Trigger warning: The following article has references to suicide. Please avoid reading if you feel distressed by the subject.
A tiny, discoloured house with a leaking asbestos sheet roof stands on five cents of land at Ambedkar Colony, Thakazhi grama panchayat in Kerala’s paddy-rich Kuttanad region in Alappuzha district. A plank of faded plywood serves as its main door. A small crowd has gathered around the house as it has been two days since the family’s breadwinner, K.G. Prasad, 55, a paddy farmer, took his life after he failed to obtain an agriculture loan for rice cultivation.
Omana, his wife, still reeling from the shock of her husband’s passing, sits on a worn sofa in the unlit interiors of their home, as her children stand by with grit and confusion writ large on their faces.
