One year on, Rohith’s mother picks up the pieces of her life

Every night when Radhika lies down to sleep, she sees the image of her son’s burning pyre.
Rohith's mother, Radhika at her home on outskirts of Guntur. (EPS | Sathya Keerthi)
Rohith's mother, Radhika at her home on outskirts of Guntur. (EPS | Sathya Keerthi)

GUNTUR: The red fridge that stored the neighbours’ water bottles, the sewing machine which enabled Radhika Amma to keep things going, the utensils in which she served white rice and ulligadda karam (fried onions and chilli powder) are all the same at Rohith Vemula’s home. The things that he proudly shared on his Facebook account -- “My Home, I am made in here, Savitribai Nagar, Guntur J.”

Only, they are all in a different corner of a different home in a different locality on the outskirts of Guntur. It’s not as crammed as the house we saw in Rohith’s post but one transformed into a home by his mother Radhika.

“This sorakaya (bottle gourd) in the dal is from my little garden,” she said, pointing to a small patch of vegetables.

Radhika and Raja, Rohith’s younger brother, moved here three months ago after three different house owners refused to rent to them.  At one house, they had unloaded their stuff from the trolley when the landlord decided to pull out. His neighbours alerted him about the family that was about to move in. “’She comes on TV and they are anti-Modi’, we heard him say,’” said Raja.

But out here, away from the centre of Guntur, Radhika Vemula is at peace with her surviving son. “No one knows them here. They are safe, at least for now,” said Shiekh Riyaz, Rohith’s friend.

The death threats started on the very day Rohith was cremated. “After the funeral, we went to the room in Uppal where we had moved in just 20 days before his death. People gathered around us and warned us. Rohith’s friends decided it was unsafe for us and we went back to the university,” said Radhika, seated at the sewing machine and stitching the nine petticoats that she has to deliver in the next one hour.

In the year since her son’s suicide, Radhika has travelled around the country to speak for the Dalit cause. She has been to 10 places to share her story. She was at the march in Una, where thousands of Dalits marched 350 km to protest against atrocities against Dalits. She brought back stories from those places. “After we were finished the Una march, we went to a SC man’s house. He welcomed us but begged us to leave soon. He was the only SC in an upper caste colony. He was terrified,” said Radhika. 

It had been her dream to see her sons as scientists. She wanted them called Dr Rohith Vemula and Dr Raja Vemula. If not for Rohith’s suspension by the University of Hyderabad, Raja would by now be on his way to acquiring a PhD from a foreign university.

“There is no hope for me,” said Raja, an MSc grad who was a project fellow at NGRI in Hyderabad till January 2016. “My guiding light is not there anymore. He was the reason I believed in science and dreamt of becoming a scientist. Now I do not feel the zeal.”

Now he drives a Tata Ace transporting goods in Guntur to contribute Rs 500 a day to his mother’s Rs 150 that she earns from her stitching work.

“Sometimes the neighbours offer her a cup of tea if they see that she hasn’t moved from her sewing machine. I did a number of small jobs in the past year. I worked as a daily wager carrying bricks, as a mason, a painter,” said Raja.

A few months after Rohith’s suicide and the storm blew over, Radhika wanted Raja to continue his studies but he wanted to be around. The debate over their Dalit credentials was still going on and he stayed by her side. He tried to find a job but was denied. 

Every night when Radhika lies down to sleep, she sees the image of her son’s burning pyre.

“He said he was lonely but left us alone. Why? Because someone believed he was not worthy of education,” said the 46-year-old mother, breaking down.

However, the mother-son duo are determined to keep going. “My brother has managed to rattle a system that had not been challenged for thousands of years and we are proud of him. We will keep going,” said Raja.

For her part, Radhika feels obliged to attend all the meetings to which she is invited. “I had never seen such big crowds in all my 46 years. “Talking to big groups the day after Rohith’s death, I was terrified. But I realised that I represent all the Dalit mothers who have lost their children,” she said.

Radhika has a mission now. “I was ignorant while Rohith was growing up. Now that I am aware, I will raise and educate children who understand Ambedkar’s ideology and they will all fight casteist mentalities,” she said.

Their plan is already being executed, said Raja. “We are paying the fees for four students already and we plan to educate at least 10 more in the new year,” he added.

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