KOLLAM: “Ente ponnumone!” Maniyamma’s cries echoed through the halls of her house in Sasthamcotta, for she could not bear the loss of her dear grandchild. It was she who looked after him after his mother recently left for Kuwait for a job.
“All that I know is that I lost my son,” said Midhun’s father Manu, before a near breakdown. He had promised his son that they would buy new footwear that evening, but his teenage son never entered the home alive.
Midhun’s younger brother, Sujin, didn’t know how to respond, as he stared through the walls of his home. “Manu Bhavan” remained in grief, as the entire locality gathered to mourn Midhun’s untimely demise.
A daily wage construction worker, Manu and his family lived along the shores of the Sasthamcotta lake. They maintained good relations with their neighbours. “Both the children were born and brought up here itself,” said Valiyapadam East panchayat member T Sivarajan, with whom the family shared a close bond. “Manu and his wife, Suja, always had big dreams about their children.
It was for this reason that Suja went abroad,” West Kallada panchayat president C Unnikrishnan told TNIE. Their home, which lies in a pathetic condition now, was not included in the LIFE Mission’s 2020 list, the president said. “Even though officers inspected the house twice, they remarked that the house cannot be included in the list,” he said.
Midhun was trying to get hold of his friend’s footwear, with which they played. “We repeatedly told him not to go,” said a friend. Midhun had joined Thevalakkara Boys’ High School one month ago.
Classmates remembered him as a good friend. “Midhun used to study well. He was so happy that he got into the school football team,” his tuition mate said. Sadly, his football dreams remain unfulfilled, and his drawings incomplete. The hustles will fade, the crowd will leave. Authorities will do things as per the official instructions. But the loss — that will remain with Midhun’s family forever!