“Athaazha pashnikkarundo?” (Is anyone out there hungry, needing dinner?), the unexpected call from a man standing on the footpath at Manaveeyam road took passers-by by surprise, on Sunday afternoon.
Looking at the source of that call gave them an even bigger shock. Here was someone, standing with his hands tied together in the front, on a small mount of raw rice, with ‘blood’ dripping down his face, hands and legs, and forming a small pool on top of the rice.
It was the Manaveeyam Street Collective’s protest against the murder of Madhu, an Adivasi youth, by a mob in Attappady.
On Thursday, the hungry, hapless man was surrounded by the mob, which accused him of stealing rice and other groceries worth ₹200. He was assaulted, shamed in public, and handed over to the police.
He succumbed to his internal injuries and died vomiting blood, in the police jeep, on the way to the hospital.
The only way to react
For theatre actor Bilas Nair, there was no other way he could have reacted to the gruesome murder, than through this public performance.
“That call “Athaazha pashnikkarundo?” is reminiscent of a time when those with enough for their own survival, ensured that those around them also did not go hungry to bed. What we saw last week is a stark contrast to that. Here was a frail man, who was accused of stealing food because he was hungry. None of those who gathered there, to beat him up, had a prick of conscience at the thought of a man going hungry. Not only that, they proceeded to assault and murder him,” says Krishnan Balakrishnan of the Manaveeyam Collective.
The incident has shook the public conscience and led to an outpouring of grief and anger over the past two days across the State.
