THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid scores of candidates trying their luck in the assembly polls, there are two who navigated the challenges of independent living at a very young age after losing the love and care of their parents. LDF candidate G Stephen in Kattakada in the capital and Sobha Subin in Kaipamangalam, Thrissur, may be unfamiliar with the word ‘homesick’ as they grew up amid those facing challenges after being orphaned at a tender age.
Sobha became orphaned when he was eight months’ old. His father was imprisoned for murdering his mother. Even before understanding the meaning of life, fate started playing tricks with him.He saw his father for the first while studying in Class 3. Out on parole, he had come to meet Sobha. His father gave Sobha a Rs 10 note while returning. When he returned home from school, his ‘mother’, who raised him after the death of his biological mother, was enraged by the act and threw the note in the hearth, he remembers.
He was raised by his maternal uncle and was given the name Sobha in memory of the name of his mother. However, fighting all odds, he completed a degree in law while doing odd jobs like cleaning plates, venturing into the sea and casting fishing net in sea.In the meantime, he was engaged in student politics and later became the state secretary of the Youth Congress. Though he tried his luck in West Asia like an average Malayali, he returned to Kerala soon and continued his social service. In the last local body polls, he defeated CPM candidate in Thrissur district panchayat.
In the case of Stephen, he lost his mother at age six and father at age nine. Since then, he grew up in the houses of relatives and CPM office in Kattakada. The photos fixed on the walls like AKG, Lenin etc were his childhood friends. At the age of 14, he started his social life by joining the Balasangham and later became CPM Kattakada area committee secretary and Thiruvananthapuram district committee member.