Kasimedu has lost 9 fishermen to the cyclone winds of the Murasu storm, which crossed the coast in Andhra Pradesh. We went to Kasimedu to meet the families who are still unable to recover from the grief of losing their men at sea.
On the walls of the fish market, where the morning rush of business had just died down, a few condolence posters could be seen. It was clear that they were all victims of the recent cyclone. We walked past the market into the residential streets of Kasimedu.
There were condolence posters there too. Among all those places, only one poster drew extra attention. The reason was that the deceased’s name was written as Mohan (a.k.a.) Singam. That name caught our attention.
We showed the condolence poster to the people selling fish nearby and asked where his house was. Following the directions they gave us, we entered G.M. Pettai. Even as we entered the residential area, Mohan’s huge condolence banner was what welcomed us.
Mohan’s house is on the second floor of the apartment building that was constructed and handed over for fishermen 30 years ago. To enter the Lion’s house, one had to bend and twist the body a little, keeping the head slightly lowered.
In front of Mohan’s photograph, with his graying beard and mustache, they had lit a Kamatchi lamp and placed a little rice and a piece of raw mango on a leaf. “It’s been seven days since he passed away. His grandfather and father have worn out their bodies in this salty wind, going on and on about the sea, and I kept telling him to study, study, but he never listened. Ever since he was little, this sea was everything to him.
He’ll be out at sea for 15 days straight. He’ll come home, lie down and sleep for two days, and then go back to the sea again. He can even stay away from his mother, but he can never stay away from that sea. And now that sea has swallowed him whole...' says Mohan’s mother in anguish. Mohan has two daughters.
He also has a little grandson named Devesh. The lion has immense love for his grandson. Mohan, who died after being caught in the storm, has washed ashore in Mannur, Andhra Pradesh. His face was disfigured, and his hands and legs were stiff, making the body unrecognizable. It was only after the family saw the name of his grandson, “Devesh,” tattooed on Mohan’s hand that they identified the body.
“As long as I can remember, my father has been going to sea. If he went to sea for a trip, he wouldn’t come home for 15 days. He has seen countless rains and storms out in the middle of the sea. We have seen them from the shore too. The storms that came before this were just stories to us.
My dad had so many storm stories. Every time there was a storm, he’d tell us how we safely brought the boat ashore and escaped, which shore we anchored at, and how we saved everything. He’d say all this so we wouldn’t get scared, “No matter what storm comes, I’ll escape by swimming. Or I’ll hold on to a plank in the boat and make it to shore. This sea won’t abandon us.” Everything he said was true.
Every wave and every breeze of this sea was familiar to him. He was the one who would go out as the driver for every trip. He understood the sea’s nature and handled the boat carefully. Even if he got stranded alone in the middle of the sea, he would come back to shore correctly. That is why all the little boys would call him “the lion” and follow him around. He would also take the little boys to sea and teach them the trade,” said Divya, the daughter of the lion, as she spoke through tears.
Mohan, a seafarer, does not own a fishing boat. He takes the boats of owners who have boats and goes out to sea to fish and return. Mohan is paid according to the amount of fish caught. They say that if he gets a wage of 15,000 rupees for one trip, that is considered a lot.
'Usually, Dad would go out with the line net. This time, since it was festival season, he went out with the big trawler net, hoping to earn extra money. There was a little less danger with this boat. Since Dad had a lot of experience, we weren’t even afraid when the storm came. We were very sure that Dad would somehow come ashore with his crew. The last time Dad spoke, he said they had come ashore at a place in Andhra Pradesh. After that, we don’t know what happened.
We couldn’t find the boat my father had gone in. When the news came that the boat had capsized, we went to the police station. There, they treated us so carelessly. They made us run around for 3 days. Only after we sat down in the street did they say, “We’re sending helicopters and searching, please give us some time.” But they didn’t even send the helicopters.
No rescue operation was carried out quickly. Only after everything was over did the MLA and the minister arrive. It was our fishermen who informed the police that my father’s body had washed ashore in Andhra. Only then did the police confirm it and bring the body back. If the coast guard and the police had acted immediately, they could have saved my father as well as our nine men,” says Divya.
'This government gives 10 lakh rupees to the family of someone who dies after drinking illicit liquor. But for the life of someone who worked as a fisherman and died of exhaustion, the compensation is only 7 lakh rupees. If our father were alive, he would have stood like a lion and earned us many more lakhs. Your money means nothing to us. But is this all the value you place on a fisherman’s life? At least from now on, if fishermen’s lives matter, please make the government act a little faster... please,' cry Mohan’s daughters in tears.
The whole family is struggling, swallowing their grief, to comfort Devesh, who keeps asking his mother and grandmother in childlike language, “Did Grandpa go to God...?” We held their hands, offered our condolences, and left Kasimedu.