When his wife Indira served him tea while he was working on their land at Kanjiraveli near Adimaly in Idukki district on Monday morning, Ramakrishnan never imagined that it will be the last time. Shortly after that, she was trampled to death by a wild elephant leaving the septuagenarian shell-shocked. Elephants have been creating mayhem in the locality. But never did he think that one of them would claim the life of his partner one day.
“Elephants have been creating trouble for the last seven-eight years. They take over after dusk and have been destroying all crops,” said Ramakrishnan with his back to the wall of the mortuary of the Kothamangalam Taluk Hospital. That he was in earshot and could hear the blood-curdling scream of his wife made it even more unbearable for him
He was then summoned for a close door discussion with Ministers P. Rajeeve and Roshy Augustine and District Collector N. S. K. Umesh among others. Shortly thereafter in the evening, a tearful Ramakrishnan accompanied his wife’s mortal remains back to their home; that journey in the back of the ambulance being their last one together.
Later when Varghese Thomas, a resident of Kanjiraveli, rued how farming has become unfeasible despite being in possession of a very fertile land that can grow almost anything thanks to the marauding wild elephants, he was resonating the sentiments of the larger farming community along the high ranges of Kerala.
“Our soil is so fertile that it doesn’t even need regular watering. But just visit our place and you can see the heart-wrenching sights of crops, including coconut trees and plantains trampled up on by elephants,” he said.
Varghese was among a bunch of local residents from Kanjiraveli who had accompanied the husband and son of the deceased when her body was brought to the Kothamangalam taluk hospital around 11 a.m. They had come thinking that they would be able to return in a couple of hours after the inquest and post mortem.
But as it turned out, the drama that unfolded through the day meant that they had to wait till around 6 p.m. when they could eventually return with the body.
