THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Aneesha’s wait for Varun was unusually long that day. Finally, when Varun reaches home, his hands are empty. “Not even a single kit?” Aneesha asks in desperation. Varun then goes on to describe the horrifying scenes around. “I have searched each nook and cranny of the city. Not a single oxygen booth is open. Several booths were rampaged and kits stolen,” he tells Aneesha who is worried that the remaining oxygen kits would only help them survive one or two more days.
Aneesha and Varun are central characters of the short story ‘Pranavaayu’ (Life Breath) written by Ambikasutan Mangad. The prophetic story written in 2015 portrays the struggle of a city where oxygen supply is low and all people depend on oxygen kits to breathe.
“People are dying on the streets as they can’t breathe. There are two bodies near our flat too,” Varun says.The story, which gives the reader a rude shock as the picture portrayed by the author is so grim, was published on July 5, 2015, in the Sunday magazine of a vernacular daily. The resemblance of the story to the happenings triggered by the second wave of Covid-19 was noticed by readers after the author posted the story on his Facebook page on Saturday.
“I still remember the night when I had written the story at one stretch. That night, I had returned home after attending an environment seminar at NSS College, Changanassery, where I spoke about some disturbing truths. I couldn’t sleep that day and, suddenly, there was the urge to write and I wrote Pranavaayu in the middle of the night,” Mangad told TNIE.
During the talk at the college, he narrated the plight of people living in Enmakaje village in Kasaragod which had been the epicentre of the endosulfan tragedy. The story is themed on people’s suffering caused by the blind, oppressive acts against ecology.
Mangad is an environmental activist and has been working for the welfare of endosulfan victims. “While I was narrating the hardship of Enmakaje residents and kids, the audience looked stunned. I could see tears in some eyes. I concluded the speech with a query: Will you laugh if I say you will have to pay for oxygen 10 years from now?” recalled Mangad.
He had reminded the audience how people had become used to purchasing bottled water. “Ten or 15 years ago, people would have laughed had someone said that drinking water will soon have to be purchased,” he said during the talk.Though he concluded the speech with that query, oxygen shortage and its implications for mankind refused to leave his mind.
What touched readers the most was the conclusion of the story. Failing to find a way to procure an emergency oxygen kit, Varun decided to do the unthinkable. “One of us should die tonight so that others can survive for four or five more days,” Varun tells Aneesha during supper.
“What do you mean?” asks Aneesha.
“There are two old people here, dad and mom. We may remove the mask of one of them,” he replies.“Who?” Aneesha asks in awe. “I don’t know. You decide,” says Varun.