On Tuesday afternoon, a weak Tulasappa Yaragatti was back from the hospital and was sitting on the veranda of the small house his son had renovated three years ago.
A week of restless nights and poor food intake had made the 65-year-old man weak. “It is all left to the almighty,” he said.
Tulasappa, father of Basavaraj Yaragatti, the ITBP constable who was killed in the helicopter crash while on a rescue mission in Uttarakhand, is resigned to wait longer for the mortal remains of his son. However, the other family members, Basavaraj’s wife Yellamma (Yashodha), mother Girijamma, younger sisters Manjula and Nimrala, and grandmother Maravva are getting impatientwith each passing day.
Although the family received an official communication from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director-General Ajay Chadha on Monday about Basavaraj’s demise, it is not yet clear when they will receive the body.
The whole responsibility of taking care of the family has now come on the shoulders of Yellamma, who has studied up to second-year PU. Having to support aged in-laws and a physically challenged sister-in-law, Yellamma seems to have come to terms with the situation. Mr. Chadha had told them the process of extending the post-death financial benefits was being expedited, but it is not clear how long it will take. Women in the locality were in and out of the house to console the family. The whole village seems to be in mourning. Not much farming has been going on in the village after the news of Basavaraj’s death reached them.
While the taluk administration has made all arrangements for receiving the body, residents have put up banners on the road leading to the village paying tributes to the martyr.
However, patience seems to be running thin here. Some of the youngsters expressed anger over the delay and also the apathy of leaders such as district-in-charge Minister H.K. Patil and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who are yet to speak to the family.
