Raju G. Mendez
Kozhikode: Love and bonds were not discovered, rather they existed from the beginning! Our hearts are still getting in touch with you, Arjun my dear son; his father’s and mother’s hearts beat in pain. My darling, his wife’s heart thumbs in anguish. My father! his kid’s heart’s whiner whimpers in innocence.
They feel to a greater extent than they intuitively miss him badly, but can’t be expressive on it is theirs, a story of grief! There are more passionate reasons in their minds that make them, craving to reach him, in less than no time.
There could be any number of motives why Arjun had decided to take a long journey of hard labor. That has to be analyzed from the social perspective. His folks and his wife look around in the wilderness, eagerly and prayfully, waiting for him to return.
He had promised, as usual, that he would be back within a couple of days. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep his word this time, but not as a consequence of a fault of his own anyway!
Arjun, who went missing, and the truck
The family of Arjun, who has been working as a driver for a Kerala-based trader, used to go on inter-state trips for work, who went missing under the landslide rubble in Karnataka’s Shirur village in Uttara Kannada district, has revived their hopes of finding him. This renewed hope comes after they learned that the engine of his vehicle was operational until the night of Thursday, July 18. The landslide occurred on July 16 due to incessant rainfall.
Arjun’s wife, Krishnapriya, told the media that she is hopeful he is still breathing since his phone was ringing on the morning of July 19. His phone kept ringing when it gets about more than five days they held out hope that their Arjun was alive, but then that hope faded slowly away now….! They are perplexed, between, either realizing that he is still alive or not likely to declare deceased.
Yet they know not for sure where he is or what happened to him while the alarm and search by the Karnataka State Government-appointed crew, was conducted.
He couldn’t have been seeped into the river aside, the rescue team said. And nobody ever stays lost for long in the river. So we need to look for other options They said to manage to make it back on their own.
But Arjun wasn’t found that night, nor for the next five days even after the search went into full force but only due to the pressure from the government of Kerala.
The area came alive with media, especially from Kerala and people of good hearts risking their lives as the area was so vulnerable that yet another landslide could be a reality at any time. There were people on JCB, and experts with other sorts of latest equipment, available. People including Arjun’s close relatives and the truck owner, scouring the mountainside for their lost Arjun.
Did he just decide to walk away from his family who all loved him dearly?
The questions kept coming with no answers in sight range. Which means he may be somewhere under the earth where he could be found. Hope…..that brings in oxygen still into the long wait of all Keralites, in empathy with the family of Arjun.
Arjun’s sister thought it likely “We have received information from Bharat Benz (the company that manufactures trucks and buses) that the engine of the vehicle was on till last night. If that is the case, there are chances of him surviving. Said Arjun’s sister sibling.
The phone was switched on this morning when our cousin called him. However the rescue operation cannot be carried out with a limited number of teams. The Indian Army should be roped in,” reminded Arjun’s sister.
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Manas the truck owner whined “Officials here(in Karnataka) are not assisting properly. The vehicle’s GPS location is where the landslide happened, but the police suggest that the soil would have carried the truck into the river. We consulted with engineers, and they said if that is the case, the location will be shown in the river,” he added.
Shedding tears Arjun’s family said that officials are focusing only on clearing the road. Speaking to the media, his relative Jithin said, “We requested umpteen number of times to accelerate the mission but to no avail”.
Acknowledging their grievances Deputy Commissioner Lakshmi Priya K. said they were doing their level best to find Arjun.
