Forty years ago, Reuben Jayaraj Dawson returned home with a nick on his lip, caused by a maanja thread. He told his wife Irene Dawson, “If the thread had been on my throat, that would have been the end of me.”
A week later, on October 14, 1975, a maanja thread actually slit Reuben’s throat and cut short his life. Reuben (34), a clerk at Mettur Beardsell Limited, was on his way to work on a motorcycle on Beach Road.
Irene calls it ‘a terrible day’. “When he left, he was full of smiles, as he always was before leaving for work,” says Irene.
The Dawsons’ two children – three-year-old Miriam Cynthia and one-year-old Sarah Sukanya – were playing. Irene, who was a teacher at CSI Monahan Girls School in Royapettah, could spend the day with the children. It was puja holidays and her school would re-open only the next day (October 15).
“When the news reached me, I was correcting exam papers. I refused to believe the report. Never before had I heard of someone being killed by a kite-flying thread,” recalls Irene.
As a young girl, Irene had flown kites with her brothers and sisters: and it had always been an innocuous hobby. When the realisation of what had happened hit her, Irene fainted.
Not just the Dawsons and their relatives, the incident was received with shock and disbelief across Madras. The Hindu gave it substantial coverage. According to Irene, on the evening of October 15, when the cortege reached the Egmore Wesley Church, where the Dawsons were members, the scene was incredible.
“He was not an actor. He was not a politician. But the police had to control the traffic. The assembly included members of the public who had read the report and learnt about the funeral from the obituary,” says Irene.
The Reuben effect
The incident led the police to consider initiating stronger measures against the danger of flying kites with the maanja. For the first time, a major crackdown against those associated with kite-flying was launched.
Two days after Reuben’s death, 197 people were arrested. According to reports, the police considered placing a blanket ban on “the making, sale and flying of kites” in Madras.
About a year later, the Madras Medical College displayed Reuben’s photo, ‘garlanded’ by the maanja thread that killed him, as part of an exhibition of gruesome road accidents aimed at sensitising residents to the dangers of road travel.
The photo showed Reuben’s lifeless body. His face however seemed to be wreathed in smiles.
It was a poignant situation for Irene, who however derived strength from her belief that Reuben’s death would prevent many other from falling victim to the deadly maanja thread.
