The Shrinking Spaces

The days when it was pissing with rain, when the dams sluiced out, the police and the armed forces between us, when our might was insufficient, the anglers were our superheroes! One night when the rain howled and hooted outside, the comrades huddled around the table. Anjali recounted her experiences with the life of the Kurumbas in Attappadi. The tribal girl Amelia falls for an immigrant boy outside her tribe who takes her to cinema halls and eateries in the city. They met very often at the outcrops in the night and they have regular boff sessions. She was conceived. She did not disclose his name and lay dead on the doctors table making Bubbas father an enigmatic outsider. Anjali and her husband are now his parents. It was a 1000 years flood. Thousands of people, including women, children and college students, techies, young professionals and youth icons from the tinsel world, worked in tandem at various relief centres across the state. The senior officers adored the role of head load workers. The tech-savvy youths set up spontaneous networks to register distress calls and guide the rescuers to the needy. Thousands of these unofficial helpdesks bounded the state together in these drastic times. Heroes are moulded by the need of times. The axiom is not alien- but it is the sheer scale at which it is being seen in Kerala; that was so amazing. Lena said. We need to feel in the guts that how blessed we are!