Playful tittle-tattle to dead silence; Gloom engulfs Vellarmala school

KALPETTA: “We were a team in class”; Amarjith is too young to discern the ferocity of the disaster in Wayanad but his voice trembles while talking about his dear friends. Amarjith is a class 5 student of Vellarmala School in disaster-stricken Chooralmala. He is slowly accepting the reality that his best friends Sahal Ashok, Shaukat and Adinan Yusuf won’t be returning to class anymore.

Amarjith is not alone in the relief camp in Meppadi. Advek, another class 5 student turned into his friend after striking up a conversation amidst the gloom and wails on the premises. They seldom talk about school and are often seen walking the verandah of the relief camp holding their hands.

Amarjith lost nine members of his family along with his cousin brother Ashwin. Father Satish, mother Bina and elder brother Amarnath are in the camp. Despite Chooralmala turning into a valley of death, the Vellarmala school building stands as a bulwark holding back the avalanche of mud and water. The school premises are full of huge granite stones and wooden logs and possess an endurance not easy to break.

Anwar Sadiq, a teacher from Narikunni, broke into tears after telling the names of the missing children. Unnikrishnan, another teacher who had gone to his native Alappuzha, reached the relief camp in Meppadi to realise the shocking news that most of his students and their parents hadn't reached the relief camp yet.