Muted quotes speak of her shattered hopes

PERUMBAVOOR: You are what you think. Think positive, you will be positive. Think success, you will succeed.
The hand-written quote on a white sheet of paper pasted on the un-plastered wall of the house lets you learn more about the hopes and aspirations of the dalit law student, who was brutally killed at Kuruppampady in Perumbavoor on April 28.
Above the lines there is another quote from APJ Abdul Kalam: “I can do it.I will succeed“.
On an adjacent wall were neatly aligned pictures of almost all Hindu Gods. But the selfhelp quotes and Gods were of no help to her on that fateful day .
Many locals considered the victim and mother to be weird because they kept to themselves. “They interacted very little with neighbours. But this incident is hard for us to believe,“ said 59-year-old Rose Mary, with fear written over her sunken eyes.
Mary has been visiting the victim's house for the past two days, despite having nothing to do there. “I don't even know why I am coming here. I have been living alone for the past 15 years and I can sympathize with the victim. I feel insecure,“ said Mary .
Mary , a home nurse, lives in a small house, a five-minute walk away from the shanty , where the woman was found murdered.
She is not at all bothered about the upcoming polls.
“If women, particularly those living alone are not safe, then why do we need to elect a government? All I want is the immediate arrest of the accused and a punishment that would make him understand the pain the victim underwent,'' she said.
Siji Saju, who represents the ward in which the victim's house is situated, too, feels the same.
“That the culprit is still at large is scary.More than the assembly polls, it is the murder that is in our minds now. We do not want to politicise the incident. At the same time, it shows how poor our law and order situaation is now,“ said Siji, an LDF ward member in Rayamangalam panchayat, ruled by her front.
Though the Left leaders including Perumbavoor area secretary Beeras M I said they would not politicise the incident, organizations allied to them carried out various protest march es in different parts of the constituency to highlight the lethargy of the home department.
The Perumbavoor constituency is currently represented by LDF's Saju Paul, who is seeking a re-election. While the UDF prefers to term the incident `unexpected' and `shocking', the NDA is all set to launch a state-wide campaign highlighting the deteriorating law-and-order situation. “BJP national president Amit Shah is all set to address a campaign on Thursday evening at Aluva and we are sure that he would mention about the apathy of police and UDF government,“ said a BJP district leader.
“A woman has been murdered brutally and all I can see here is a pack of wolves in the garb of politicians,“ said Mary .