a constitutional democracy, much less in academic institutions. Educational institutions were meant for imparting education and not politics.Raising serious objections against party politics in the campus, the draft education policy envisages curbs on campus politics and the report summarizes:“The point in short is that it is now essential to review the current situation, and find the balance between free speech and freedom of association guaranteed by the Constitution, the needs of various sections of society, and balance them with the primary purpose for which the universities and institutions of higher learning have been established.

What drives student politics? Is it ideology or the transcient thrill? Do our campuses remain cradles of great ideas anymore?

More loudly do we have sufficient reason to believe that campus politics need to go?

Politics is so deeply entrenched in our system, our economic development – industries, corporates, social welfare schemes, health, education, infrastructure development are all dictated by politics. Student politics, though a great faultline of Indian academics, has umbilical links with national and state level politics. It becomes a launch-pad for new leaders and is much desirable as it gives students a platform to make their voices heard. The absence of politics in college campuses would make the students fossilised, obscurantist, undemocratic and anarchic. It could transform the campuses to landfill sites that act as snug hideouts for the trained viral vectors of racial- terror.

Lyngdoh Committee headed by former election commissioner, Shri J.M Lyngdoh advocated the need to unhinge campuses from political parties but sustain student politics as it was important for building a vigilant citizenry especially in a democratic country like India. Centre for Public Policy Research had conducted a detailed study in “Campus Democracy in India” and was also emphatic on the need to preserve student politics.

In India 70% voters are the youths. If every youngster thinks that politics is a rotten place where angels fear to tread and are shied away, then after some years, politics will be a gerontocracy-a sanctuary of Methuselahs and the patriarchs with moth-eaten ideals.

Ban on campus politics is preposterous and never an answer. We need to set in place the right systems and methods for students to express their thoughts and ideals which is definitely the way ahead.

The Kerala society has expressed their extreme anguish over the ghastly murder apolitically. SanghParivar brigades on the other hand, are trying to fish in troubled waters by being rhetoric over Hindu victimhood and cry foul that the Moslem fundamentalists are targeting Hindus, thereby fanning the religious sentiments aimed at furthering the Hindu-Moslem divide. Like the majority Hindus are averse to Sangh Parivar, the real Islam believers must reject the carnival barkers of Islamic terrorism. It is for the faithfuls to take the bull by its horns and play a pivotal role in fighting terror-officiants of all hues in their respective religion.

The saffron-clad fanatics clamour that they alone can effectively combat the threat of minority communalism and Moslem terrorism. It has to be born in mind that minority consolidation on religious lines emboldens the majority communalism. Secularists believe that in these troubled times of the regime of the majority religion acting on its whims, it s far more imperative to rally against the Sangh Parivar family .

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“En Kiliye...En Arumai....Nanpetta Makane...(My young bird,My Son,My son from my womb.),the wail of the mother was heart-wrenching. The boorish philistine who prised out the dreams of the youth, would not feel the pang of parting and that the gash cannot be sewed up easily. They have quenched their thirst with the hot blood of the youngster who came from a remote world to the city to ease the life of his fellow men.

NeelaKKurinhi” is a phenomenon, a rare flower that blooms in every 12 years in July that swaddles the entire hamlet like a blanket of beautiful blue, rather a blue-sea, its waves dancing with the breeze and in the moon-lit nightskys-a scintillating spectacle that enthralled people for generations .

Neelakkurinji is truant this season as if the nature grieves for the dead.

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We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn't a matter of political correctness. It's a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith.--Barack Obama

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Bismi-the angel

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
― Leo F. Buscaglia

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ith the smile that gloss and glazes like sunbeam-that shines with the aplomb welled up –Anugrah, frail and limp , climbs down the steps of the elementary school closely followed by Phathima Bismi ,his alter ego . Anugragh the boy , afflicted by cerebral palsy is in the lead and the little girl who had been his crutch to lean on from first standard onwards is close to his heels .They wistfully bid adieu to the school as they have to be moving to the higher secondary classes in another school.
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On a rainy june day seven years back, Anugraph came to the school, his body hung on the mom’s shoulder, limbs emaciated and drooping who cannot articulate well. His mother must be near if he has to read, write, drink or to eat. He could not do anything on his own. Cerebral palsy is a loss or inability to control over the body movements; or motor problems in regulating the hand and arms during manual tasks. These losses or impairment of motor functions arise due to abnormal or incomplete brain development .

