Fear psychosis almost flooding a nightmare

KOCHI: Ghosts of an overflowing dam flood their dreams, their anxieties fuelled by a series of breaking sounding news on TV and blaring headlines. As Mullaperiyar hogs the limelight, paranoia is spreading across the state among the public, especially children, whose imagination paints vivid pictures of a tragedy complete with the visual effects of a Hollywood thriller.
For the past couple of days, the word Mullaperiyar has been doing the rounds in houses and schools like never before, with parents and teachers faced with questions ranging from the size of the dam to a possible shifting of residence to the hills of Wayanad.
As elders discuss the Centre-should-have-intervened-earlier remedies and nothing-is-going-to-happen hopes over the dinner table and in front of TV sets, young minds are visualising a scene of floods, overturned cars and collapsing apartments.
"My mother is really scared; she says we will all be swept away if the dam bursts. So now we watch news on the television more than anything else. Even I have stopped watching my favourite cartoon shows, and seeing all this I am getting scared, "says Parthiv Nair, a Class IV student of Bhavan's Vidya Mandir. While the net-savvy ones try to find answers on the wide virtual world, many are putting question marks in front of their parents and teachers, either believing everything they are told or just shrugging off the answers like an oft-repeated moral story. "I discuss the issue with friends in school and on FB too. The problem is that no one knows for sure, so there are a whole lot of stories. We are at a loss," says Sraddha Patel, a student of Toc-H Public School.
While many parents do their bit to remove the cobwebs of fear and anxiety in the minds of children, the thread of tension remains as the issue is a hot topic of discussion in classrooms and canteens. And those who are hooked to disaster films like 'Flood', 'Avalanche' and 'Water World' have their share of heightened anxiety. "The children are constantly asking questions. But the information they get from school and friends is causing concern. I hope the issue will be solved soon," says Anita Zachariah, a mother of two.