Love in the time of Kerala floods

Kottayam: Even as the state of Kerala was battling the worst floods in a century, you must have heard about a teen flagging a chopper down to a rooftop, just to click a selfie and then say good bye and also about a guy who made an IAF personnel pick him up so that he could get the high of flying. But this Kottayam couple beats them hands down as they made the flood situation a cover to elope.

Though it is yet to come to light when the Heer and Ranjha of Arupuzha scripted their master plan, it was a foolproof one till they were spotted together in Kayamkulam on August 21.

As their house was getting flooded by the bulging Meenachil River, the girl told her father, an employee at the Village office here, that she would move to her friend’s place instead of taking shelter at a relief camp.

On her request, Hyder (name changed), a differently-abled man, dropped his teenage daughter on the Kottayam-Thiruvarppu Road near Thiruvathukkal on August 18 morning. The Meenachil was still swelling as areas upstream were being lashed by torrential downpour and landslides. People living on the banks were moving to safer zones and relief camps. Thus Hyder became one of the first few to respond to the impending danger, though his cautious move later turned out to be a nightmare.

When he failed to receive a call from his daughter even post noon, Hyder rang up her friend and came to know she was not there. As efforts of Hyder and his friends to find the girl turned futile, Hyder informed the police.

A group including the girl's family members, local people and some volunteers got involved in a frantic search in flooded canals and river banks for the girl, in vain. With the weather turning rough and water levels rising, the search had to be called off. .

The next day, according to the Kottayam West police, Hyder filed a missing petition after getting a hint of what has happened. The love-struck couple was spotted two days later at Kayamkulam. Hyder is now trying to bring his 19-year-old daughter back home.