Brigette is all at sea as she ponders over what to do with her life. Her brother Sabariyar who set out to sea from Vizhinjam on November 29 is one of the fishermen reported missing in the wake of Cyclone Ockhi.
“What am I to do now,” she wails inconsolably hugging a photograph of her lost sibling and wiping away tears. She is besides herself with anguish and disappointment at having waited for more than an hour at the Poonthura community hall for an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening. “Why were we brought here if not to be heard?” she asks.
Loud protests
Many of the women from the coastal villages of Valiathura, Puthukurichy, Poonthura, Vizhinjam, and Pulluvila erupted into loud protests after Mr. Modi left the hall after a brief interaction with the families lasting about 20 minutes. They poured out their woes before officials, representatives of the church, and mediapersons.
Mary, also from Vizhinjam, holds out a picture of her smiling grandson Antony and breaks into tears. Like many others from the coastal belt, the 20-year-old Antony too had ventured out to sea in a deep-sea fishing vessel from Thoothoorn Tamil Nadu on November 27, never to return home.
A distraught Clema Thomas from Vettucaud cannot control her tears as she breaks down before mediapersons while narrating the loss of her brother Elvin who had gone missing at sea.
“It is so many days since my brother went missing. Will I at least be able to see his body,” she wails.
Brigette, Mary, and Clema are among the scores of shattered women who turned up at Poonthura, hoping against hope to be heard by the Prime Minister. For many of them, the loss of the sole breadwinner has left them without any means for the family to survive. Some of the stricken families are angered at the tardy pace of relief operations while others feel helpless in picking up the pieces and carrying on.
