Vittla, August 1: An uneasy and taut silence prevailed over the house. People inside are still in shock. Fury of fate has taken away one of their beloved. 29 year old enthusiastic advocate Ashwin Kumar had unknowingly barked up the wrong tree.
There exists an age old tradition practised in parts of South India on the auspicious day of Aati Amavasya to intake a sap of the Devil's Tree (Alstonia scholaris) which is reputed to have high medicinal and antibiotic properties. That was what the deceased Ashwin Kumar, a young lawyer by profession was hoping for when he chipped off the seemingly similar but toxic Kaasaraka tree (Nux vomica) on last Saturday, July 30.
Ashwin Kumar
Ashwin collected the bark early in the morning and his mother Dakshayini (65) prepared the concoction, which was certainly not the first time for her.
Dakshayini along with her two sons Ashwin, and Brijesh (35) and a day labourer Kaashinath (70), a resident of Bijapur drank the decoction. Ashwin enthusiastically drank more than the others.
Luckily, her other son Ravishankar, Brijesh's wife and children did not drink it.
Dakshayini was immediately affected, started vomiting and lost consciousness. Ashwin and Brijesh took her to the Vitla Government Hospital where both of them lost consciousness. Immediately they were taken to Kasturba Medical Centre (KMC), Mangalore. Meanwhile, Kaashinath was also affected and was taken to KMC in another vehicle.
Ashwin breathed his last, without responding to the efforts of the doctors at night. Dakshayini, Brijesh and Kaashinath are now recovering in the hospital.
Confusion
Kaashinath was unaware of the happenings and complained to the doctors in the hospital that the people of the house tried to kill him. But, reality bit him hard, said Chennappa Poojari, Ashwin's uncle.
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