‘Lucky to survive Wayanad landslides, but I have to leave Kerala’: Tea estate worker from Bihar

A history graduate, Ravikumar immediately liked life in Kerala. “I have worked as a hotel waiter and daily-wage labourer in several places, such as Delhi and West Bengal, but Kerala has been the best. Here, I got paid better than anywhere else. I get Rs 18,000 per month. I settled in quickly here, and it was very smooth…”

Until Tuesday morning.

One of the casualties of the deadly landslides at Mundakkai was Ravikumar’s cousin Ranjith, who had also come along with him from Bihar. For the last three days, Ravikumar has been coming to the Meppadi family health centre in hopes of finding him.

“His parents want to see his body one final time. He was about to get married in November. My only wish now is that I would be able to take his body along with me back home,” said Ravikumar, who is married and has a six-year-old son.

“When the landslides happened, I was in Karnataka for some work. As soon as I knew about it, I returned and discovered that six of us were missing, including the contractor who brought us here, Upendra Paswan, and his wife, Phool Kumari. Her body was found the day after the landslides,” said Ravikumar.

Ravikumar Paswan (right) with his friend and co-worker Manoj Paswan at the family health centre in Meppadi. They are looking for the missing relatives. (Express photo by Narayanan S)

What initially kept Ravikumar optimistic about finding Ranjith alive was that a day after the landslides, he got a call from one of the missing men, Arun Paswan, saying that he and the contractor Upendra were alive and undergoing treatment at the medical college hospital.

“I thought if these men had survived, my brother might also be safe somewhere. But with each passing day, my hope is diminishing,” he said.

Besides Ranjith, the two others missing are Sadhu Paswan and Bijnesh Paswan, whose cousin Manoj Paswan has been with Ravikumar, spending long hours at the health centre from morning to night.

‘Lucky to survive, can’t take more risks’

Ravikumar says he knew about the severe rains in Kerala beforehand. “I knew, before coming, that it rains a lot here. In fact, a large group of people from Bihar had come before us to work at the tea estate and returned because the rain was too much for them. I thought it would be fine for me, but I never expected it would rain like this,” he said.

“I was lucky to survive this time but can’t take risks anymore. My parents, wife and son are anxiously waiting for me. I will have to return to Bihar and find a job somehow,” he added.

Will he get any closure about his missing cousin before he leaves? Only time will tell.