Bismi watched the mother and the teachers handle him and now she could tend him by herself. The boys mother, being pregnant for the second time stopped coming to school. When Manikandan ,his father comes to school with Anugrah on his bycycle ,Bismi will be ready to take charge of her friend . With books in one hand and the boy half her weight saddled on the left of the wasp waist, she would ramble round through the gardens, class rooms. The tender girl treated the boy as if her own little brother-assisted him in class portions, washed his hands, fed him -took him to the lavatrine, helped him hygienic-all by herself as a mature women above her age. She nestled him close till his third standard, thenceforth he learnt to walk himself.

Bismi has lifted the differently abled boy to the full of the joys of spring, who in most likelihood would have tethered to his own world. When he ran she also ran with him lest he should fall -a bonhomie as scarce as hen’s teeth beyond the cliché of cast, creed or colour. Now Anugrah can walk without fear of fall. He slowly regained the articulative skills. He studies, dances, write storeys and even take part in school dramas. The teaching faculty did all the care and help to the boy. The doctors attest that it was the self-confidence imparted by Bismi which alone took him through the ordeal while the presence of the caring teachers and parents created congenial atmosphere .The solace and succour that Bismi brought in was a matter of astonishment for her teachers ,students and the family .She has become a model .By the time the boy reached 7thbstandard in the Parambinkadavu Mommed Abdulrahman Memorial Upper Primary School ,the pupil were ready at any time to take care of the boy. The school provides all necessary background for the differently abled students to complete the primary classes.The children hogged the media lime light and the external world took note.

UNICEF recognised the report on them. When the news got viral, not to give a toss about, Bismi as usual was with his friend around the water-tapes and in the play-ground .He grew up and need not be lapped up or spoon fed now. But still she needs to be vigilant whether he would fall and get his limbs cracked. The parents of a differently abled boy have to go through a difficult patch. But thanks to Bismi, his mom had to come to school very sparingly.The mother said:”Let all god’s grace be showered on this little angel. She is such a child with all the love of God.”

They have now to move to Payimbra Govt High School to continue studies. The mother sighs; “My mind whispers to me -Bismi shall still be there with my child. I leave the hope in the hands of the girl. .”

In the night on the eve of the final exam ,the boy amidst his restlessness told the mother:”What a nice thing it could be if there is 8th standard in the school.” Prof: Muthukad the leading magician and inspiration speech maker ,also Unicef media adviser and the most revered Catholic Bava Basallius Marthoma Paulose came to visit the school.

Sri.Muthukad was all praise for Bismi and said that she is the embodiment of commiseration for human life. He reminisces the question asked by Almustaffa the main protagonist, in the prose poem ‘ Prophet’ from Kahlil Gibran ;” who is God?”

Muthukad has his answer: ” One who loves the other not for his benefit, the one that artlessly bears compassion in the eyes-I can see that empathy in her eyes.” The educational expenses will now be borne by the magician. He is also in the process of involving the social justice ministry to take up the education and medical expenses of Anugrah.

The catholic Bishop reached Kakkodi to grace Anugrah and Bismi and their family. The Bishop has inaugurated the road construction initiative of ‘The residence Association’ that runs in front of the house of Anugrah.The Gram Panchayath also sanctioned one and a half lakh rupees for the initiative.

“True empathy requires that you step outside your own emotions to view things entirely from the perspective of the other person.” Anonymous.

(The article is originally published in Mathrubhumi, a malayalam daily Weekend edition by Ms.KC Rahna-She is available at rehana.kc@gmail.com)

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The new cartography of terror.

M
aai,/I sent the horses trotting,/And they found their way back home./But, I couldn't.
My legs that you thought were/Swift as those of a deer,/They froze./Maai, they froze./But I sent the horses home./The purple flowers,
The yellow butterflies,/They stood there helpless./While I sent the horses back home.
Maai,/Tell Baba that I know,/I know,/I know he tried./I heard him say out my name,/I heard him repeat it loud./But,/I was sleepy Maai,/I was tired./Them monsters,/They hurt me bad.
Strange as it may seem to you,/Maai,/It feels like your warmth now.

The #JusticeForAsifa message on my whatsApp wall reads thus.

We have failed an eight year old and the whole humanity too!!

The brutal rape and savagery of an-eight-year-old ,perhaps even more diabolical than Nirbhaya, in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir ,over 1000 km from Unnao, have boiled up a nation-wide outrage. A Bakherwal nomadic Muslim tribal girl went missing on January 10 from their camp in Rasana village in Kathua, 60 Km from Jammu where she stayed with her family. She was abducted while grazing horses in the forest and was sedated over and over before being ravished by six men, inside and outside a Devasthan(Not to be confused with a Temple, Devstan is -“kul aka clan-deities abode“ where only the families to whom it belong, perform the ritual). She was tortured to death on January 14- the body to be recovered from Rasana forest in Hira Nagar on January 17, a week after she went missing. On January 23, A week later,on January 23 ,After the body was found, and the J&K government handed over the case to the SIT of the Crime Branch.

