A hard-working family keeps its hopes alive

Sujith’s father Britto Arockiaraj is a farmer, his mother a part-time tailor

Britto Arockiaraj and Kala Mary with their sons Punith Roshan and Sujith Wilson.

When Britto Arockiaraj had a 650-feet borewell drilled on his agricultural land nearly seven years ago, little did he imagine that it would one day turn out to be a dangerous trap for his two-year-old boy.

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The young couple is hard-working — Mr.Arockiaraj is a farmer who has taken to masonry to supplement his income and his wife, Kala Mary, does tailoring during her free time. Both were left drained on Saturday as the mission to rescue their second son continued for more than 24-hours.

Enthused by the good south-west monsoon, Mr. Raj took up sowing of corn, which grew well. The family was happy that the crop had grown well in the rain-fed area, which is prone to drought. “The entire area was covered in two-feet tall corn stalks,” said Ms. Mary's mother. The couple have two sons, Punith Roshan, 4, who has just begun going to school and two-year-old Sujith Wilson. The two boys were inseparable and played all day with their cousin, who lives adjacent to their house, across the cornfield.

Ms. Mary's sewing skills were put to use around 5 a.m. when rescue personnel were looking to have a small bag stitched, which could be used to rescue Sujith. Without a second thought, she offered to do it herself hoping to contribute to the rescue mission. Tired, with a cannula in her hand which was earlier used to administer fluids, Ms. Mary took minutes to stitch the bag. “Sujith is a very attentive boy, every time someone called him, he has responded. I know my boy is strong and will come back to me,” Ms. Mary said.

The accident had occurred when Sujith was running between the fields to reach his cousin's house. “He never did that. He would always come the long way around in the clearing. I don’t know why he had to come through that route this time,” said A. Josephine, Sujith’s aunt.

The entire family, including Mr. Raj, had forgotten the location or even the presence of the borewell. “Mary did not even know of such a borewell as it was dug nearly seven years ago, even before their marriage,” said Ms. Mary’s mother.