Deadline
Rishimukh|September 2018

He committed suicide! It is the house that he built, a place to call his own, his home.

Vinod Menon
Deadline

A home to live in with his family, a neat and clean home. But then came the floods in the State of Kerala. It disrupted all of Kerala state and dismantled most people of their comforts and conveniences. It demolished much of administrative and routines of living in Kerala. The flood destroyed crops and much of the roads and transport. But then why did he commit suicide? He had survived the floods. All in his family could have gotten back together. But he could not bear the shock of what he witnessed. He saw the sight of his home, destroyed. The building that he loved much had fallen. Unbearable loss of property, he could not endure this hostility. But whom can you blame for this man’s loss of life? Horrific decision. My condolences to the families, who have lost their loved ones. Yes, over three hundred and fifty people died in these floods and landslides. But then, how to justify the suicide, because of a collapse of the building and its furniture and other paraphernalia. Where have you pegged your importance and priority? On what have you anchored your happiness? These are two questions that need answers when a catastrophe strikes.

The floods in Kerala made the administration look dysfunctional. Almost twenty large dams opened their shutters in a week. For years there were squabbles, studies, researchers and investigation on the capacities of the water storage dams. Is it human error that nobody in administrative capacity among the bureaucratic officers could forecast this disaster? Is this human error from an academic and the scholastic class that they ignored and ruled out a potential study on the need to store water? Or is it a human error, where the political rulers abdicated their duty to get resolutions? Could this disaster have been avoided?

This story is from the September 2018 edition of Rishimukh.

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This story is from the September 2018 edition of Rishimukh.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.