Lockdown blues: Woman walks 130 km to son; father kills daughter

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, May 1

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Hardships make people react differently, especially when it comes to taking care of children.

In one case, a woman walked 130 kilometres from Nagarkurnool to Hyderabad to meet her son, who was stranded there owing to the lockdown.

And in another case, a man slit the throat of his four-year-old daughter in Gongulur village of Sangareddy district because he could not feed her. He has since been arrested.

The ongoing crisis during the lockdown has thrown up many situations revealing complex nature of human behaviour in stressful times.

Only a few days ago, a burkha-clad woman had travelled 1,400 km on a scooty from Nizamabad in Telangana to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh to bring back her son who was stuck there due to the lockdown.

Ramachandramma, mother of a construction worker Ramulu, was stuck in Shaikpet in the city after the government announced lockdown.

Since the son called the mother a week ago and told her he was facing some hardship, the mother who lives in Lingala mandal in Nagarkurnool decided to go and check on him.

Ramulu received a call from an unknown person asking for his address who also told him that his mother was in the city. Shocked over it, Ramulu gave him his address and two people came to his house to drop Ramachandramma.

A jubilant Ramachandramma said that she was worried about her son and unable to reach him on phone.

“I left for Hyderabad without informing anyone and stopped at relative’s place in Achampet. I stayed there for a day and started to Hyderabad again resting for a while on the roadside or in villages,” she said.

She also said she did not have her son’s address and only had his phone number.

“After reaching Chandrayangutta, I did not know where to go and took the help of some persons who tried to call up Ramulu. Since the service to the phone was suspended, they made an online recharge to Ramulu’s number and asked him for address,” she said.

The Telangana Police at Chandrayangutta helped Ramachandramma reach her son since all movement was curtailed during the lockdown.

While news of the mother’s grit was well received, there was a dampener too.

A man identified as Jeevan slit the throat of his daughter Avanthika, the youngest of his three children due to financial constraints.

Being a daily wager, he was unable to find work due to the lockdown.

Depressed over his financial situation, he killed his daughter when she was asleep.