THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After getting stranded in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu native Ramesh, 32, decided to leave for his home in Marthandam nine days ago by foot all the way! He opted for the shortest route, which passes through Kerala, and had covered 325 km till Thursday morning when the state police stopped him at Kadampattukonam, some 88km away from his home. Now, it will take a few more days before he reaches home as he has been sent into quarantine. He will be kept under observation at Mar Ivanios College in Thiruvananthapuram.
“We found him walking, looking straight. It was as if the rest of the world didn’t exist. It appeared to us that the only thing on his mind was to get home,” said a police officer. Ramesh, a daily labourer at a farm in Pollachi, told the police that he had left the place on April 15 with just a bottle of water in hand. He took food only when volunteers offered it for free. He filled up the water bottle when it got empty and just walked. Not on a single occasion was he stopped at any of the checkpoints, the officer said.
According to another official, Ramesh may have decided to take matters into his hands after the lockdown was extended on April 14. “It seems he was waiting for the lockdown to be called off on April 14, so that he could join his family. But when it was extended, he thought enough was enough and decided to leave for home,” the officer said. Ramesh’s health condition is said to be normal. But since he had come from another state, he was asked to quarantine.