Pathanamthitta ∙ Anil was holding a bottle of water, nutmeg and tamarind while walking from Palakkad to Tiruvalla. Sleeping at bus stops and train stations. He didn’t ask anyone for help and when he reached Aranmula on foot, Anil’s friend Jijo saw him and the fire in the family’s chest went out. Pathanamthitta Mathur, son of Kunjucherukan and Podipenn, disappeared seven days after Anil’s disappearance (42). Anil, who disappeared in Katpadi in Tamil Nadu, returned home by bus to Palakkad and from there on foot to Aranmula.
Usha, Anil, wife Raji and daughter Anju had gone to enroll their sister Usha’s daughter Tina in Guntakal, Andhra for nursing. After visiting Tina in college, she left Guntakal for Tirupati. Returned to Chengannur by train on third evening. Due to crowding in the general carriage, Anil was in one seat and others were in another carriage. Anil got off when the train stopped at Katpadi station. But he couldn’t get back on the train.
The next morning when he reached Ernakulam he came to know that Anil was missing. Anil doesn’t have a phone. His brother Sunil and his wife Bindu filed a complaint with the Pathanamthitta SP office and the Ilavumthitta Police Station. Usha, Kunjucherukan and neighbor Jomon searched stations from Jolarpet to Coimbatore but to no avail. Anil was then looking for Katpadi Police Station. I went to the station and was told that the house is in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. He was mentally destroyed. After paying 200 rupees, 2 policemen took him on a bus to Palakkad.
I thought I could get on a truck from Palakkad and go home, but I couldn’t. In the afternoon I bought 2 idlis and tea and walked home along the national highway. At the Thiruvalla stand, a man paid Rs.20 to drink tea. Anil recalls that it took four or five days. It was the first time in my life that I got on a train. The direction boards of Thrissur, Angamali, Moovatupuzha and Kottayam were seen. Jijo, an acquaintance who recognized Anil in Aranmula, called him at Ilavumthitta station. The Ilavumthitta police came to buy some food and took it home.
