UP AGAINST THE WALL

Up against a wall is a write up on Johny and his family who try their best to go on with their life. Unfortunately they are flooded with adversities and they find it extremely difficult to overcome the adversities. I came across them recently and what touched me most was Shiji, the younger daughter who is paraplegic. The image remains etched in my mind. I tried to provide some succour to their life, but there are limits to stand alone endeavours. I enclose the write up on what I had observed.

UP AGAINST A WALL


Johny, Mollykutty, Shibi and Shiji make a family. They are desperate. They have been fighting to survive all along. They are at their wits' end at the moment. They have a house alright, but the facilities available leave much to be desired. The poorest of the poor of the day have better living conditions than the family before us. The house is built on the slope of a hill near Methuvukunnel at Enathu, a village 15 minutes from Kottarakkara, Kerala,India. The village thrives on agrarian economy. Though the family cultivates the land, the fillip in agriculture is not visible on the plot as farming has limitations on such plots.

What has gone wrong?

Everything from the beginning has not gone right for Johny. Born to parents who were poor and with little education, his schooling had been a mess. If he had studied well he would not have been in the mess he finds himself in at the moment. He tried his hands at tailoring for a while. Later he drove an autoriksha. With failure at the venture he has gone into tapping a few rubber trees of the agriculturists of the area, a job that provide him very little. The family survives on the pittance.

Johny looked for some kind of assistance from the welfare schemes of the Government. What he tells is that he is ineligible to draw from the welfare schemes as his plot is 50 cents in area and as he has a house. The plot is arable but cannot produce food for more than two months an year. It is a dilapidated house with dilapidated furniture. The four share two cots among themselves. According to the present valuations Johny and his family cannot belong to the levels of poverty eligible for assistance through welfare schemes. To cap it all he belongs to the forward caste.

Of the two daughters Shiji, 23 , is paraplegic. She crawls on the floor with her hands. She cannot stand on her feet as her spine does not permit it. Johny carried her to the school up to her 7th standard. He stopped taking her to the School after the 7th since he himself had to carry her to the toilets whenever the need arose. Since the physically challenged girl cannot be left alone at the house, the mother, Mollykutty is unable to go out for work. Shibi, the elder girl, 26, is studying for M.Com through private registration. Johny cannot fund her education. But a few people who know them are helping the girl in her quest for knowledge.

Johny certainly is at fault for not grabbing the opportunities that came his way right from the beginning. The family could have done better if they had fought it out like several others who had nothing at all and yet had made it good.

But the condition of Shiji disheartened Johny to the hilt. He had taken her to several hospitals. There was no cure. A large share of whatever little he had earned had gone into the treatment. The only assistance Shiji gets is Rs.200/- every month as disability allowance from the Government. She does not receive the amount on a regular basis either.

Shiji is definitely a question mark on the conscience of the society, the state, the government, the people, the media, the relatives, welfare organizations that abound and her church(Pentecostal).

Up against a wall Johny is available at 09288001881.


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