Rajiv Gandhis
Mother
By Satya Sivaraman
02 April, 2005
Countercurrents.org
It
is full moon night again and the celestial light is pouring down on
Muzhukutturai, a small fishing hamlet in Cudallore district of coastal
Tamil Nadu in southern India.
As the cool sea
breeze blows through the rubble around him, Rajiv Gandhi (18) sits,
hands clutched to his head, by the small shrine that marks the site
where his family once lived.
A flag flutters
noiselessly over the little brick structure that now houses a black
and white photograph marked with red vermilion, draped by a few dry
flowers. They are the only memory left of his mother Laxmi (40) - swept
away by the Sumatran tsunami that struck many parts of south and southeast
Asia the day after Christmas last year.
The previous night
Rajiv had finished dinner and slipped out to fish in the backwaters
of the Bay of Bengal Sea by his village, the staple source of livelihood
for his family and other members of the local fishing community for
generations. He had returned early on the morning of 26 December with
a catch of white tiger prawns, a prized commodity that could fetch upto
250 rupees (US$ 6) per kilogram in any nearby market any day.
Laxmi had already
left the house on her daily rounds of buying fish from the local fisher
folk, which she took to the neighboring towns and villages, selling
them on retail for a small profit. The money she made was what the entire
family survived on.
Rajiv bitterly remembers
how that fateful morning he went searching for his mother, asked her
to come home and take the prawns with her to sell.
If she had
not returned home she would have been far from the beach when the tsunami
struck. I am responsible for her death says Rajiv, his face darkening
with inconsolable sorrow.
The truth was that
Laxmi, who survived the first big wave that struck Muzhukutturai, had
asked her husband and children to run away and then gone back on her
own back to the house. The second, and much bigger wave, had swept her
inland and as it was the case much of her life, Dame Luck was not smiling
upon her that day too
They had finally
found her, hair entangled in a thicket of thorn bushes, dead along with
four other village women, tightly clutching a money purse in her right
hand. She had died trying to retrieve some jewels and cash hidden inside
an aluminium box - the familys hard-earned life savings - that
ironically cost her, her own life.
Amma, as Rajiv used
to call her, had named him Rajiv Gandhi when he was born,
a name quite unusual for a boy from a Tamil fishing community. Obviously
Laxmi had hoped that some of the charm, fame and fortune of the former
Indian Prime Minister would shine upon her first son too.
A tough, hard working woman Laxmi had left nothing to chance though
and struggled to educate all her children at least through primary school.
It was not easy at all, especially because her husband Chemban (45),
was more a nuisance than any help to the family, drinking throughout
the day, frittering away his wifes meager income, refusing to
share any of the money made from his rare fishing expeditions.
Regina (21), her
eldest daughter, had married and was away in Cudallore; Rajiv had dropped
out of school after the 5th standard and used the family catamaran and
net to make a living; Maheswari (15) also dropped out of school and
stayed home, helping her mother with household chores, waiting to get
married. Selvam (8), the youngest of the siblings is a bright, cheerful
boy who Laxmi had high hopes about- he would go on to become an officer
in the city some day she thought.
And now she had
left Rajiv abruptly, leaving behind a host of heavy responsibilities-
Selvams education, Maheshwaris marriage, preventing his
father from drinking himself to death, his own future
I wanted to
go overseas to work, save some money and help my mother says Rajiv
showing a photocopy of the new passport he had received just a month
before the tsunami swept it away along with every other family belonging.
Many youth from the area had already migrated abroad doing stints as
agricultural or construction labour in Malaysia, Singapore or Dubai,
coming back with tales of fabulous opportunities.
Now, given his familys
grim situation, there was no question of going anywhere for Rajiv who,
in his own words, has decided to dissolve all his ambitions and
swallow them for the sake of his siblings.
Tamil Nadu government
had already paid one lakh rupees (US$ 2400), as compensation for Laxmis
death, and the central government in Delhi had announced payment of
a similar sum that was yet to arrive. An NGO from Delhi had also come
and built temporary shelters for the entire village and there was talk
of the provincial government giving them permanent houses soon.
But there were all
those family loans to be paid off. A lot of money was borrowed for Laxmis
business and recently for buying a new fishing boat and nets. The tsunami
had damaged the boat and swept away the nets and now the loan sharks,
who charged an interest of up to 25 percent per month, were already
at their door threatening dire consequences if the family did not pay
up soon.
Part of the compensation
money had of course been used to pay off some of the loans but then
again there was money required for Maheswaris dowry- a princely
sum of two lakh rupees (US$4800) asked for by a prospective bridegroom
from Cudallore.
As if all these
worries were not enough, all of a sudden Chemban had started acting
funny and become extremely reluctant to give the family any of the compensation
money he had received for Laxmis death. Rajiv believes that his
father was trying get married again to another lady and abandon his
own children.
All these
burdens should have been shouldered by my father but he says he does
not want to have anything to do with them, he says with no resentment
but only resignation as the night air gets a bit chill and he takes
a last look at his mothers face before heading back home to rest.