(From left to right) Aslam, Sherina , their daughter Amna Sherin, Asha with her child, and Shelley
Report and Photographs by Raju G. Mendez
In the serene locality of Malayinkizhu, Thiruvananthapuram District, a compassionate couple offered refuge to a family displaced by a landslide in Kozhikode, welcoming them into their home for two weeks. Shelly and Asha, driven by their profound generosity, have crafted a heartfelt plan to further aid this family. In a special revelation to newspolitik.com, Shelly shared that they intend to donate a piece of land to the family, helping them establish a new home and achieve self-sufficiency in Thiruvananthapuram
There is a lot we can do! Moreover, there is a lot more common among everyone than we would imagine! No barriers of place, religion, caste, color, or creed. We would be amazed at something similar to what Shelly and Asha have done.!
They haven’t a shred of remorse for the human sufferings, not turned a blind eye to, but they have done a pretty damn good job of it. Not all of us are born in a castle and given a whopping great trust fund, but it doesn’t take much effort to be a helping hand to others really in need.
While for Shelley and his wife Asha, natives of Malayinkizhu in Thiruvananthapuram district, terribly upsetting was the news about the landslide at Mundakkai in Wayanad and the heavy-hearted they were, craving to do something at their capacity for those in anguish could find solace through a WhatsApp group, which bridged the gap between.
Incidentally, Shelly and Saleena Thikkodi, a resident of Kozhikode had gotten to know each other on a professional platform months back which led the events to further build up!
Saleena desperately had posted the plight of her story in the group. While Shelly and Asha, their all other responsibilities being laid to rest for quite some time, took it as a challenge and offered free accommodation at their house as an immediate solution.
After the arrival of Aslam, Saleena, and Amna from Mavoor, the nearest vicinity of Kozhikode- Wayanad, they were warmly welcomed into their house. Shelly and Asha, overwhelmed by the sense of making them feel at home and putting together a further plan of action, and every reaction being caught in the spectrum of benevolence, they got absorbed in deeds vibrant with hospitality. First about serving food Asha as the custodian of her kitchen, took it upon herself voluntarily. She pulled out her sparkly South Kerala recipe of the varied cuisines including sadya.Literally, she enthusiastically made a big show of her forte as an expert in culinary. Not to say, even the “let me help you with the dishes” requests from Saleena Thikodi were flatly declined though not disdainfully, but in vanity reminiscent of the ‘chief chef’ of a five-star hotel. A divine gesture of agape in itself!
“What a marvelous sense of achievement she enjoys now!” Shelly being not able to believe his eyes, proclaimed to himself. Congratulating his wife Asha he entered into other deeds of preparations, to accommodate and make them all comfortable in the new environment.
“He was more attractive to her than ever before she had imagined him to be, “Asha said proudly of her husband.”He looked more like a commander in chief taking charge of the situation than the head of the family! His tone of voice was even more surprisingly compassionate in person than it had been as a writer in the poems written by him”, Asha thought to herself.
Shelly, a voracious reader himself, writes poems, and as a promising poet, he has already published a book titled ‘Kaviyalla njan’ (I’m not a poet) under the name Shelley Vaiga compiling his pieces of writing.
They, Aslam Thikodi (Mappilapattu trainer)and Saleena Thikodi ( a multidisciplinary art instructor)and their daughter Amna Sherin, a student, tried to hide the fact that they had tears in their eyes! Amidst the long-lasting losses, to the resilient, they were then, in Malayinkeezh, the surroundings so serene, the food amazingly delicious, and people unique and friendly in their own way. They happily spent a couple of weeks here.
“It was luridly menacing last week for the three of us” Saleena narrated the hardships they went through “While we both were on a training session of ‘Mappilapattu’ at a school in Kozhikode, Amna our daughter phoned us, and said electricity at home was impeded by incessant downpour and she was deprived of food too. Initially, I didn’t realize the severity of the situation. However, later, my husband and I couldn’t find the way to our house, even after searching for two hours. Everything was submerged. We climbed a hill and finally located our house only to find it uninhabitable,” said Saleena, adding, “If there is heavy rain, chances are the houses above would fall and land on ours,”
All stood glaring at one another painfully listening to their plight.
However, Asha, certainly couldn’t imagine them tenderly caressing her porcelain doll of an infant in such a way! The infant is only one and a half years old. Asha, her whole self meticulously focuses on her motherhood amidst all this, said awfully that “they loved our family, our home, our garden, our serene surroundings, while on the other hand, they wanting to count their day of going back home, a reality”.
They made their days and nights beautifully spent in high-spirited but amicable discussions on Thiruvananthapuram and Wayanad districts, both sides opting for each other trying to gain merits out of the descriptions made. In short, there was nothing ‘unforgivable’ about both the zones of Kerala. Every pattern of life on earth is worth, intrinsically not less than the other.
After a couple of weeks, the number of days grew shorter, thinking that life didn’t leave them with too many options, other than only getting away to their land.
Thus on Wednesday noon they left with a half-hearted smile, bid goodbye, tears swelled in their eyes, and emotions slid like moving water across their face! An unforgettable dream of the bygones…! But eventually! they would be together at some point in time. Life is like that!
What is more eminent about all is, after they had left, Shelly and Asha made up their mind, a noble common pact about which Shelly has disclosed only to newspolitik.com that they have yet another master plan on the anvil, a desire to make ‘the family self-sufficient by donating his two cents of land to them to settle themselves in Thiruvananthapuram, a wish they had shared with Shelly and Asha.
A glimmer of light for Aslam, Saleena, and Amna, at the end of the tunnel!
In the meantime, a gesture of service, out of the ordinary envisioned by the Malayinkeezh Grama Panchayath, particularly urged by spearheading an alternative move, being faced with the practical difficulty of challenging the distance of shifting the logistics to Wayanad to accommodate the stranded families by the disaster, there emerged the concept of ‘Snehathanal’,(Shelter of Love) a home away from home’.
The residents of Malayinkeezh are still eagerly awaiting the arrival of the victims from the Wayandu landslide, to come and settle in the houses furnished solely for them.
Mr. Suresh Kumar (53), a native of Malayinkeezh from Moongodu, Mukkampalammood, and a former student of Govt. Boys High School is now the proprietor of ‘Art Lab,’ which supplies properties of all types for making movies and serials across India. He expressed enthusiasm upon hearing about ‘Snehathanal,’ an initiative by his Grama Panchayat, and the story of Aslam, Saleena, and Amna being sheltered by Shelly and Asha.
However, a cloud of regret flashed across his face, when saying “I wish I too had got such an opportunity, adding that everybody is good at the core of one’s heart to extend a helping hand to the needy”.
At present, nearly more than 30 houses have already been set waiting for them to embrace the virtue of consolation.
