Terminal !

It will not be the bullets, or the bombs or any landmines. It will be a noose. His death will not be glorified. He will not be called a martyr. He will just be sympathized. And he will not be remembered. He will not enter the pages of history. He will be forgotten, just like others. He was imagining the battlegrounds, standing in his toilet, his tomb, starring into the noose. 80 miles south, 3 months ago, the tiger fell. Now it is his time.

25 minutes into the flight, Arjuna pulled the trigger, which would change Maheshwaran's life forever. The bomb that was triggered fell right into Maheshwaran's house. He and his sister, were playing in the garden when the house burst into flames. They had few words, only cries were heard. On this May 25, 1994, a dozen other children became orphans. Padmanaban and Nalini were both burnt and buried. Sitting on those rubbles, on their parents' tomb, Maheshawaran and Padma were crying, for the next two days. They had company though.

The morning on May 28, 1994 witnessed a couple of trucks enter Parimedu. Not military ones, even more dangerous, Tigers. Within 10 minutes of their arrival, one among them was standing in front of Maheshwaran and Padma. He asked many questions in Tamil, and Maheshwaran answered him in tears. The man grabbed the kids by heir neck and dumped them into one of the trucks. They did not protest. After all, what can a 11 year old and a 7 year old do against a man taller than them with a gun in his hand. It was the last time, Maheshwaran saw his ruined town. He discontinued from class VI and Padma from class III.

The camp, one of the biggest on the island took in new members each day. And on this may 28, 253 shared the honour with Maheshwaran.For Maheshwaran that did not matter. He was entering a new World and was learning the ABCD's of it. Children did not play with toys, they preferred Guns. They did not learn history, they were learning to make it. The children had a bigger ambition than an engineering seat, Freedom. They will fight for their rights and will die, so that others can live a better life. Maheshwaran found his new ambition. Padma stuck to her old one. She preferred cooking, washing and cleaning. It took Maheshwaran six years before he could understand why his parents were killed. They were poor. They spoke Tamil and they were in Sri Lanka.

The smell of blood and burnt flesh, the sight of mutilated body, broken limbs, the cries of the victim and their loved ones, the pain in every one's eyes seemed nothing strange to him now. For 14 years, he had been hunting. He had killed thousands, injured many more, had been hit in all parts of the body and had face a lot of enemy tanks. But the last one was huge. And it left him limping for the rest of his life. His right leg was amputated. He got cornered in his hut. Padma helped him with his life until the day, army found his hut and took both him and his sister under custody in to an army jail. Three days was more than enough for those men to make Maheshwaran bleed everywhere in his body and damage his sister's genitals. By end of third day, they got bored with her and both were released. When they were out, they found a boat and reached India. The locket which they had saved for 14 years, never made it out of the Island.

On reaching the Indian shores, they breathed relief. They were in peaceful land which has sheltered thousands of them. What they did not know was the relief will be short-lived. He and all his co-passengers, totally 138 of them were given a 18th century dormitory to live. It had two toilets. They had to bath and pee outdoors. All this seemed to be nothing compared to what he had seen on the Islands. Within a month of his arrival, he knew this dorm was going to be his house for the rest of his life. none of them were really allowed into India. They were docked in the terminal.

In the next 6 months, the population of the building halved. Most of them were dead. Diseases, Unhygienic conditions, lack of care were all blamed. Some sneaked into the land, and a few ventured back into the Islands for a last stand. Life crawled for Maheshwaran and Padma. But they were satisfied. At least there were no guns. What they did not realize was, they were both about to die. The area inspector saw Padma in the dorm one day and decided to damage her genitals. Two days later, Maheshwaran was shown Padma's body. He dug a grave on the shores and buried her. And on the seventh day of her death, he buried one more body. A new inspector was appointed.

Dry hair, torn clothes, a dirty body, swollen eyes, bent back and drooping shoulders. Maheshwaran begged for living. After two days, he felt humiliated to show all his palms and decided to tie the knot. And here he was, standing in this toilet, before his knot. He found a piece of coal, scribbled on the wall and went to met his family. The wall read,

"பிறந்த நாட்டில் போராடினேன்,

பிழைக்க வந்த நாட்டில் பிச்சை எடுத்தேன், எனது உரிமைக்கு ! "