VILLUPURAM: Rain gods refused to smile on the farmers for the better part of the samba season. Ezhumalai (61), of Kayathur village, like many other farmers, had taken loans banking on high yield.
However, the drought put paid to the hopes. Whatever he could salvage was destroyed in the recent unseasonal rains. Watching his crops wither and then get soaked took a toll on Ezhumalai’s health and he died after a heart attack on Monday.
Ezhumalai had cultivated paddy on two acres after taking loans. When rains failed him, he borrowed money to sink a bore well. Luck betrayed him again as the motor failed to draw water as the groundwater table had receded. On Monday evening, he visited his farmland and after a brief while fainted. People working on a neighbouring farm took him to government medical college hospital in Mundiyambakkam, where he died on Tuesday.