The heat radiating through the tin roof was unbearable. Muthaiyyan sat up and looked at the fuzzy silhouettes of his wife and child lying n...
The heat radiating through the tin roof was unbearable. Muthaiyyan sat up and looked at the fuzzy silhouettes of his wife and child lying next to him. Both of them had lost a lot of weight due to lack of nutrition and care. Selvi was pregnant again. She was in her fifth month now. Muthaiyyan felt like crying. A lump formed in his throat as he thought about his helplessness and inability to provide two square meals to his pregnant wife and three year old daughter, Jyothi.
He got up, noiselessly opened the tin door, came out and sat on the plastic chair by the door.
A line of tin-roofed shacks, arranged like a goods train, lay before him. There were a few tall buildings, still under construction, a short distance away. The Medical College, Engineering College, Arts College, with their students’ hostels, guest houses, auditorium and other buildings, looked like ghostly shadows under the dim light of the street lamps.
The private University campus being built on a hundred-acre plot was supposed to be opened in July with a grand inauguration ceremony.
But how?
The cursed coronavirus pandemic had brought all work to a standstill on 25 March.