Three months passed. On April 9, the Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which took over the investigation, filed a charge sheet in court.
The rape was committed on purpose to bully the Bakherwal community in to decamping the suburb for which the 8-year- old girl has became essentially the ‘soft target. Bakerwals are one of 12 scheduled tribes in J&K with a population of just over 60,000-Muslims by belief. They are nomadic herdsmen, a floating population with seasonal earnings on their live stocks. They drift to the Valley and Ladakh in summer and shifts back to the forests of Jammu in winter. Walking over four months a year in search of grazing grounds, they stay afloat, pitch tents where they find fit to stay.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday said the Kathua gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua earlier this year was shameful. “After 70 years of independence, such an incident occurring in any part of the country is shameful,” he said during his visit to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Trust University in Jammu today.

True to his characteristic silence amidst furious tweets on irrelevant events, on Friday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of BabaSaheb Ambedkar memorial,New Delhi ,condemned the Kathua and unnao incidents and declared; “I want to assure the nation that no culprits will be spared, complete justice will be done. Our daughters will definitely get justice”. Close to its heals ,the two J&K ministers under cloud got the sack for taking part in the rally in support of Kathua rape accused,averting a coalition crisis.

Later at an official visit to the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, 18 April, he addressed the 'Bharat ki Baat, Sabke Saath' programme at the iconic Central Hall Westminster in London and referred to the Kathua and said there should be no politics over rape. ” A rape is a rape. How can we tolerate this exploitation of our daughters? “

Kathua incident is a crime against humanity: Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

Earlier, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in an interview to a news channel, had stated that the culprits in both Kathua and Unnao would be punished and justice done to the victims. Mehbooba Mufti took to Twitter earlier and assured that her government will ensure that no other child will ever face such brutality and atrocity. Terming as "horrific" the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl, UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed hope that the authorities will bring perpetrators of the brutal crime to justice.

Seven persons accused in the case have been charged with crimes under Sections 302, 376, 201 and 120-B of the Penal Code.

The JK Police’s crime branch in its 18 page charge sheet has accused Sanji Ram, a former revenue official and caretaker of the Devasthan in Hiranagar where the victim was allegedly confined, He is the prime accused, the conspirator and mastermind of the abduction, rape and murder of the little girl. The charge sheet says that it was Sanji Ram, who delegated the juvenile nephew, his son Vishal and their acquaintant Parvesh with kidnapping the-8-year-old. Two special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surinder Kumar were also involved in the crime. Two other police officials, Head Constable Tilak Raj and Sub Inspector Anand Dutta were bribed to give a leg up in the crime. Separate charge sheet was filed on Tuesday on the role of the juvenile, who cannot be publicly named according to the law. Ram surrendered on March 20 after his son was arrested from Uttar Pradesh a day earlier.

On January 11, six days before the child's body was recovered , the juvenile phoned his cousin Jangotra and asked him to return from Meerut where he was studying if he wanted to "gratify his lust", the charge sheet stated. According to the investigation, Khajuria the SPO also reached the culvert near the forest where she was taken to eliminate, told them to wait as "he wanted to rape her before she is killed". The charge sheet said the girl was once again gang-raped and later killed by the juvenile.

All eight are under arrest.

The Jammu High Court Bar Association called for a bandh on Wednesday demanding that the investigation be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Khatua bar-chief Kirthi Bhushan Mahajan said that duress and undue force was used on the local population in Rasana and all these suspicions and doubts could be cleared by a CBI enquiry.

According to Shoeb Alam, standing counsel for J&K, “The police team was heckled by the lawyers and prevented from submitting the charge sheet before the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Kathua.” The 3 member bench of SC headed by the Chief Justice Dipak Misra took cognizance of the developments and said that impeding the process of law “affects the delivery of justice”

Hindu Ekta Manch a platform set up, a week before the body was found in the forest, by affiliates of the Sangh Parivar under the leadership of BJP state secretary Vijay Kumar , has been consistent in support of the arrested policeman, demanding transfer of the case to the CBI. The main accused Sanjhi Ram is the founding member of Hindu Ekta Manch. Addressing the Manch-led protest gathering, state Industries and Commerce Minister Chander Parkash Ganga hit out at the police for the arrest .“ We will not allow this jungle raj, under which people are picked up at will. Forest Minister Lal Singh questioned why the probe was not being handed over to the CBI. The protests demanding SanjiRam’s release evoked a sharp reaction from chief minister Mehbooba Muft who tweeted; ” Appalled by the marches & protests in defence of the recently apprehended rapist in Kathua. Also horrified by their use of our national flag in these demonstrations, this is nothing short of desecration.” The Bharatiya Janata Party leader Chander Prakash Ganga, who was seen at a rally organised in support of the accused claimed that he was asked to attend the event by the state party chief Sat Sharma, a report said.

