THRISSUR: Sumathi could not afford to buy dinner for all the three in her family, so she bought a biryani for her daughter Soumya, who was on her way home after a hectic day from Ernakulam. Minutes later, a call came from Soumya. "I'm at Vallathol Nagar and will reach home in some time. Don't bother, I will come home safely," Soumya had said.
However, both Sumathi and Soumya did not know that the family's fate would turn around after that call.
Later, the mother was informed that her daughter has been admitted to the Thrissur Medical College Hospital and that something worse had happened.
From the hospital, Sumathi came to know that Soumya was pushed out of the train and was brutally raped and that she had severe head injuries and a fractured skull. A team of 30 expert doctors and medical assistants were put on duty, but at 3 p.m. on Sunday, doctors declared her dead. On Friday, standing outside the ICU, Sumathi had said, "She is the breadwinner of our family. She wanted to go for higher studies after completing PlusTwo, but she decided against her wish and went to Ernakulam to earn. She is our happiness, our life."
"Our father deserted us seven years ago. Our mother is too weak. I work as a personal driver in a Thrissur family. It is with the hard work of chechi that we are able to make both ends meet," Soumya's brother Santhosh had said.
Now living in a rented home, the family bought a small piece of land recently at Manjakkadu near Shoranur with Soumya's efforts, to build a small home.
"We dreamed of a perfect life, which has been shattered now." he said. Soumya, a smart student, did her schooling at a convent school in Shoranur, which had helped her financially.
She later joined for hotel management course in Ernakulam.
Later, she joined a private firm in Oberon Mall in the city before she completed the course.
She usually comes home on weekends. But on Tuesday, she left for home in her usual passenger train, to be present for a marriage proposal the next day. Santhosh usually picks her up from Thrissur whenever Soumya comes from Ernakulam in the weekends. But on Tuesday, it was Soumya who told her brother not to pick her, as it was a working day for him.
In his wallet, Santhosh always keeps the photos of God and his beloved sister.