Date:01/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/01/stories/2008100159430200.htm

Kerala - Kochi

The battle of life left them in penury

Staff Reporter

— Photo: H. Vibhu

MEMORIES OF YORE: War veterans at the Sainik Ashram in Kakkanad.

KOCHI: K. Parthasarathy, 90, with sunken cheeks, looked rather uninterested in what everybody was doing or saying, but the moment you ask him to sing a Hindi song, his face lights up. He breaks into Dheere dheere aa re badal dheere aa re, mera bulbul so raha hai… then continued with another number and was probably ready with yet another one.

He and many others at the Sainik Ashram in Kakkanad are World War II veterans, who served the then government in the country, but now are without any pension for a decent living. Recounting his travel to Kolkata, Dhaka, Chittagong and other cities, Mr. Parthasarathy spoke about his service with the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (EME) wing of the army during the war.

How the soldiers would be injured by shells from a bombardment, how they would be given some preliminary medical aid and then sent off to the front again. K.I.M. George from Erumeli, 87, had travelled widely from Iraq in the west to Myanmar (Burma) in the east during the four years of service in the Royal Indian Army Medical Corps. “We used to evacuate the injured from the fields”, recalled Mr. George, who has got at least four medals for his service.

If it was not for the facilities of the Sainik Ashram in Kakkanad, maintained by the Kerala Ex-Servicemen Welfare Association, “we would be on the streets as we are without any money of our own”, said 85-year old Prabhakaran Nair, who was with the EME and had served in Iraq and Jabalpur.

“After World War II was over, we were discharged, but we never got any pension.” Mr. Nair believes that if the government does not have a policy to provide pension to war veterans, they should formulate one. “The government has not considered us as individuals who have done any service at all.”

T. K. Bhaskaran, 94, from Thriprayar, the oldest in the Ashram, was with the Indian Signals’ Air Support Regiment during the war.

He served in Myanmar, Europe, Geneva, Italy and France, providing war information.

Similarly, Parameshwaran Nair in service with the Signals, was at the Myanmar front during the war for four years. Unlike the others in the ashram, 88-year old A.P. Peters is all dressed in white pants and shirt, wears socks and canvas shoes and completes the attire with a sun cap. Mr. Peters, who served the army in the EME for 12 years, had a couple of years ago got a bullet removed from the body in an operation. The bullet had been in his body for all these years and had formed a bulge on the side of the body.

The Ex-Servicemen’s Association provided the funds for his operation that was done at the Cooperative Medical College. Recently, war veteran Karunakaran also had a leg fracture mended with aid from the association.

The story of Sundareshan Pillai, who served in the Indian Pioneer Corps for six years, is no different from the others in the ashram. The ashram was started in 1997 with six people at Palarivattom.

The association then bought six cents of land and shifted to its present premises in 2000. There are now 18 war veterans housed here whose needs are looked after by the association.