All over the world, nomadic communities have always been feared, discredited and abused by communities who live in settled habitats.The purported motive behind the assault –that to shy away the nomads from their neighbourhood does not hold water as they had never been a perceived threat to the social fabric of the region. Vrinda Karat rightly asks;”Whereas in every other case the Sangh Parivar has been campaigning for the abolition of Article 370, in the case of the Bakherwal and Gujjar communities the Sangh Parivar has taken shelter under Article 370 to deprive these communities of their rights on forest land under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006. Thus whereas under the FRA the rights of the Bakherwals on forest land would have to be recognised, Article 370 prevents its automatic applicability in Jammu and Kashmir”

The system is highly loaded against the oppressed .All hate crimes are built over the superstructure of community rights and religion. To superimpose the crime on the tussle over forest rights would only boil down the gravity of the brutality brought upon the little girl. The investigation must be pursued for the hate crime that it is- just not be tied down to the community’s rights. It is sad, that the bogey of likely demographical shift to the benefit of Muslims is utterly a warped logic to deny citizenship rights to the nomads.

The BJP rabble rousers in the ministry have communalised the barbarity beyond norms for political point-scoring. It took 4 months for the grisly murder to become public, the delay smelt of the shenanigans of the political genie and media remiss. India has a dubious notoriety as a nation where rapists are shielded and feasted by the institution while the victims are named, shamed and shattered.

If a Hindu girl is raped in Bengal liberals are left with a frog in their throat, when it happens to a Muslim girl in UP secularists do a hatchet job to paint the saffron black. The fumbling of Kathua horror by the BJP is helping radicals in Kashmir to whip up anti-India sentiments. By bringing a Pakistani-shade for the rape the BJP leaders have unwittingly made a mockery of themselves, betraying their knavishness and folly. The political discourse brought on the dissection table is being dictated and vitiated by cancerous, communal and cast cliques to score political points.

The Kathua can be a litmus test for India’s democratic justice delivery credos. Child rapes are as regular as clockwork and can happen at predictable intervals at any nook and cranny of the country. Kathua case begs to be taken to its logical conclusion. The child victim must get justice. Otherwise we would have failed her and the nation. Malefic machismo has engulfed the nation.

Her adopted father had lost two children in a bus accident around the time she was born. He cried and begged his sister to give him the little girl. He said raising her would take some of the grief away. After a year, the sister relented and gave her youngest child to her brother. They lived together for the six months spent in Kargil. During the winter, the two families moved in different directions , one to Samba and other to Kathua. The biological mother’s eyes well up as she returns to where the horses were grazing. “My little girl liked horses” ,she reminisced.

The police never bothered them, nor did the people in the towns and villages they passed through. Their only fear was wild animals but now they have to fear people also.” I could have found some peace had an animal attacked her, but how can human beings be that cruel to do what they did to her?” she laments.
The grief-stricken family of, quietly packed their haversacks, saddled their horses and have set off on their annual journey to the pasture lands deep in the hills of the state, with the hope that justice will be done in the case. It’s an annual ritual, this trek with grazing livestock ,through various districts in Jammu province to Kashmir and Ladakh. They do it every summer. They have not abandoned the hamlet.

The whatsApp message ends with heart-wrenching swansong;

It doesn't hurt anymore./The blood has dried/And it looks like the purple blossoms/That swayed with me in the meadows./It doesn't hurt, Maai.
Maai,/The monsters are still out there./And there are stories too./Don't listen to them Maai,
Gut wrenching and agonizing they are/And a lot you've gone through./Maai,/Lest I forget,/There's a temple there/Where lives a goddess.
Thank her,/For I think it's she who helped,/The horses find their way back home.

Soon apples will be in season, she loved apples.

“It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style. They affect us just as vulgarity affects us. They give us an impression of sheer brute force, and we revolt against that.
Sometimes, however, a tragedy that possesses artistic elements of beauty crosses our lives. If these elements of beauty are real, the whole thing simply appeals to our sense of dramatic effect. Suddenly we find that we are no longer the actors, but the spectators of the play. Or rather we are both. We watch ourselves, and the mere wonder of the spectacle enthralls us.”

― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

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Updates

• Raipur:Seven-year-old girl sexually assaulted in school
  By ANI | Published: 21st April 2018 08:56 AM | Last Updated: 21st April 2018 08:56 AM | A+A A- |

  With the ongoing Unnao and Kathua rape cases, the Indian social media has been abuzz with the words - "rape horror".. Massive protests are being held across the country for demanding death penalty for those accused of raping minors.

  RAIPUR:

  In yet another case of crime against minors, a seven-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted at Raipur's Campion School. Meanwhile, the police said that they were investigating the matter and were examining CCTV footages of the school. An FIR was lodged for the same.

  The president of Child Right Commission, Prabha Dubey, told ANI, "I have spoken to the girl personally. She is saying that a 'bhaiya' had allegedly molested her. We asked the peon of the school about the undergarment, to which she replied that she had thrown away the undergarment since the girl had urinated on it. I will constitute a team to investigate the matter."

• Bihar:13-year-old girl kills self after father rapes her
  By PTI | Published: 21st April 2018 01:57 AM | Last Updated: 21st April 2018 01:57 AM | A+A A- |

  BETTIAH:

  A 30-year-old man was arrested today for allegedly raping his 13-year-old daughter following which she committed suicide in Bihar's West Champaran district, an official said. The girl's body was found yesterday hanging from the ceiling at her house in a village which comes under the jurisdiction of Majhaulia police station, Superintendent of Police Jayant Kant said.

  Police sources said an FIR was lodged on the basis of the statement of the mother of the girl. A panchayat meeting was held at the request of the girl and her mother on her sexual exploitation around a week ago, and her father was rebuked at the meeting, the sources said. After the meeting, the girl was mentally disturbed and she ran away from the village on Wednesday. She was brought back by family members but after a few days she committed suicide, the sources said.

• 3-year-old girl raped allegedly by neighbour in Madhya Pradesh
  By ANI | Published: 26th April 2018 11:36 AM | Last Updated: 26th April 2018 11:36 AM | A+A A- |

  CHHATARPUR;

  A 3-year-old girl was allegedly raped on Wednesday night in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur district. The incident took place when the accused neighbour allegedly sneaked into the girl's house and found the victim alone in her house. The accused was arrested immediately after the incident.
  "We have registered the case and the accused has been arrested. Further investigation underway," said Superintendent of Police (SP), RR Parihar. The girl was admitted to the district hospital at Chhatarpur where she is undergoing treatment. (ANI)

The Candy smelling Bappa

“Our soul longs to be of service in some way. It's why we are here. If you weren't meant to touch the world in some way, you wouldn't be here. What act of service calls to you? Even the smallest thing has an effect in eternity.”
― Eileen Anglin

A
re you marooned at City Bu Stand in Kasaragod? Do you find no transport to your remote village in the night? Sathar could be somewhere near to take you home.

His father would not come back. He knows it too well but hops on hope:”Some day, he would be spotted in town at a wee hour. I need to take him home.”

In June it does not rain but pours in these part of the country .Sathar summons back the vivid memory of an early June day in 1979, when as a kid clinging to his Bappa’s fingers was on their way to the Subah at Talangara mosque. After the Subah Namaskar he followed his father to the railway station waving him off to Bombay. Hassainar,his bappa(father) was a sailor with MV Kairali ,a merchant vessel owned by Kerala Shipping corporation. It was enroute for Rostock in Germany crewed by a team of 51 aboard. The ship was lost at mid sea moving at a good clip to Jibutha in Africa for fuelling. There were no news of shipwreck that left the family with faint promise of return. Rumours had it that the ship was sunk either in a PLI operation or hijacked by sea-pirates.

Hassainar was dear to the villagers and the family alike. It was his second marriage to Sathar’s mother Rukhiya. They were Darby and Jhon. When he was home, it was gaiety and merrymaking like a wedding day. The separation was a rude shock to his mother and after two years she died nursing the agony. Sathar stopped school going. He helped his uncle in laterite-wall-constructions. He forgot his father. Life was a treadmill.

Years after, when Sathar became a father, when his own children grew up before him he remembered his father. He began to ask; ’’Uppa, where are you now?” The thought that his father would one day turn up in the town was poignant and eerily evocative. He ran his scooter to the nooks and corners of the town, to the railway station, to the bus stops hoping his father would one day show up in the night of the town. During such wistful wait for his father he would ask those strangers stranded in the night where they wanted to go and volunteer a ride. He took them to their destinations without recompense.

