Varier lights a lamp in darkness

IRIKKUR (Kannur):
Krishna Varier, an octogenarian witnesses of the tragedy that snuffed
out the lives of nine young students at Perumannur here, is different
from the run.

Varier’s humanitarian gesture of offering his own
land for the mass burial of the victims, marks a silver-lining for
those despairing of the disappearance of compassion and fellow feeling,
and sets an example to children who don’t have too many role models
around them.

Though he readily offered to give the land free of
cost to bury the nine students of Sreenarayana Vilasam ALP School,
Varier, who turned 86 recently, is neither a ‘landlord’ nor rich
otherwise.

The cynical might scoff at his gesture. After all, the
land he offered was located just along the State Highway, linking
Iritty with Irikkur. Varier, who rarely stirs out of his house, told
Express, “I was going to a friend’s house when I heard the wails of the
children. At first I didn’t understand what was happening but I soon
saw many children being taken to hospital. I couldn’t stand the sight.”
Varier has eight children and some of them are employed. But none of
them has objected to his decision to give away the land.

The
costly land, barely a furlong from the school, was dear to him and his
family. But he doesn’t mind. “Yes, it is for the children. I couldn’t
sleep on Thursday night,” adds Varier, as if the Black Thursday would
stalk him for the rest of his life.But he — and many others around him — sure will have at least one good thing to remember about the day: his gracious act. 

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