Life in Kuttanad changes, and it's for ever, fear people

Alappuzha: Jayanti Shaji, 45, Thachozha, Valiyathuruthu of Kainakary Panchayath, stood beside the river right in front of the local committee office of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), washing the pile of clothes damaged in the floods.  Her face reflected the disappointment and helplessness most people of Kuttanad now feel. The water level has now receded to a great extent in many part of the region but not where her house stands. The flood water that entered her house has damaged all her household utensils which she collected with the savings of her lifetime.

Jayanti doesn’t know how the government’s offer would help but does know she has to plough a lone furrow now on.  She admits to the harsh reality now: she is unlikely to get back what has lost now and is unsure of living the life that she was leading till a month ago. “We have no hope in the efforts of any government, for our loss is beyond the offers of any government,” she said, pointing fingers at the flooded office of the CPM, the party in government now.

Jayanti is of the view that the entire Kuttanad region has been pushed back in time, at least by a generation, for the floods have left an irreparable damage on the land. She then looked miserably at her son helping her, a plus two students at SNDP Higher Secondary School, Kuttamangalam, which remains inundated. “There is no class for him for a month,” she added.          

Vatsamma Maniyan, a housewife at Kuttamangalam has got every household appliance including television, refrigerator and the like damaged and strewn in floodwater that covers her short courtyard. She has no clues as to how her family could rebuild itself. At 72, she is not all that sure she will be able to fight another battle and regain what she has lost.

She says they lost not only their savings but also their jobs. The floods visited their settlement in mid-July, and followed twice in July, derailing all expectations. For some days now, she comes home from the relief camp in Alappuzha in the morning and returns after cleaning the house as she was unable to sleep inside the flooded house. Now she is forced to remain in the house as she has no money to pay for commuting which comes to be around Rs 30 a day. It’s too high an amount for her.

Like Vatsamma and Jayanti, scores of housewives who returned home from the camps and relatives’ houses with the hope of rebuilding their lives are now largely depressed, looking aghast at future. It occurred that generations cutting across the ages have now been gripped with great deal of disappointment and hopelessness.  

 Three elderly people in their seventies- Thrilochanan, Surendran and Thankappan- from Paruthivalavu of Kuttamangalam, Kainakary Panchayath DC caught up with in the ferry boat while they were returning to the camp in Alppuzha from their houses have put a full stop out on their future.  This flood changed life of not only of them but entire Kuttanad especially the 5,500-odd families in Kainakary panchayath. “People here are left starved for last one month. There is no job for people. They even don’t have the source to get better food items at least once in a day. Our generation had survived many floods but this time it is indeed unmanageable.  Now the people here have started to realise the reality that their lives have changed. Life here is now nothing but mechanical. For us, it’s unable to make a return,” the elderly men lament.        

One of the main challenges that await the people of Kuttanad, especially those in the low-lying placs such as Kainakary, is the fitness of the houses and buildings.  The houses have survived but they have been in water for over one month.

“The flow of floodwater has caused serious damage to the houses. We will get to know whether they will be in a condition to stay in only a week after the water receded and land turned dry,” says G. Anilkumar, a retired engineer with irrigation department  who worked in Kuttanad region for many years.