Karnataka: Youth waits for pregnant wife buried under debris

MADIKERI: A s of 10.30am on August 9, Harish was getting ready to make it big in life: his first baby on the way with wife Veena, his own estate, his house to be built. In 10 minutes, it was all over. The estate labourer from Tora village now spends his days watching an earthmover turn the mud which buried his dreams.


“Veena was six months pregnant when the calamity hit us. She is now a body under this rubble,” said Harish. Twelve days after the landslide in this village in Kodagu, six people are still missing. Everyday, Harish hopes he will get a last glimpse of his wife. They had been married for barely a year.

Harish, who belongs to Periyapatna, came to Kodagu in search of work when he was just 13. He started off picking coffee berries at an estate in Tora. The honest, hard-working boy soon caught the attention of the estate owner, Keethiyanda Mandappa. “After some years, Mandappa encouraged me to run the estate. While working for him, I also developed my own estate of 1.5 acres. And I saved up enough to build a house,” he said. Finally, in his 30s, Harish hoped to live the life he wanted.

“I laid the foundation for my house in 2018 but the construction was delayed by a year as my wedding was fixed then. Only that foundation remains today,” he said. The house was to be completed in a few months and the couple had planned to move in with the baby. On August 9, when the landslide struck their line-house, Veena was buried in the debris. “At 10.30am, I went to visit my employer at his house which is a 10-minute walk from mine. On the way, I heard a loud thud and turned back. I saw a

mountain

crashing down,” he recounted. “My wife, our unborn baby, my cattle...everything was buried. I’m desperate to see Veena one last time,” he said