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ayoob

ayoob
k , lakshadweep

Mid shot of Ayoob K (42) sitting behind a table topped with Formica in a floral pattern of orange and brown. The wall behind him is off-white. He has closely cropped black hair and a stubbly beard. He wears a half-sleeved shirt with grey and white plaid checks on a coffee-coloured background. On the table in front of him there is a white synthetic cutting board on top of which there are seven or eight white garlic bulbs, some of them separated into cloves. He is smiling as he peels a garlic clove with the black blade of a kitchen knife with a metal handle. To the right of the cutting board there is an empty, shiny, stainless steel plate with a raised rim. To the left of the tray there is a similar plate with three large pinkish onions in it. Three more onions are placed next to this plate.
Ayoob sits outside on a low stool, smiling down at a collection of brown, fibrous areca-nuts spread out on a pale yellow synthetic gunny sack that has been cut open to form a mat. He wears a half-sleeved shirt in red, black and white plaid checks, and a lungi in a pattern of wavy brown lines on a black background. He holds an areca-nut between the fingers of both hands. Behind him is a faded sky-blue tarpaulin sheet forming a wall. He is surrounded by broken and discarded miscellaneous objects such as a green toy car, a brown steel chair, a plain wooden table, and a pink plastic bucket.
Ayoob is outside, dressed in his checked shirt and lungi, laughing as he stands next to a grey iron wheelbarrow with two black rubber wheels. The barrow contains a few dried coconuts. In front of them there is a pile of green and brown dried coconuts. To the left, a turquoise-blue lungi with black stripes is spread out on a clothesline. There is a house in the background with a sloping roof of burnt red clay tiles.
Ayoob, wearing his coffee-coloured shirt and white mundu (dhoti), sits on the floor of a room with brown floor tiles. He sits with legs bent at the knees, both thighs turned to one side with feet pointing in the same direction. He sits on a prayer mat with a chocolate-brown image of Mecca on a light grey background. He is holding up his cupped hands that touch one another. There is a dark brown wooden cot to the right, a tan-coloured cupboard to the left, and a chocolate brown velvety window curtain hanging behind him.
Ayoob poses with his family in a room with pale grey walls and matching floor tiles. Seated on a sofa from left to right: his nieces Nafia (25) and Nazima Nasreen (8), sister Bifathumma (51), Ayoob and his brother Mohammad (58). Standing behind them are nephews Nishad (31) and Noushad (27). Nafia wears a black burqa and black head scarf. Nazima wears a pink frock with three-fourth sleeves and a green hijab that covers her head and chest. Bifathumma wears a pinkish-purple nighty and a light pink scarf that covers her head and shoulders. Ayoob wears a half-sleeved knitted shirt with light grey horizontal stripes on a black background, and a white mundu. Mohammad wears a pale greenish-grey half-sleeved shirt and white mundu. He has a moustache and a balding head with grey hair on the sides. Nishad wears a light sapphire-blue T-shirt. He has a moustache and a full beard pointed at the chin. Noushad wears a black T-shirt. He has a moustache and pointy beard. Behind them there is a drawn curtain of chocolate brown. To the right of the curtain is a closed brown wooden door.
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“I love to feed goats and spend time with my friends on the beach”

It’s hard to find a more soft-hearted, sweet-natured person than 42-year-old Ayoob K from Kavaratti Island in Lakshadweep. “He never gets angry and he loves everyone,” says his older sister Bifathumma K (51).
 
Ayoob is one of five children of Sainuddeen Haji, a carpenter, and (the late) Saina K. The parents consulted doctors when they noticed delays in the toddler’s speech and movement. He was finally diagnosed with mild Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Intellectual Disability (ID). One of the treatments recommended for his CP was to dig a hole in the beach sand, make him stand inside it, bury him waist-high, and keep him in this position for 30-60 minutes. “This helped him start walking by age three,” says Bifathumma, bringing up memories from when she herself was a child. “He also underwent neem oil massage treatment.” Mohammed (58), the eldest brother, recalls that they tried different kinds of treatment for Ayoob in Lakshadweep and Kerala.
 
Ayoob’s ID kept him from getting a mainstream education. “He can’t remember anything,” says his sister. “We tried teaching him at home but could not succeed.” When he was four he was sent to the local madrassa for religious teaching but after a few days the ustads (teachers) suggested he discontinue. And not only because he couldn’t retain what he was taught. The other kids had started troubling him, and poor Ayoob would simply sit in his place and keep smiling at them. Mohammed says that when they tried sending him to regular school the same thing happened: other kids would torment him, so they kept him at home.
 
Ayoob gets upset when Bifathumma scolds or hits her children, and asks her, “Why are you doing like this?” When he was a child he used to cry when his parents hit or shouted at any of his siblings. He still hasn’t recovered from the loss of his brother Davood who was just 53 when he died in February this year. Davood had been under treatment for a heart condition for a long time. He used to take Ayoob roaming around on his scooter, going to the park and sometimes to the beach. “Even now when anyone mentions Davood’s name he starts to cry,” says his sister. “I tell him, we all have to leave this world someday so you mustn’t cry. Then he holds back his tears.” 
 
Around ten years ago, Ayoob started attending the Government Day Care School for children with disabilities. The school had no age limit when it opened in 2010, so a few students are in their twenties and Ayoob is the oldest. The first such school started on Kadmat Island and there is another branch on Andrott as well. At the Kavaratti branch of the School the children are taught regular lessons, activities of daily living, and skills such as gardening, glass-painting and making products out of coconut shells. The school staff consists of a teacher, a learning assistant, an ayah, a cook and a helper.
 
A few months ago the van which used to pick up and drop Ayoob stopped coming. Tharique Anwer, the teacher, says the vehicle is under repair. Mohammed says Ayoob used to eagerly wait for the van every morning and enjoyed being with his friends there and going on school picnics. He was so fond of this school that he didn’t even like going to family functions that would disrupt his attendance! Anwer told us the van would be repaired by next week.
 
Saina died in 2007 from a “breathing problem”. Sainuddeen has been confined indoors for the past two to three years after his knee pain increased sharply. Bifathumma, her husband, their sons Nishad (31) and Noushad (27) and daughters Nafia (25) and Nazima (8) stay in the family house with Sainuddeen and Ayoob. Ayoob likes to spend time with his friends Abdul Rahman, who has ID, and Saifuddeen who has one leg. When they go together to the beach, Bifathumma keeps an eye on them; she can see them from the house, which is close to the seashore. Ayoob does not go out alone except to his aunt’s (Saina’s younger sister) house nearby. He can perform his day to day activities independently and only seeks help in shaving and trimming his moustache.
 
Since Ayoob is at home these days, he helps Bifathumma with household chores such as peeling garlic and onions, de-husking coconuts, and – his favourite task – feeding the goats. A bath before lunch, an afternoon nap, and an evening with friends on the beach complete his day. Dinner is over by 8.30 and he might watch TV; since he doesn’t know how to use the remote control he is content with whatever programme anyone else might be watching. He goes to bed by 10 after dutifully brushing his teeth. When we asked Ayoob about his favourite food he replied simply, “I eat everything.”

Photos:

Vicky Roy

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