196. Chronicles Of Ajoy Ron. P S Remesh Chandran Story

196

Chronicles Of Ajoy Ron. Story

P. S. Remesh Chandran
 
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image 01 By Joel Filipe. Graphics: Adobe SP.

PART ONE 

An explosion wiping away an institution, an employee, and a whole lot of rare and essential medical supplies.

It all began with an explosion in the employees’ state insurance dispensary at Aashraamam, Quilon which institution was then a part of the state health services department of Kerala before being bifurcated into two, as Employees' State Insurance and Health Services Department. An employee of the institution was resealing the hospital spirit bottles which he had unsealed earlier to pilfer a few mille litres of surgical spirit from each bottle, adding to his collection of liquor, which he usually drank a little and sold in bulk to others outside. In fact, this institution was functioning as a liquor shop too where there was only the retailing, and no distilling. Suddenly there was a blast caused from the flame of the burner acting furiously on some vapour escaping from one bottle which was not resealed properly. It was a huge and fatal blast that the whole hospital building collapsed and no bodily traces of the perpetrator could be seen left anywhere. The department lost a building, an employee, and a whole lot of rare and essential medical supplies. 

The perpetrator’s family was sanctioned pension and his widow was given government employment.

The widow of this employee approached the doctor in charge of the institution requesting pension in lieu of her late husband and employment assistance for her. In those times, the government of Kerala had not introduced the scheme for employment assistance under dying-in-harness. In spite of a crime been committed, the doctor out of sympathy for the dead employee recommended for both- the pension for the family of the deceased employee and the employment assistance to the widow. It was the first case of such appointments in Kerala and the widow was posted as a cook- the only job she knew- in the health services department. In the newly introduced scheme, it was stipulated that the pension and the employment assistance will be taken away once the widow was remarried. However she remarried another cook in the same department and somehow managed to retain her job as well as her late husband’s pension. It can happen in the State of Kerala and nowhere else. She was very handsome, so it was said.

Article Title Image 02 By The Digital Artist. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The second husband dies mysteriously and there was a second pension for the bereaved widow.

The new husband one day, while standing on the road in front of their house, was hit by a car which came back fast reversing, resulting in his instant death. It was a hit and run case in which the car could not be identified. Some said it was not an accident but revenge on some past deeds. Anyway, our lady was blessed with an additional pension thanks to the caring authorities in the department. She had her monthly salaries from her job in the department besides. This too can happen in Kerala, but only in Kerala. Her son by her first husband, our character Ajoy Ron, was growing up along with her second son by her second husband. Ron, though the lesser devoted in his studies of the two, was actively interested in youth affairs and in forming rowdy retinues of his own. The Indian communist party sent him as a delegate to Russia to participate in a training programme for the young men of world countries, organized by Comsomol, the youth organization there. After returning from Russia, the rejuvenated Ron claimed that his mother was not looking after him well, that he was left at the mercy of his relatives, had no way for living and was in poverty and hunger, and that she had cunningly snatched away the job of his deceased father which was rightfully his. He also moved the elected communist government of Kerala to appoint him in the health department in a suitable post on compassionate grounds. 

If we look to the very tip of our nose and try to see beyond, we will know we cannot see beyond.

The unscrupulous officers who always give out crumbs to lesser people to save the cream for their sons and daughters promptly took care to appoint him as a scribe in his deceased father’s department on compassionate grounds. It not at all concerned them how many times the job of a deceased person was secured by his family relatives and descendants. It should here be noted that all these things happened in Trivandrum, the capital city of Kerala, under the very nose and eyes of the government’s highest administration. If we look to the very tip of our nose and try to see beyond, we will know for the first time that we cannot see what is happening right under our nose. The nose obstructs our view. So theoretically speaking, a government which supposedly sees everything can not see what is happening right under their very noses. But that is not the case with the ordinary people.

Article Title Image 03 By Mystic Art Design. Graphics: Adobe SP.

The natives sensed how well the rules of government were bent and there was an avalanche of complaints.

The residents of Ron’s part of the city knew well that his father died while indulging in a criminal offence that caused the collapse of a government institution and which incurred heavy losses to government, warranting immediate arrest and dismissal and prosecution and imprisonment. But here the culprit succumbed to death during his criminal act and the people were quite willing to pardon the widow for securing a job in place of her dead husband, assuming that she was in no way involved in the blast. But the son when he attained maturity again claiming and easily securing that very job of his father, and the ruling political party, that too a communist party, yielding to unnatural pressure to look beyond this unlawful act, was beyond any view of leniency adopted by the ordinary citizens in the locale. So there was an avalanche of protests and written complaints made to the government by the natives. 

This order was the first of its kind in Kerala and once precedence is established, there is no limit to the number of persons who seek the protection of that order.

The matter was taken to the chief minister of the state. Ron submitted before the government that his securing the job of his father even after his mother had been given the job was an act which originated out of his ignorance in government, was an act of his ignorant childhood, and so may please be excused by the government. The government instead of dismissing and prosecuting him excused him and kindly allowed him to continue in the employment. The government magnificently and kindly excused him on behalf of the Governor of Kerala. This order was the first of its kind in Kerala and we know that once precedence is established, there is no limit to the number of persons who will seek the protection of that order. 

So this was only the beginning and if it is so how will his entire service in the government stretching some Thirty six years in future be? The legal implications of the incidents in this case will the least affect the conscience of the people in government unless it is a poor man like you or I involved. Someday we will meet again to read another chapter from his chronicle.

 
Article Title Image 04 By Thomas Budach. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Written in: 2000
First published on: 27 March 2020  

Tags:

Chronicles Of Ajoy Ron, Dying-In-Harness, Free Student Notes, Government Stories From India, Kerala Life Society People, Pilfering In Hospitals, P S Remesh Chandran, Short Stories, Surgical Explosions,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

00. Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/psremeshchandra.trivandrum
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSRemeshChandra
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bloombooks/videos
Blog: http://sahyadribooks-remesh.blogspot.com/
Site: https://sites.google.com/site/timeuponmywindowsill/
E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.