At a time when murders are being used as a tool for dividing society and gaining political mileage by communal parties, the death of a young cricketer during a match on the outskirts of Mangaluru and the events that followed in fact transcended all boundaries drawn by man.
The tragedy unfolded on December 17 during a cricket tournament at Miyapadavu village near Manjeshwar, a town located on the border of Dakshina Kannada and Kasaragod districts. The area has been in the news for wrong reasons as a highly polarised society communally, especially in the recent past.
Padmanabhan, 26, son of Narayanan, a resident of Jodkallu collapsed on the ground while he was about to bowl the last ball of the over. Even though the organisers rushed him to a nearby hospital, Padmanabhan, who was working as a mobile phone technician at Pachamblam, near Kumbla, died of cardiac arrest. The youth was a chronic heart patient.
Even as Mr. Narayanan and his wife, Chandravathy, were reeling under the cruel shock fate had dealt them, harsh realities of life were weighing down their loss.
As the youth’s body was brought to the family’s thatched house on four cents of land, scores of relatives and friends trooped into pay homage to Padmanabhan. As the time for the funeral drew close, the family’s despair also grew.
They did not have their own water source to perform the final rites. Moreover, there was no crematorium nearby.
It was then that Mr. Narayanan’s neighbour and long-time associate Abdul Khader stepped in and facilitated the cremation in his plot.
Incidentally, Padmanabhan found a final resting place beside the grave of his grandmother, who too was laid to rest in Mr. Khader’s plot a few years ago.
Mr. Khader, who is a salesman at a shop in Uppala, said: “It is our duty to help those in need, especially our friends. Nothing else matters. My friendship with Mr. Narayanan goes a long way. It is quite sad that well-mannered Padmanabhan, who himself used to go out of the way to help others, met with such a tragic end.”
Mr. Narayanan had built a makeshift house on the surplus land handed over to him by the State a few years ago. However, the plot does not have road access and the family has to fetch water from another locality daily, says Ms. Chandravathy.
Padmanabhan had developed heart-related problems when he was a Class VIII student.
The family, which was already struggling to make both ends meet, had to shell out nearly Rs. 2,000 every month to meet Padmanabhan’s medical bill. The family earns a meagre income. Mr. Narayanan works as a casual labourer and Ms. Chandravathy is a part-time beedi worker.
Also Read: Young cricketer dies while bowling the last ball of the innings
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