Sathar once stumbled upon a man in the bus stand at midnight with his six year old boy –a cancer patient. With them on the pillion he rode 70 Km in that night through the rugged terrain to the remote destination, telling them that he is also on to the same place. His method is to accost the estranged passenger, ask where he wanted to go and reassure the poor mortal that he is also going to the same place and will only be pleased if he would not mind sharing the pillion. The heartfelt words like:”let God grace you” are the fuel for his two wheeler .He has a method in his madness. Safe home, he would say the truth that the journey was actually meant as a help. It was a make-belief, a clever ruse else they would fight shy off and resign. The child’s father was so happy that he embraced him, tears of gratitude run down his cheeks.

Another night a man spotted running on the road in panic was rushed to the Railway station on his scooter. The man’s wife was to undergo a surgery next day at Chennai. He was to deposit a tidy sum of money before the surgery and was in the town to scrape together enough cash .When they reached the station the west Coast was ready to leave.

Sathar was there to help many –whose name was even not known to him. He did not wish anything as return favour.

In yet another night a Muslim scholar on his way to Sa-Adiya,Deli Arabic college was left high and dry in the city stand. Sathar took him to the college. The Ustad was persistently looking for a quid pro quo. Sathar after much coaxing accepted 1Re coin as a token-the token of love. The routine for years gets intercepted scarcely, only when he is confined to home due to fever or is away on inescapable preoccupations. On Hartal days he would roam in the town looking for the marooned.

He lands in the town with tank-full and a few bottles of petrol in reserve. This is the fifth scooter in the love-route, having served one lakh kilometres and had developed considerable wear and tear. He plans to purchase a new one when all the monthly instalments are cleared.

Sathar is known to all the beat-police in town. They used to warn him over the risks in driving in the night for long and remote hamlets .Sathar leaves his life in the hands of God. There are three in his vehicle –The pillion passenger, himself and the God.

Not just well-wish and prayer alone, but he had to fair share of bitter experiences galore. Once a youth half way to the Railway station got off and happily walked away .When he searched his pocket for the 500 Rs fresh note he kept ,he found that he was pick pocketed. Sathar did not nurse any grudge. His penury, his incomplete house on two cents or the liabilities did not deter him from the noble cause.

Once he took a man in the lurch at KSRTC bus stand who wanted to reach a remote place called Buttikadavu ,a good 35 Km away from the stand. On reaching the destination, as being wont to him, he disclosed that he has biked these distances only to help him. He was invited to stay in his house for the night which he promptly declined .They exchanged their mobile numbers. On the way back he was intercepted by a gang of thugs who wanted to know his mission there. As he could not recollect the name of the place where he left the stranger-friend they took their dagger out. He revved the engine up, sped past through the narrow alleys- clutching his life in his hands, the gang being close behind. Somehow he took asylum in a house beside the road. The Battikadavu passenger was rung up and the man came with his associates for his safety. Sathar remembers of similar incidents in the course of his adventures.

There will usually be ten to fifteen people in a day left helpless, as without transport. There will be someone who is disabled or a man who is desperate to reach to his place, whether it be a short hop or long rides. For these men he waits in the night.

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But...the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

Courtesy to an article written by Rubin Joseph in Mathrubhumi Malayalam daily on 8th April 2018

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The dingy ,stinky "Other"

M
adhu a 27-year-old tribal youth has been brutally assaulted and lynched to death on Thursday evening by the irate upscales of Kaduku Manne ooru , a hamlet in Attapady region in Palghat district, Kerala.He is alleged to have stolen some grocery from the neighbourhood provision shops .

Madhu the tribesman was a frail, illiterate, mentally ill and a destitute living in a cave on the fringes of the forest. He was hounded and made to walk 4 miles from his hideout with the heavy load on his shoulder-beaten body-mind all the way, battered, his ribs splintered and tied by the worn-out rag he wore. He was handed over to the police and declared brought dead on reaching the Government Tribal Specialty Hospital at Kottathara. The frenzied mob feted in the selfie - the photographs of which emerged in the social media- that flew the netizens off the handle. The incident had sent shock waves across the state.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described Madhu’s death: ”This heinous act is a blot on Kerala’s progressive society. But I want to assure you that strict action will be taken at the earliest against all the culprits to ensure that such crimes, especially against people from communities that were long marginalised, are not repeated."

Finance Minister Isaac wrote an emotional post. It said: “The innocence in Madhu’s eyes and the images of the merciless mob that killed him would haunt Kerala for a long time. Let’s stop talking about the high social and political consciousness of the state."

