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abdus

abdus
samad , lakshadweep

Abdus Samad (29) stands next to his autorickshaw on a rough concrete surface. Behind him is the aquamarine Arabian Sea. The sky is a cloudy white with patches of pale lilac showing through. Abdu’s thick, straight hair is combed with a side parting and he has a moustache. He wears a red half-sleeved knitted shirt with a black collar and black-edged sleeves, beige close-fitting pants and grey sneakers. The black auto has a yellow registration number plate painted in black letters LD01 and below it 6824.
Abdu is outdoors, sitting on a flat, rectangular block of granite. He wears a yellow T-shirt, beige pants and light blue slip-on shoes. He is stretching out his right hand towards a shallow circular blue tub half-filled with rice bran. He has already picked up some bran, which is falling through his fingers. In front of the tub there is a flock of jet-black chickens, mainly hens and a couple of cocks. A hen standing foremost is about to peck the bran in the tub. Behind them there is a ‘wall’ of bluish-green tarpaulin.
Abdu, wearing beige trousers and a beige printed shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, stands amidst green banana trees. With both hands he holds a grey rubber hose from which water emerges in an arc.
Abdu, wearing his yellow T-shirt, beige pants and blue shoes, stands in the backyard, de-husking coconuts. The vertical iron rod of the tool is buried in the ground. With both hands Abdu is pushing down a coconut against the blade at the top of the rod. The dry brown outer husk has already been removed and he is slicing the fibrous covering of the shell with the blade. On the ground next to his left shoe there is a row of four dried coconuts that have yet to be de-husked. In front of him there is a heap of coconut husks and a few empty coconut shells piled up against the exposed roots of a coconut palm.
Sitting on a sofa, from left to right, Abdu’s wife Libana Beegum Thottathakara (24), son Mohammed Bilal TK (2) and Abdu. A bright red cloth printed with a green, black and yellow design is draped over the sofa. Libana wears a black burqa and burnt-rose coloured scarf over her head and shoulders. She is laughing as she holds up Bilal who is trying to cover his eyes with the back of his hands. Bilal wears coffee-brown shorts and a white T-shirt with its chest printed with the brown outline of a tiger’s open-mouthed head. Abdu wears beige pants and a shirt with blue and white vertical stripes, a Chinese collar, and sleeves folded up to the elbows. Behind them is a light purple curtain in a silken material.
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“We should create within ourselves the strong belief that we can do many things”

Love blossomed on Agatti Island in Lakshadweep when Abdus Samad saw Libana Beegum on her way to school. Their paths crossed frequently when she was going to school and returning home since their houses were not too far apart. He, six years older than her, declared his love. She accepted his proposal, preparing to wait till she was old enough to marry him.
 
Abdu, who was born in 1994, is the youngest of the seven children of Ummer U, a (now retired) clerk in the Public Works Department, and Fathima B, a housewife. After failing one subject in Plus-Two (12th grade) Abdu discontinued his studies and started working as a driver of the family-owned van-on-hire for transporting vegetables and other goods. Libana completed her Plus-Two and joined a BA Economics course on Kadmat Island where she stayed with a relative.
 
One day in 2018, Abdu was playing football with his friends when a coconut fell on his head. “I lost consciousness and when I regained it, I saw that I was bathed in blood,” he recalls. “I was unable to move any part of my body.” His friends rushed him to the government Rajiv Gandhi Specialty Hospital but since it didn’t have the required facilities Abdu was evacuated to Lourdes Hospital in Kochi.
 
Libana was worried when she couldn’t get him on the phone. She came to know of the accident only two days later. After one-and-a-half months of treatment in Kochi, Abdu returned to Agatti. He was able to move his hands but needed to continue physiotherapy for his legs. His sister’s husband Mohammed Irfan used to help him do the exercises.
 
Although his condition was improving, Abdu lost hope and thought he was “good for nothing”. He phoned Libana and urged her to break off their relationship but she was adamant. Her family and relatives too pressed her to abandon Abdu to his fate. Instead of doing so she quit her BA course, returned to Agatti, and went to see Abdu. By then he was able to walk by using a walker but he once again suggested they break up. “Nothing doing!” was her response.
 
Abdu went to Kavaratti Island for 45 days of physiotherapy. He then went to Palakkad in Kerala for further treatment but he couldn’t afford it, and so he returned. However, he was able to walk and perform his day-to-day activities without support. In 2021 he married Libana. They have a son, Mohammed Bilal, who will turn two this October.
 
Abdu works seven days a week, driving an autorickshaw that he owns. “In the tourist season I earn up to ₹2000 per day but now, since it’s off season, I hardly earn ₹500,” he says. Libana recently started working in a shop that sells sporting goods. She works in shifts (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.) and takes home ₹5000 monthly. When she is at work her mother takes care of Bilal.
 
When asked about his hobbies Abdu replied, “I have always loved playing football but my legs lack strength and I cannot flex my toes. Since I can no longer play I go and watch football matches occasionally.” The couple sometimes takes their son to play on the beach in the evenings.
 
Remembering the days when he used to feel useless, Abdu says, “We must foster a belief within ourselves – a strong belief that we are capable of doing many things. We should cultivate the mental strength to be able to do anything we set our mind to.”


Photos:

Vicky Roy

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