Amid the dance of death and destruction in Wayanad, humanity dawned. Darkness gets a relief when the sun softly touches it at dawn. Our pessimism and doubt in goodness in human beings similarly got a relief. It was when we read the report that some people on own, rushed to the danger zone in Wayanad and saved others at the cost of their lives.
They did not select victims by their clothes. It was a celebration of the bond of love and the truth that all of us have originated from one mother, Mitochondrial Eve, and, therefore, we all are brothers and sisters, irrespective of our religion, race, caste, and class.
Now, let us move to the stage of real drama. Multiple downpour-triggered landslides caused death and devastation, almost completely wiping out Mundakkai and Chooralmala villages in the picturesque Wayanad district in Kerala on July 30.
Gushing waters, tumbling boulders, and demonic landslides swept away sturdy buildings, a school, many houses, living quarters of plantation workers, roads, and the electricity infrastructure beside uprooting trees.
Sharath, a 22-year-old young man, saw that the roof of his home had been blown away after landslides hit Chooralmala. Immediately, he took his parents to a safer place. But he did not stop there. He went out looking for other stranded people. He rescued 18 before he went missing.
Prajeesh, a thirty something young man, ventured up the hill with his jeep the moment the first landslides hit Mundakkai, 3km uphill from Chooralmala at the small hours of night.
He ignored his friends’ warnings to make a trip up and down a treacherous hill amid landslides. It was pitch dark as landslides thrashed electricity connections. He made the second trip after rescuing many lives in his first mission. After his successful second trip, rescuing several lives, he was last seen in his jeep, setting off for his third attempt.
Prajeesh managed to return twice from dark and furious Mundakkai in his jeep full of people. On being entreated not to make another trip, he said, “Lots of people are stranded atop the hill. Don’t stop me. I’ll go anyway.” Those were his last words.
On August 1, amid the despair, four forest officials from Kalpetta and Mundakkai had trekked uphill for about 7 km looking for survivors and rescued a family of six.
Now comes on the stage a young mother. Bhavana, a mother of a four-month-old and a four-year-old, heard that many babies had lost their mothers in the Wayanad landslides.
She immediately left for Wayanad on August 1, along with her husband and Youth Congress worker Sajin Parekkara to give the children who lost their mothers her breast milk. She said, “I am a mother of two children. I can imagine the situation when children are left without mothers. That’s what drove me to this decision.” Her decision inspired another woman to offer similar help.
Those two young men, four forest officials, and two young mothers have reiterated the scientific discovery that says all living human beings are relatives and have originated from one woman. Research has shown that fragments of the mitochondrial genome carried by all humans alive today can be traced to a single woman ancestor living an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 years ago. This woman, known as ‘Mitochondrial Eve’, lived in Africa.
You and I, irrespective of our religion, race, class, caste, country, colour, or gender carry the same genome of that mother. This is a scientific truth, not man-made divisions. Even our difference in blood groups has nothing to do with our class, caste, and religion. It is time to embrace and celebrate the truth in the same way six extraordinary human beings celebrated it in Wayanad.
