When air is life: Ambikasutan Mangad’s 2015 quick story on oxygen scarcity turns prophetic

Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Aneesha’s look ahead to Varun was unusually lengthy that day. Finally, when Varun reaches dwelling, his arms are empty. “Not even a single kit?” Aneesha asks in desperation. Varun then goes on to explain the horrifying scenes round. “I have searched each nook and cranny of the city. Not a single oxygen booth is open. Several booths were rampaged and kits stolen,” he tells Aneesha who’s nervous that the remaining oxygen kits would solely assist them survive one or two extra days.

Aneesha and Varun are central characters of the quick story ‘Pranavaayu’ (Life Breath) written by Ambikasutan Mangad. The prophetic story written in 2015 portrays the wrestle of a metropolis the place oxygen provide is low and all folks rely on oxygen kits to breathe. 

“People are dying on the streets as they can’t breathe. There are two bodies near our flat too,” Varun says.The story, which provides the reader a impolite shock as the image portrayed by the creator is so grim, was printed on July 5, 2015, within the Sunday journal of a vernacular day by day. The resemblance of the story to the happenings triggered by the second wave of Covid-19 was observed by readers after the creator posted the story on his Facebook web page on Saturday.

“I still remember the night when I had written the story at one stretch. That night, I had returned home after attending an environment seminar at NSS College, Changanassery, where I spoke about some disturbing truths. I couldn’t sleep that day and, suddenly, there was the urge to write and I wrote Pranavaayu in the middle of the night,” Mangad informed TNIE.

Ambikasutan MangadThroughout the discuss on the faculty, he narrated the plight of individuals dwelling in Enmakaje village in Kasaragod which had been the epicentre of the endosulfan tragedy. The story is themed on folks’s struggling brought on by the blind, oppressive acts in opposition to ecology.

Mangad is an environmental activist and has been working for the welfare of endosulfan victims. “While I was narrating the hardship of Enmakaje residents and kids, the audience looked stunned. I could see tears in some eyes. I concluded the speech with a query: Will you laugh if I say you will have to pay for oxygen 10 years from now?” recalled Mangad.

He had reminded the viewers how folks had develop into used to buying bottled water. “Ten or 15 years ago, people would have laughed had someone said that drinking water will soon have to be purchased,” he mentioned throughout the discuss.Though he concluded the speech with that question, oxygen scarcity and its implications for mankind refused to go away his thoughts.

What touched readers probably the most was the conclusion of the story. Failing to discover a strategy to procure an emergency oxygen equipment, Varun determined to do the unthinkable. “One of us should die tonight so that others can survive for four or five more days,” Varun tells Aneesha throughout supper.

“What do you mean?” asks Aneesha. “There are two old people here, dad and mom. We may remove the mask of one of them,” he replies.“Who?” Aneesha asks in awe. “I don’t know. You decide,” says Varun.