Malayalam superstar Mammootty has taken to social media to condemn the incident: “I will not call him adivasi, but my brother. The mob has killed my younger brother. If you think as a human being, Madhu is your son and brother. Above that, he is a citizen like any of us, who has his rights. One who steals food to feed his hunger shouldn’t be called a thief; poverty is created by society,” Mammootty wrote in Malayalam.

Author KR Meera came down heavily on the attackers, sharing a poem that she wrote on the incident: “Next time, ensure that you take more people along, burst crackers outside the cave and threaten him. And when he comes out all frightened, catch him with a trap. Tie him upside down, collect water in a big vessel and light fire to it. From the carry bag, take the rice and boil it. Light the beedis and wait.

Actor Joy Mathew also took to Facebook to condemn Madhu’s killing, saying that the state of Kerala must hang its head in shame."

“They beat him to death, accusing him of robbing a shop for items worth Rs 200. Since Madhu is not part of any political party, there will be no one to fight for him. But we should all feel ashamed thinking about that Malayali who took a selfie and celebrated, just moments before Madhu was beaten to death,” Joy wrote.

Social activist Rajendra Prasad, president of Thampu, an NGO that works with Adivasis in Attappady, said Madhu’s death should be considered as part of broader social ills. He said several Adivasis in Attappady had become mentally ill after they lost land and became jobless. “Madhu’s Kurumba tribe has close to 4,000 members and starvation is a big issue among them. Most of them live in the forest, and come to the plains once in a week to buy food.”

Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha leader Geethanandan said that Advasis in Attappady were vulnerable to attacks.Settlers are all too powerful and they have the support of the powers-that-be.

Adivasis once constituted 90% of Attappady’s population (1951 census), but their numbers steadily started dwindling with the arrival of settlers from across Kerala and Tamil Nadu. According to the 2011 census, Adivasis comprise just 34% of the population in the area now.

Adivasis in Attappady mainly belong to three tribes – the Irulas, Kurumbas and Mudugas – each with their own distinctive lifestyle, culture and food habits. The Kurumbas are found closer to the forests while  others occupy the plains. Each community lives in colonies of 60 to 100 families known as oorus or hamlets. At present, Attappady has 192 Adivasi hamlets.

Madhu has been victimised by the civil society. who stalk on the tribals and foray into their natural habitats and bereft them of their natural life. They religiously make sure that the myriads of poverty alleviation schemes of both central and state agencies do not reach the needy. The enormous tribal welfare funds are brazenly syphoned off by the interlopers, politicians and the bureaucrats with impunity. They prescribe the mores and delivers their justice system to them. The civilised society cannot be spared from the atrocity inflicted on the youth and does not qualify for remorse. The incidence explains the pathetic and hopeless tribal trauma.

The tribal hamlets are infested with infant deaths, mal-nutrition, liquor and starvation. They hog occasional media glare when deaths visit them and soon be swooned into oblivion. It is shocking that such things happen in the digital era of 21^st century. Illegal settlings, deforestation, embezzling tribal welfare schemes and flagrant exploitation have kept them historically sidelined and silenced. The mainstream that swaggers on being civilised has the bloodstains on their palm. When the galling storeys of the death of the marginalised ‘other’ come to the fore, we delightfully devour it with the raging lexicon of the debates of the social scientists and brainstorming sessions of the intellectuals.

The society needs to make a reality check, an audit on the fallen trees that made the wooden crosses stand tall in the settlements, the ghost of denuded forests and the razed hillocks, broken-eyed rivulets, hunger-stricken stomachs still there. The Government is duty bound to rein-in the crowd that exterminates the ‘other’. Much pep-talking, pampering and keeping in good humour do not salvage the situation.

The painful death of the Adivasi youth that occasioned by the hate-game on the ‘other’ played by the mainstream raises many a question. Also, It gives us the window –at this historic juncture- to make reparations.

Do the mainstream and the Governmental machinery have the grit and grace to look in the face of it?

Renowned Malayalam poet and humanist SuagathaKumari laments:” We taught them to beg, boozed them, dazzled them with Ghanja, tried to corrupt their women with impunity. We were valorous, unkind, thick-skinned and impious”

We dodged the onus of making his stomach full, but gave him bellyful of sermons, homily and platitudes-his just desserts -and consigned him to the netherworld.

Attappadi is the African replica of the Gods own country. We are in the American route of the annihilation of the aborigines.Attappady, the tribal belt in Kerala– a blot on the glorious human development records of the state.-too big for the britches.

