Thiruvarur/ Thanjavur: The homes of Rajalakshmi and Rani are quietly similar -- a silence that envelops all activity and a sense of 'things-will-never-be-the-same-again.'
They both don't speak unless they are spoken to. They welcome you in with folded hands, a worried frown on their faces. Prodded along, they speak tersely and then loosen up a bit -- speaking about a happier past, when their men came home with gifts for the children after selling their farm produce.
Recent widows, Rajalakshmi and Rani are everyday reminders of what a loss of hope on all fronts can do -- break the soul of otherwise-tough farmers, driving them to suicide.
Her husband Govindraj's body had been found in his four-acre field that afternoon -- he had taken a bottle of pesticide to escape debtors.
Her immediate family at the hospital, it was only villagers and a local policeman who shifted the body to the hospital and then took up the process of identification.
That fond hope that the debtor wouldn't approach the next of kin that probably led Govindaraj to take his life was disproven within a month, when debtors who saw that the family had got 'compensation' from a political party asked for their pound of flesh.
Rani, barely 38 years old, tells the story of how her husband always brought back gifts for their 17-year-old daughter on good days. Her mentally challenged son was always a worry, and now even more so.
"That day, he went to the field twice. We own no land ourselves, he had leased it to sow paddy. when he came for lunch, he told me he was worried how he would educate our daughter, get treatment for our son. He wasn't hungry and sent me to buy some betel leaves for him instead," she recalls.
And just like others, the debt hasn't gone anywhere - relatives whose jewellery had been pledged are asking for a repayment. With her son requiring constant attention, she hasn't much to live on, nor the option of going out to work as a daily wager.
Rani's perhaps is one of the worst stories of apathy in the Cauvery delta -- the three districts of Thiruvarur, Thanjavur and Nagapattinam have seen a spate of suicides the last five months.
A few weeks ago, farmers' groups got together the photos of all farmers who had killed themselves into one large poster put up in different districts. The haunted looks on some of the faces will not go away soon -- peasants who have stood up against tough times earlier but gave up, somehow, this time around.
Back home too, there is a sense of betrayal -- that they have no one to turn to in this day of acute distress. This is, they repeatedly point out, the worst drought in 140 years. Doesn't it then merit special consideration under the Natural Disaster Relief Fund?
There is no governnment, only political parties, says C Vaiyapuri, president of the United Farmers' Association.
An organic farmer in Salem, the home district of Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy, Vaiyapuri prides himself on following the best practices in cropping and water management. All that too, has not worked this season.
"We need better policies in cropping, in water management. But there is no government, we only have political parties that pursue selfish interests," he says.
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