CHENNAI, Aug 25: Their faces showed no signs of fatigue; they also appeared quite healthy. Dressed in creased khaki uniforms, the liberated hostages lapped up all the attention being lavished on them after their nerve-wracking sojourn in the forests.For a brief moment, they seemed to have forgotten their ordeal; the 44 harrowing days they spent with Veerappan and his gang, the never-ending marches through dense forests, stumbling and falling as they tried to keep pace with the gang. They had survived it all: a 650-kilometre long trek, abuses and rifles prodding them on. Most of all, the despair and the hopelessness of their situation.Their stoic faces lit up as the flash bulbs went off and lensmen and reporters jostled to get a better view. It was a moment that they clearly savoured; even the non-stop questions fired at them by an army of reporters did not perturb them.The younger ones, Madhev and Kumbha, broke into broad smiles the moment they spotted the crowd of media personnel. Unlike another hostage, Raju, who was released a fortnight ago, none of this batch of hostages looked famished or dishevelled.``But for Gopal, we could not have dreamt of release,'' an overwhelmed forest guard K M Vishakanda said, folding his hands. Rubbing his beard, he recounted his tale of the 44 days in captivity, even as the other seven hostages stayed silent. They were clearly overwhelmed by their new-found freedom.In a plaintive voice, Vishakanda said, ``Our hands were manacled for over a month until Gopal, during his second mission on August 7, requested Veerappan to remove the chains. We were constantly threatened by Veerappan, who said he would chop off our heads.'' Yet, surprisingly, he seemed to bear no hatred of Veerappan.Asked if he approved of amnesty for Veerappan, a composed Vishakanda said, ``It is for the two State Governments (Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) to decide. We are mere servants of the Government.'' He refused to say anything against Veerappan. ``We have nothing to say about Veerappan. We hardly spoke to him,'' was all he had to say. Their daily routine for the last 44 days was: Be woken up rudely in the morning, eat whatever was provided and trek, and then trek some more at least 15 kms a day. By sun-down, the trekking would stop and the hostages would be given food and asked to retire. According to Vishakanda, they were kept in two separate groups.But Veerappan's constant threats kept them in a constant state of terror. Things worsened after the his demand for amnesty was thumbed down by the two governments. After receiving the news on AIR and the BBC, Veerappan flew into a rage, recalls Vishakanda. Furious, he threatened to behead the hostages and began torturing them. But Sethukuzhi Govindan, the brigand's lieutenant managed to pacify him. Two of the hostages, Madhev and Dasayya also pleaded with Veerappan to spare them. A day later, Veerappan sent an audio cassette to the Tamil Nadu Government expressing his willingness to surrender, which led to Gopal's third mission to the forest and the release of the eight hostages on Sunday.When one of Veerappan's associates, Madheshwaran, announced that they were going to be released on Sunday, the hostages could not believe that their ordeal was coming to an end.They set out on their journey to freedom, even as Veerappan and his gang members walked to the main road in Erode to see off Gopal and his team and the hostages. They were brought to Chennai this morning by a private van and a car.
