Faslu Rahman would have never wished for such company at his last resting place.
For, buried right next to this former circle inspector’s graveyard at Pulikunneppady Juma Masjid was the body of his younger brother’s eight-year-old son Amin Jabir, who was not even born when he passed away ten years ago.
Amin and his elder sister Emin Jabir were among the passengers of the school bus on which a giant tree fell on Friday evening. While Emin escaped unhurt, Amin succumbed to his injuries, leaving the family devastated.
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The setting of Amin’s burial ground was hard to be missed. For a boy whose life was taken by a giant tree, his graveyard was surrounded by trees on all sides as if it was nature’s penance for having unfairly snuffed out a life far too early.
Jabir K.M, his father, put up a brave face as he was the first to put a fistful of earth into his son’s graveyard around 11.55 a.m. But his brother Najeeb who flew down from the Middle East for the youngster’s last rites was not that courageous as he followed suit.
Jabir’s grandfather Moosa was also present at the Masjid but chose to stay away from the burial. For, it was far too heartbreaking a sight for the ailing man who retired as a teacher years ago.
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A tragic day
When being pulled out by some unknown hands through the smashed rear window of the ill-fated bus, 12-year-old Anand could all but catch a glimpse of his younger sister Anagha with a giant tree right next to her.
He looked around for his sister a while. Then he went to a nearby house and gave his father a call about the accident. By that time someone had rescued his sister and taken her to the Mar Baselios Medical Mission Hospital, Kothamangalam. His father’s friend, who was at the accident scene, then took him to the hospital.
There he met his sister with a broken collar bone. But it was a while before he learned that Krishnendu, daughter of his father’s brother, who was sitting in the seat next to his sister has died.
“She had woke up just before the tree fell and was slipping back into sleep again when the tree fell. She was a silent girl who didn’t speak much,” Anand recollected before he returned to take his place near the body of Krishnendu.
He was a picture of poise till his father carried his sister Anagha with her broken arm in a cast supported by a sling to the scene. He burst out crying along with most others who had gathered there as they watched Anagha looking at the motionless body of her friend and cousin sister.
Witnessing death
Shibu has never seen death as up-close as he did on Friday evening.
He was among the local residents who got on with the rescue operations even before the fire and rescue personnel reached the accident site at Nellimattom. Two of the students – Eza and Johan – were already dead when they picked up them from under the giant tree.
But what haunts him is the heart wrenching wailing of Amin Jabir’s mother Shaba. “Someone has removed the iron rod that had gone right through that child’s heart. But it was to his mother that we handed over him who was gasping for breath. Her cry will resonate in my ears for a long time,” he said.
Arun, the operator of the crane, which was brought to lift the tree from over the bus, also shudders at the sights he witnessed through his duty.
Amin Jabir was buried next to the graveyard of his uncle at Pulikunneppady Juma Masjid.