Malnutrition, birth defects and poor maternal health continue to afflict the tribals, with a recent report putting infant death toll at 14 in the last year. The report said, in 2016, eight children died of birth defects in the region.Health officials confirm that fetal deaths also remain high in the region and six deaths have been reported so far this year. In the previous year, the number was eight.Lack of nutrition among pregnant mothers and adolescent girls are the main cause of the high infant mortality rate. The government has been implementing many schemes including the community kitchen in which nutritious meal is supplied for free.A team of experts from the National Institute of Nutrition (2013) visited Attappady tribal area for studying infants or children deaths and reported that the infant mortality rate (IMR) there was 66 as compared to 14.1 deaths per 1000 live births in the rest of the state. Attappady is a tribal block established in 1962 and located east of the Silent Valley in the Western Ghats, one of the world’s most famous biodiversity hotspots. Yet the tribal community, there, are victims of state apathy. Among Adivasi children of 12 months or less, 9.1 percent are severely underweight, 32.2 percent suffer from severe stunting and 7 percent suffer from severe wasting.

Attappady can be called Kerala’s “sub-Saharan Africa,” said the Ekbal Committee (2013) observing that most women had undergone abortion more than once and almost all children examined suffered from anaemia and malnutrition.

“The continuing deaths expose the hollowness in the government’s flawed vision on tribal welfare. What is happening in the region is a combined effect of poverty, lack of employment, land alienation, failure to provide forest rights, loss of traditional agriculture and loss of indigenous food. There must be a comprehensive vision to address the tribal issue of the region,” says tribal activist K.A. Ramu.

Madhu was prey to the incessant violence both explicit and implicit that are orchestrated nationally on the downtrodden, subaltern and the tribal.

Madhu’s death could be a one-off incident-sure not be the last- but a pointer to the harsh reality of deaths due to starvation that still prevails in Attappady, the only tribal block in the state, and yet, neglected by the state government.

Kerala is staring at the “silent genocide.”

“Sadly enough, the most painful goodbyes are the ones that are left unsaid and never explained."― Jonathan Harnisch,Frek

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Hikikomori-the new normal

When the volatile and ever-changing life styles aggravated by technical niceties coupled with the shift in civic consciousness go feral ,its necessary offshoot -the social withdrawal as the Japanese say hikikomori becomes the new normal.

The linear and monocentric growth of cities -historically the principal engine of innovative economic glut –is the hallmark of modern life. People live in snazzy and mammoth apartment complexes –graciously proportioned in the city hearts. People live  shut and shunted from the next door in their cozy cloistered closets ,blissfully disconnected from the neighborhood. The ubiquitous androids and the cyber spaces together have worsened the seclusion of the youngsters leaving them burrowed to their selves. They are now slaves of their-self. They are the victims and actors of cyber perversions. The  less fortunate who come from the outskirts and lower strata of society are no exceptions.

In an a typical instance reported from Pathanamthitta in Kerala a mother of a plus two boy has to resort to legal remedy with the State Women Committee .An elder women with whom the boy got befriended and tangled over mobile, eloped with her .Soon they were hammer and tongs over money .The scuffle that ensued  dragged them to the court and the boy  was sent down for 3 months. Only then the mother came to know of it.

The mother who led a hard scrabbled life ,had after much haggling, cajoling and coaxing  made her son to settle for  a mobile phone in lieu  of his ambitious project  to own a pricey motor bike.

The women’s court on passing orders in the case admonished the lady who had waylaid the boy  in to the immoral life and said that the incident is a blot to the society and an eye opener for the sparing fathers and the spending sons. These and other incidences point to the flagging communal values in our societal spaces. Our youngsters who hold back   and get holed in to their spaces glued to the mobile gadgets and the apps bereft of the social sharing’s and the neighbor hoods –are subjects of the  endemic disease of agoraphobia. According to survey results, 46.3 percent of respondents said they'd experienced phubbing at the hands of their significant other –a term  coined in 2013 and is a portmanteau of the words 'phone' and 'snubbing'. 

There is even a Stop Phubbing campaign group, which started in Australia and was set up to address the problem. While phubbing most definitely has social consequences, it also has a significant environmental impact as smartphones consume far more energy than most of us think.

The reclusive culture acts against the social mores and probity- manifesting itself in road rages ,the shameless audacity in flouting the law and cyber crimes .

People are much more thrilled by the two or three dimensional world of computers than getting thrilled by real world  around them. Today’s technology is already producing a marked shift in the way we think and behave, particularly among the young, and this shift is not positive either.A serious lifestyle change is needed.

The vigil should start from homes and schools. The doting parents who slip in to buying anything they want to quench their greed should teach them to abide by the rules of law and also to answer it.

For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thurst-Khalil Gibran